LONDON – A Swedish climate academic who was planning to travel to the United Kingdom has been denied entry by the British government a week before he was due to appear on a panel in London.Andreas Malm, an associate professor of human ecology at Lund University in Sweden, was due to headline a conference organized by Tribune magazine next week on “Washington’s global reign of terror and Britain’s role in reinforcing it”.The Swedish national was due to speak alongside Huda Ammori, a co-founder of now-banned Palestine Action. They were expected to discuss the impact of the movement’s ban, including its effect on Irish author Sally Rooney, who has withdrawn her books from sale in the UK over her support for the group. The panel will be chaired by Hala Hanina of Palestine Deep Dive.The UK Home Office canceled hiss Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) on Wednesday.Malm was told by immigration officials his presence in the UK “may not be considered to be conducive to the public good”. He said the decision was “scandalous” and urged the government to reconsider.Rooney described Malm as a “brilliant and influential” intellectual. “For the UK government to deny him entry to Britain is not only an outrageous attack on a respected climate expert, but a sad and frightening act of cultural self-harm,” she said.The Tribune event was timed to coincide with the start of a supreme court challenge to the ban next Wednesday. Malm said he has contacted the Home Office for an explanation but is yet to receive a response.“I have been going regularly to the UK for decades. My position on Palestine has always been public,” Malm said, adding that his latest visit to the country was in May.“I haven’t said anything in public about Palestine during these intervening months or written anything about it. The only thing that could have caused this [latest UK decision] is that I was due to be on a panel on Wednesday evening, where I would talk to Huda Ammori of Palestine Action,” he said.Malm used an ETA during his May visit to the UK, which allowed him to travel to the country again later in the year without seeking reauthorization. He said he had received no indication from the Home Office that his ETA was at risk of being canceled before receiving an email on Wednesday confirming that it had been revoked.In its email, the Home Office told Malm that if he wishes to visit the UK, he needs to apply for a visa, after which the office will “consider your circumstances in more detail” before making a decision. However, the government website states that the processing time for a standard visitor visa is three weeks, meaning Malm would not receive it in time for next week’s panel even if his application were approved.Travellers from countries whose nationals do not require a visa to visit the UK generally need an ETA. These include countries in Europe, the United States and Canada, among others.The cancellation of Malm’s ETA comes amid a wider crackdown on pro-Palestine activists by the UK government, something that began under then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer.Tribune editor Oliver Eagleton said, “Andy Burnham’s government continues the authoritarian overreach we saw under Starmer. In this new dystopian Britain, it is now commonplace for authors and academics to be treated as terrorists because they support Palestinians facing genocide and the rights of people protesting that genocide.”Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, was prime minister when the government proscribed Palestine Action last year.The move classified the campaign group as a “terrorist” organization under UK law, placing it on the same legal list as groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). The proscription has been condemned by rights groups, including Amnesty International.Malm’s books include How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire and The Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth.Since Palestine Action was banned, more than 3,850 people have been arrested for publicly backing the group, in largely peaceful protests.“This is a drift towards authoritarianism that didn’t begin with me and it’s not going to end with me either,” Malm told Al Jazeera. “If I’m now being deemed a threat to the public good because I’m supposed to have a conversation with someone from Palestine Action, this is guilt by association. Where does it stop?”
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