Swedish climate academic Andreas Malm said on Friday, October 30, that he had been refused entry to Britain ahead of a scheduled appearance with a co-founder of Palestine Action. The group is banned under British terrorism laws. Malm said the decision also prevented him from carrying out academic work that was the main reason for his planned visit.
Malm, who works at Lund University in Sweden, told BBC Radio 4 that a Home Office message had informed him his presence was not considered conducive to the public good. He said the message offered no further explanation. The Home Office, Britain's interior ministry, said it did not discuss individual cases.
He suggested the refusal might be connected to an event organized by a socialist magazine for the following Wednesday, where he was scheduled to appear alongside Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori. Malm said his planned remarks concerned the war in Iran. He also said he had neither publicly endorsed nor promoted Palestine Action and had not given the group financial support.
A vocal critic of Israel who has strongly supported the Palestinian movement, Malm was also questioned about his earlier description of Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel as “an act of liberation.” Asked by the BBC whether those remarks might explain the entry decision, he replied that they could. His account did not establish which, if either, of these possible reasons lay behind the refusal.
Malm said he had traveled to Britain for decades for scientific work, archival research and conferences, and that academic activities remained the principal purpose of this trip. He described the restriction as preventing him from working as an academic and intellectual. He is best known for “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” a book arguing that stopping fossil fuel extraction requires radical action.
Britain's Supreme Court is scheduled to hear an appeal the following week concerning Palestine Action's proscription under terrorism legislation. The ban has made expressions of support for the organization a criminal offense. Earlier in October, Irish novelist Sally Rooney said her books would cease to be sold in Britain because of her plans to direct royalties toward supporting the group.
The refusal described by Malm follows other British entry restrictions. In June, Britain blocked left-wing Turkish-American media figure Cenk Uygur and his nephew Hasan Piker from entering to speak at events. Britain has also placed travel bans on far-right Israeli ministers and barred Israelis from attending a prestigious defense studies college in London.
