Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan, Reggie Watts, Miriam Margolyes and over 30 other artists signed an open letter published Monday calling for the U.K. government to reject a new proposal that would label activist organization Palestine Action a proscribed terrorist group.
The letter comes just one day after singer-songwriter Nadine Shah read a statement onstage at the 2025 Glastonbury Festival in which she shared her passionate opposition to the legislation. Like Shah, Swinton & Co. have not only called for the U.K. government to drop its proposed Palestine Action ban, but also to stop supplying weapons and ammunition to Israel.
“Palestine Action is intervening to stop a genocide. It is acting to save life,” the letter, shared by Artists for Palestine, argues. “We deplore the government’s decision to proscribe it. Labeling non-violent direct action as ‘terrorism’ is an abuse of language and an attack on democracy.”
Founded in July 2020, Palestine Action is a U.K.-based, pro-Palestinian activist organization that has used various forms of direct protest — including occupation of premises, destruction of property and vandalism — over the past five years to try to disrupt the U.K. government’s weapons manufacturing for Israel.
Last week, U.K. home secretary Yvette Cooper announced her intention to lay before parliament on Monday a drafted proscription order for Palestine Action that would label the group a terrorist organization and, therefore, make being a member of it and inviting support for the organization a criminal offense worthy of a maximum 14-year jail sentence. The proscription would, in effect, place Palestine Action on the same list of terrorist organizations as Al-Qaeda, ISIS and other groups.
“The real threat to the life of the nation comes not from Palestine Action but from the home secretary’s efforts to ban it,” the Artists for Palestine letter continues. “We call on the government to withdraw its proscription of Palestine Action and to stop arming Israel.”
On Monday, it was announced that a U.K. high court judge had granted Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori the chance to legally challenge Cooper’s proscription order at a hearing on Friday. The government’s plan was for the order to be debated in parliament this week before being signed on Friday and then potentially going into effect on Saturday.
Now, Ammori has the chance to apply for an “interim relief” application that, if successful, would suspend the order from going into effect.
In a joint statement shared Monday with the Artists for Palestine letter, signatory and British songwriter Brian Eno remarked, “On the one hand, 60,000 dead. On the other, a splash of paint on a plane. Which one are you most troubled by?”
“Never before has a decision like this been challenged so immediately by artists and so widely across the country,” an Artists for Palestine U.K. spokesperson added. “If the Government persists with this ban, it will face anger and opposition on a massive scale.”
You can the read the full letter and find its full list of signatories below:
Palestine Action is intervening to stop a genocide. It is acting to save life. We deplore the government’s decision to proscribe it. Labeling non-violent direct action as ‘terrorism’ is an abuse of language and an attack on democracy. The real threat to the life of the nation comes not from Palestine Action but from the home secretary’s efforts to ban it. We call on the government to withdraw its proscription of Palestine Action and to stop arming Israel.
Signed
Khalid Abdalla
Beezy Bailey
Tim Booth
Rana Begum
Frankie Boyle
Hugh Brody
Caryl Churchill
Steve Coogan
Robert del Naja
Jeremy Deller
Brian Eno
Paul Ewen
Bella Freud
Jay Griffiths
Billy Howle
Tez Ilyas
Ken Loach
Miriam Margolyes
Francesca Martinez
Pankaj Mishra
Alice Oswald
Laline Paull
Florence Peake
Julia Sawalha
Alexei Sayle
Anna Shaffer
Nadine Shah
Kamila Shamsie
Maggie Steed
Juliet Stevenson
Tilda Swinton
Marina Warner
Mark Wallinger
Roger Waters
Reggie Watts
Paul Weller
Beatie Wolfe
Penny Woolcock
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