Author Archives: amy
UKHIP’s Calais Flotilla: Donations & Evictions
On 28th March UKHIP’s flotilla of solidarity made its way to Calais in a convoy which included a van full of donations – both given and bought with the funds raised by the crowdfunding campaign. Spirits were high as we made our way to the coast, two months of preparation finally coming together, but in […]
Life in the ‘Jungles’ of Calais
Yesterday, myself and five others got up early, left our homes and made our way to Calais. Unlike many others making this trip from the UK, we were not on a booze cruise or European road trip. Instead, we were travelling with all the warm winter donations we could squeeze into six backpacks and heading […]
To arrest and intimidate: State determination to undermine dissent laid bare
Black Lives Matter The arrest of 76 protesters following a die-in at Westfield shopping centre in London on 10th December 2014 was not just outrageous and callous, but provides one of the clearest recent cases of the state’s current determination to stamp out protest by any means necessary. The protest, which was called by the London Black Revolutionaries, in conjunction with […]
Threats to Freedom of Assembly and Association: Briefing
Law is War authors, Amy and Jag, were asked to help write a briefing document being compiled by Defend the Right to Protest to coincide with a two day workshop hosted by the UN Special Rappoteur, Maina Kiai, in Kenya on litigating people’s rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. The aim of the draft briefing was […]
Reflections on London’s March for Gaza
It is easy to remain dubious over the efficacy of well-stewarded A-to-B protest marches, and I certainly felt pangs of apprehension as the march for Gaza set off from the Israeli Embassy yesterday (26th July 2014) – already hemmed in by barriers, stewards informed those not behind the organisers’ lead banners which side of the […]
Asylum for Refusing to Fight: Charting the Development Towards the Right to Conscientious Objection
I recently wrote about the right to claim asylum on the grounds of conscientious objection, and developments towards the recognition of a right to conscientious objection more broadly. My article was published in Volume 5 of the King’s Student Law Review. Abstract: Conscientious objection has had a complicated history, and its legal position within both international and domestic […]
Trenton Oldfield: imprisoned for non-violent direct action, now facing deportation
Protest On 7th April 2012 Trenton Oldfield, a 37 year old Australian who has lived in the UK for over a decade, temporarily disrupted the Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race. He did so not out of hatred for the individuals in the boats but in protest against elitism and “the astounding and entirely unnecessary levels […]
Russell’s Revolution: Is not voting really the answer?
Not having a TV, I missed Russell Brand’s Newsnight interview when it first aired, but with what feels like the whole world currently singing Brand’s praises (and the ‘R’ word being liberally flung about), I thought I’d better see what all the fuss was about. I applaud Brand, and any celebrity for that matter (Benedict Cumberbatch, Dominic […]
Law is War 
‘No Comment’ – Two Big Words
In an age of intelligence-led policing, ‘no comment’ is of fundamental importance. Police, especially insidious Police Liaison Officers, use our innate human dispensation towards communication against those who dare to dissent; orders/questions barked out by agents of the state carry with them an implied threat of punishment for refusal. This provides police with an all-too-easy strategy for […]