UK travel ban condemned as 'drift into authoritarianism' by Swedish academic Andreas Malm

Swedish climate academic Andreas Malm has condemned a travel ban imposed on him by the UK government as a 'drift into authoritarianism'. Malm, the author of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, said he had been 'kept in the dark' by the UK's immigration authorities over the reasons for his electronic travel authorisation (ETA) being revoked.

He has only been told that his presence in the UK is 'not considered to be conducive to the public good'. Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, he said the only plausible rationale for the ban was his advertised appearance at a conference next Wednesday in London alongside Huda Ammori, a co-founder of the proscribed group Palestine Action.

Malm said: 'I cannot see any other explanation... That makes me somehow a terrorist or associated with terrorism, and therefore barred from travelling to the UK. That's pretty scandalous.'

He added: 'What I am going through here is just a very small part of a major trend: this drift into authoritarianism that is targeting the Palestine movement, the climate movement, and others who oppose the destructive forces that are in control of this world. And that's a very sad thing.'

Malm confirmed he would speak via video link at the event organised by Tribune magazine. He said the panel was to discuss the war in Iran; in his words, what is being prevented is a discussion about the drivers of imperial aggression in the Middle East.

In his BBC interview, he denied supporting or helping to finance Palestine Action. He said the only link to Palestine Action is Ammori as a person, asking: if these guilt-by-association links continue, would someone who talks to him also become a threat to the public good — where does that end?

Challenged on whether his description of the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 as an 'act of liberation' could be the reason for the ban, Malm replied: 'It could be. But my views about what happened on 7 October and in Palestine have been in the public realm for a long time. I was most recently in the UK in May.'

The Home Office said it could not discuss individual cases. However, a source said decisions to refuse or cancel an ETA on the grounds that presence in the UK may not be conducive to the public good are based solely on an assessment of the potential risk an individual may pose to UK society.

The travel ban has been widely criticised. Author Sally Rooney said it was a 'sad and frightening act of cultural self-harm'. Green Party leader Zack Polanski wrote on X that it was an extraordinary attack on free speech.

Labour MP Clive Lewis said: 'When any government starts barring academics for their political views, alarm bells should be ringing. If ministers have evidence Andreas Malm is dangerous, produce it. Otherwise, this looks like political censorship dressed up as public safety.' Ammori herself called the ban a 'disgusting attack on free speech' and demanded it be overturned.

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said someone in government should have appreciated the irony of effectively censoring someone who wanted to come to discuss censorship, saying Home Office policy-making has degenerated into dangerous farce. How to Blow Up a Pipeline, which inspired a film of the same name, argues that sabotage and destroying property are morally and strategically justified forms of activism.