Climate academic Andreas Malm barred from entering UK over Palestinian link

Climate academic Andreas Malm has been barred from entering the United Kingdom ahead of a scheduled conference appearance alongside Huda Ammori, a co-founder of the banned organisation Palestine Action.

Malm, the author of How to Blow Up a Pipeline and an associate professor of human ecology at Lund University in Sweden, said immigration officials informed him that his presence in Britain “may not be considered to be conducive to the public good”. He described the decision as “scandalous” and appealed to the government to reverse it. Malm was due to headline an event organised by Tribune magazine next week, examining “Washington’s global reign of terror and Britain’s role in reinforcing it”.

His discussion with Ammori was expected to address the consequences of Palestine Action’s proscription, including its effect on novelist Sally Rooney, who has withdrawn her books from sale in Britain over her support for the group. The event was arranged to coincide with the beginning of a Supreme Court challenge to the ban next Wednesday. Malm had also been scheduled to appear on BBC Radio 4’s Radical With Gabriel Gatehouse programme during his visit.

“I am deeply dismayed at this sudden ban on travelling to the UK,” he said. “I have been going to the UK for decades – this is where I did my archival research for my PhD dissertation and lectured at dozens of universities and participated in even more conferences.” Calling for the decision to be reconsidered, Malm questioned whether the government was respecting freedom of expression and other democratic rights.

“One was under the impression that the Burnham government had slightly more respect for the basic notions of freedom of expression and other democratic rights. I appeal for this decision to be overturned,” he said. The Home Office declined to discuss the circumstances, saying it did not comment on individual cases. Rooney condemned the restriction, describing it as both an attack on an academic and a loss to public debate in Britain.

“Andreas Malm is among the most brilliant and influential intellectuals working in Europe today,” she said. “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.”

Earlier this year, American left-wing commentators Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker were also barred from entering Britain on grounds that their presence might not be conducive to the public good. Tribune editor Oliver Eagleton said Malm had been invited to discuss concerns about restrictions on expression following Palestine Action’s proscription.

“Ironically, Andreas was coming to London to speak at our event about the unprecedented attacks on free speech unleashed by the proscription of Palestine Action, including the effective ban on Sally Rooney’s books, but he has now been banned himself,” Eagleton said. “He is being censored for speaking out about censorship, in truly Orwellian fashion.”

Eagleton accused Andy Burnham’s government of continuing what he described as “authoritarian overreach” under former prime minister Keir Starmer. He argued that writers and academics supporting Palestinians and the rights of protesters were increasingly being treated as terrorists.

Malm’s books have won international awards and influenced activism concerning environmental justice and Palestinian rights. How to Blow Up a Pipeline was also adapted into a film. He has regularly visited Britain for academic engagements, including lectures at Oxford, Cambridge and King’s College London.