Five women found guilty of criminal damage against JP Morgan Bank (Picture: Extinction Rebellion)
In the entrance to the Old Bailey court there is a plaque commemorating the right of juries to acquit according to their conscience.
This right was established in 1670 and it led to the important right for the jury to be independent of the judiciary and ultimately the state.
One of the linchpins of the British legal system is the right to be tried by 12 of your peers.
How would you feel if a jury was told that they would face criminal charges if the judge was unhappy with their verdict? But this is effectively what happened in Inner London Crown Court on Friday 1 March.
In his directions to the jury, Judge Silas Reid cast doubt on the existence and severity of the climate crisis. The court case involved members of Extinction Rebellion (XR) who broke the glass at the European Headquarters of the world’s worst climate bank JP Morgan.
Reid then threatened the jurors with criminal charges if they brought their conscience to bear on their deliberations. Five women on trial were subsequently found guilty of criminal damage and are awaiting sentencing.
This isn’t the first time Judge Silas Reid has made his views on the climate emergency clear in court.
He previously threatened defendants with immediate imprisonment if they referred to the climate emergency or fuel poverty as their primary motivation for taking action.
In March 2023, he told defendants in a case involving members of Insulate Britain that it was for “history to judge, not the jury”.
Two of the defendants were sentenced by Reid to seven weeks in jail for ignoring his ban.
Reid isn’t alone in interference with juries.
The attorney general is currently trying to challenge retrospectively juries’ decisions to acquit climate activists. The law and legal system is one arm of the state and does not act in our interests.
Maggie Falshaw, Court support volunteer with XR, East London
The collision between Chinese and Filipino naval vessels on 5 March highlights mounting tension in the South China Sea.
Chinese boats attempted to block Philippine ships delivering supplies to its military outpost on the Second Thomas shoal.
This lies about 100 miles from Philippines and about 600 miles from China. But like most of the area it is claimed by China.
The claim is based on a map found in the foreign ministry when Mao Zedong’s Communists defeated the nationalist government.
Already in 2024 the Philippines has lodged ten diplomatic protests against China. The US State Department has called on China to stop its “dangerous and destabilising conduct”. But US military expansion is central to the regional problem, forcing tit-for-tat actions from China.
Nato meanwhile is courting non-China Asia and extending its military influence in the region.
China announced a 7.2 percent increase in military spending for 2024 on the same day its boats rammed those of its neighbour.
Some 60 percent of the world’s maritime trade passes through the South China Sea. Its economic and strategic importance increases the risk of conflict between major powers.
Only international solidarity can stop these conflicts escalating.
Adrian Budd, South London
George Galloway’s win in the Rochdale by-election has been welcomed by many and it is a shock for the political establishment. But unfortunately he comes with anti-refugee and transphobic ideas.
Of course that’s not why Rishi Sunak called an emergency press conference to condemn the outcome of the election.
He didn’t like the democratic verdict on the mainstream parties from Rochdale. The British government has launched an assault on the Palestine movement using Islamophobia. It ludicrously claims “Islamists” are running our streets.
Galloway’s win shows that an alternative is needed and that we can take on Labour and the Tories and win votes.
It’s good that people rejected Labour. But it’s a space that should be occupied by a socialist party.
Maryam Hally, Glasgow
Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer’s support for Israel is not due to an “Israeli lobby” as Sophie Squire rightly argues (Socialist Worker, 5 March).
In the 1960s and 1970s there was no organised “Israel lobby”.
In the shadow of the Holocaust this was a period of mass support for Zionism among Jews.
Also it was a period of unquestionable Western support for the military power of the Israeli state.
The West provided arms, money and diplomatic cover. The “Israel lobby” was developed in response to the Palestinian resistance of the First and the Second Intifada and the solidarity shown towards the Palestinians.
Palestinians initiated the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in 2005. It was so effective that it provoked a massive Israeli government
counter-campaign. It then deployed resources and organised the Israel lobby.
We should oppose the notion that Israel “pulls the strings” that control Joe Biden, Sunak and Starmer.
Such a view negates and undermines the centrality and effectiveness of the Palestinian resistance and the global solidarity movement being built by “generation Palestine” today.
Mark Krantz, Manchester
Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak lectured the voters of Rochdale last week for their part in a supposedly “beyond alarming” attempt by extremists to undermine democracy.
Attack is the best form of defence.
So let’s build the movement to include mass rallies that take over our city and town centres, transport blockades and workplace walkouts.
Victory to the Palestinians, get the Tories out.
Mike Killian Manchester
It’s official—British troops are “on the ground” in Ukraine.
The leak from the German air force confirmed it.
The revelations vindicate—once again—those who have argued what’s happening in Ukraine is a proxy war between Western imperialism and Russian imperialism.
We have to stop the drive to war and oppose imperialism.
Julia Ryder, Worcestershire
Surely the time is right for the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) to learn from Ireland and engage in revolutionary electoralism.
The SWP should learn from People Before Profit and the Socialist Worker Network.
It should form an anti-capitalist united front and stand in the general election.
Francis Scott, by email
I enjoy witty puns in headlines on Socialist Worker’s workplace reports.
But there were too many puns in the story “Yoga instructors strike a truly threatening pose” (21 February).
This made our paper seem silly and perhaps sexist.
The instructors should be paid fairly for this important job.
Nicola Field, South London
Plus: Readers on anti-racism in Gosport, driving out the far right in York and Burnham's pension plans
Plus readers on the Palestinian genocide, supporting the RNLI against racist attacks and standing up to Rupert Lowe
Plus: readers on why no socialist should back George Galloway in upcoming by-election
Leeds activists defying state repression
