Terrorism Bill

The opening paragraph begins in a fairly straightforward way:"““In the Lenin Barracks in Barcelona, the day before I joined the militia, I saw an Italian militiaman standing in front of the officers’ table.””" It goes on to offer both encouragement of, and glorification of, what was to follow:"““Something in his face deeply moved me. It was the face of a man who would commit murder and throw away his life for a friend—the kind of face you would expect in an Anarchist, though as likely as not he was a Communist.””" The encouragement and glorification is found at the end of the paragraph:"““Obviously he could not make head or tail of the map; obviously he regarded map-reading as a stupendous intellectual feat. I hardly know why, but I have seldom seen anyone—any man, I mean—to whom I have taken such an immediate liking.””" That is the opening of an illustrious and well-known book written by Mr. Blair—Eric Blair. Those who find it easier to recognise him as George Orwell will also recognise that it is the start of ““Homage to Catalonia””, a book that unambiguously sought to praise those participants in the civil war in Spain who attempted to create a republic. Blair himself was open about, and proud of, his own involvement in that process as a ““brigadista””. I am not sure that the family tradition of such political alliances still continues, but throughout the recent history of this country—and certainly within the Labour and internationalist movements, and in the history of our literature—““Homage to Catalonia”” has been regarded not as a revolutionary tract, but as an honourable, distinguished and legitimate book. However, it falls foul of the Bill’s definitions of acts of incitement of, and encouragement of, terrorism.