Sally Rooney defies the UK and admits she is a "terrorist sympathizer" over her support for Palestine.

LondonIrish writer Sally Rooney, author of internationally bestselling novels such as Normal People,Conversations between friends either Intermezzo, has sparked a new political and cultural controversy in the United Kingdom by declaring that he will use money from the BBC and the sale of his books to fund Palestine Action, the political group recently banned by the British government.

In an article published this weekend in The Irish Times, Rooney says she feels "compelled" to publicly express her support after more than 500 people were arrested in a single day, on August 9, for having expressed her allegiance to the organization. "If this makes me a terrorist sympathizer under British law, then so be it," she wrote. The author recalls that, despite the ban, her books remain on sale in bookstores and supermarkets in the United Kingdom and that public television has broadcast adaptations of her works, generating revenue from royalties.

Rooney, well-known and popular around the world, has issued a direct warning to the London authorities: "If the police believe I am committing a terrorist act, let them investigate the companies and institutions that fund and promote me, such as WH Smith [a chain of bookstores] or the BBC." Both the public broadcaster and the network of establishments have simply emphasized that any decision related to banned groups corresponds to the competent bodies.

Political persecution

The conflict stems from the British government's decision to place Palestine Action on the same legal footing as organizations such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The government has justified a measure, widely criticized by civil and political rights groups, by pointing out that activists from the organization stormed the RAF Brize Norton military base in Oxfordshire, where they sprayed two transport planes with red paint and caused seven million pounds in damage. According to Cooper, the group even has a "clandestine manual" for identifying targets and evading police, reasons that disqualify it as a "legitimate protest movement."

Since the ban was passed, the Metropolitan Police have arrested more than 700 people and formally charged 60. In Norwich, Norfolk County Constabulary arrested thirteen protesters in a single day. For Rooney, these actions amount to "a police state" and are a direct attack on freedom of expression. The author also denounces the double standard: "While murals celebrating the armed loyalist group UVF, responsible for hundreds of murders, remain intact in Belfast, people wearing only a Palestine Action T-shirt are imprisoned."

The debate comes amid a particularly tense context due to the war in Gaza. The conflict, sparked by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, has caused more than 61,000 victims, according to the UN, a figure that fuels accusations of genocide against Israel by human rights organizations. Ireland has been one of the European states most critical of the Israeli offensive, but Rooney has criticized her government for remaining silent on the arrests of Irish citizens in the United Kingdom.

The author ofWhere are you, beautiful world? had already defended the Palestinian cause in the past. In 2021 He refused to authorize the translation of the novel into Hebrew from an Israeli publishing house, Modan, which did not share her opposition to the policies of the Jewish state. Now, in her new column, she warns that the consequences of the Palestine Action ban are "profound" and that more and more artists and writers will avoid traveling to the United Kingdom for fear of reprisals.

Her political voice is expressed from the tranquility of the West of Ireland. Rooney lives in the countryside, just a fifteen-minute drive from Castlebar, in County Mayo. After spending time in Dublin and New York, she settled with her husband, John Prasifka, whom she had met during her student years at Trinity College in the capital of the republic. Raised in Castlebar, the return to the rural environment has allowed her to maintain a discreet life, away from the media spotlight, while her work continues to be translated around the world and her political opinions shake up the British debate.

"The current British government has decided to curtail the basic rights of its citizens, including the right to read and express dissenting opinions, in order to protect its relationship with Israel," Rooney concludes in his article. His stance has sparked a heated debate about the limits of freedom of expression, the role of cultural institutions, and the very definition of terrorism at a time when British politics also exist in the realm of ideas and words.