Breaking news: since this article was written today we have just learnt that Marcus will not be deported – a victory for the whole movement and for the people campaigning earlier today. Of course this Labour government should never have let it go this far.

Decker said: “After an intense day of legal proceedings and an hour of harrowing cross-examination for both my partner, Holly, and me, I’m deeply relieved that we’ve won today. I feel this is a huge victory for the climate movement and for the laws protecting peaceful protest in this country as a whole. The judge’s level of confidence in unusually announcing the outcome immediately is a chink of hope in an environment of repression.” (Guardian 10 November)

Marcus Decker, along with Morgan Trowland, climbed a gantry over the Dartford Crossing in October 2022, causing the closure of the bridge and gridlock for hours.  Today just over three years later he is here at the Immigration Tribunal in Roseberry Ave in London.  Marcus is appealing deportation.  He has a partner here in Britain and helps parent two children.  Since he happened to be born in Germany the British state is trying to deport him. Marcus served 400 days in prison after receiving a two year and seven month sentence (later reduced) that many legal experts defined as unprecedented in its severity for a non-violent protest.  If he had accepted deportation he could have been released much earlier but he has been settled with partner and family in Britain for some years now.

His protest was part of a wider campaign of civil disobedience by Just Stop Oil, which aimed to raise awareness about the climate crisis by disrupting traffic and causing economic disruption.  Just Stop Oil has since changed its policy on such non-violent disruption, undoubtedly in part due to the savage state repression of its actions. The Conservative government changed the law by broadening the definition of disruption or disturbance to make many  protest actions liable to big fines and custodial sentences.

Labour continues and extends repressive laws

Non violent direct actions that historically have been taken by movements like the Suffragettes fighting for votes for women or against the South African Apartheid regime would fall foul of these new draconian laws.  The Labour government rather than repealing such authoritarian laws have actually continued along the same path. Yvette Cooper, former Home Secretary, has defined Palestine Action as terrorist, as if they were political equivalents of Al Qaeda or Islamic State.  In fact it is a non violent direct action group that has targeted factories producing arms for the genocide in Gaza today. This has resulted in thousands of people – many of whom are grandparents – being accused of supporting terrorism because they held up cardboard signs saying they are against genocide and support Palestine Action.

Marcus at the tribunal today

Just as with Palestine Action the breadth and strength of opposition to this Labour government on the question of democratic rights to protest has been encouraging.  Marcus has received backing from personalities and artists like Bob Geldof, Olivia Colman and Emma Thompson Along with the musicians Brian Eno and Jacob Collier, they are among about 600 artists who a year ago urged Tory Home Secretary, James Cleverly to withdraw the deportation order.

Holly Cullen-Davies, a musician and Marcus’s partner, has stated:

“What I would say to the government, though, is you cannot deport dissent and you cannot deport the climate crisis.”

Cullen-Davies said she had had to give up most of her work to campaign against the deportation of her partner and was relying on donations from environmental campaigners to keep herself afloat financially. (Guardian , Jan 26, 2024)

Even the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders. Michel Forst has  said the severe crackdown on environmental protest was having a chilling effect on fundamental freedoms.

Unfortunately the soft left that is getting more organised in Labour at the moment have steered clear of ‘sensitive’ issues such as defending democratic protest. There is nothing in the Mainstream material put out so far about such issues.

Left needs an eco-socialist approach

Today the protest gathered over 250 people on a rainy Monday morning. Chris Packham, the naturalist and TV personality, stood in the front line of the protest.  Despite pressure for him to moderate his views he has stood up clearly to defend mother earth and those people like Marcus who are taking a stand to save the planet.  It is a pity that not one  Left or Green MP were there to stand beside Chris and the rest of us this morning.   True, people have full diaries and Zack Polanski has been boxing a good fight in all the media interviews he has been doing. He certainly put Trevor Phillips in his place this Sunday when the TV presenter tried to ridicule his policy of engagement for peace and disarmament  

Some of the British Left still brush aside the importance of an eco-socialist approach and do not make working alongside activists like Marcus a real priority. It is not just a question of turning out for protests like this – the organisers did not want an overly political protest today. Just regularly covering in their media what green activists are doing would be a start. Too many left groups, who themselves are not particularly more working class than the Greens either in membership or support,  reject electoral alliances or working closely with them. They dismiss them as electoralist  or middle class. Currently there is a battle to be won inside Your Party to defeat this sectarian and ultra left position.

The left and the Labour movement need to embrace people like Marcus and his supporters.. We need truly broad coalitions that can include the dedicated group of Quaker activists that were present today. We need militant slogans but quiet group reflection about these existential issues can enrich political protests.

Quaker reflection at the protest

Marcus will have to wait some weeks before he knows the outcome of the deportation process. Nearly 200,000 people have signed a petition in his support.  Judges and the courts are subject to pressure. Some Just Stop Oil activists have avoided custodial sentences  – such as those at Stonehenge.  We should call on labour movement and trade union representatives to back his right to stay here. Details of how to support his legal campaign is at:: https://chuffed.org/project/q9rje9q70fltbjn