Below is a model motion for students to put to their students unions and for consideration at NUS conference.
This students union believes
There is a rise in meetings, debates and publications being suppressed on campus, whether by campus authorities, the state or student unions.
In one particularly alarming case, Birkbeck College management closed a conference because a far-right racist group threatened to protest.
This student union further believes
Free expression is a fundamental human right and crucial to the student, workers’ and liberation movements. No struggle against oppression can succeed without freedom of speech and organisation, and the ability to use them to spread, critique and develop our ideas.
Restrictions on organisation and expression within unions are not the same as those imposed by government or campus authorities, but can still damage student civil society and our ability as a movement to develop our ideas and principles.
If a precedent is set that free speech can be easily curtailed on campus for those holding disagreeable views, that precedent will be turned against us to stifle the student movement, campus protests, radical ideas and liberation struggles.
Student unions and student groups should generally champion free speech and organisation, and advocate their curtailment only in extreme circumstances: particularly the policy of no platform toward fascists.
Fascism is not merely a set of ideas, but a movement of organised violence that has declared war on the existence of oppressed groups and of our movement. We do not seek to drive fascist groups off our campuses and out of our communities just because their ideas are vile and offensive, but as basic physical self-defence.
This student union resolves:
To campaign for freedom of speech and organisation on campus and in broader society.
To remain committed to anti-fascist self-defence, including No Platform.
Comments
No, fascist doesn't mean any
No, fascist doesn't mean any group we don't like. It means fascists. It means far-right groups who by their very nature are violent against the workers' movement, the left and oppressed groups. Eg the BNP or EDL or NF, but not UKIP. Can there be blurred lines? Sure. But the distinction is still valid.
Because of their "civil war" nature, we want to stop fascist or fascistic groups from getting a foothold, if we can. Because of their character, they are an exception - or rather a qualification - to our general policy of defending free speech and organisation.
That definition could include some Islamist groups. There is a determination to be made about the different position of Islamists in this society, given its make up - that's a tactical question.
In fact "no platform for fascists" is a tactical question too. If, in a given community, they're stronger than we are, then obviously trying to disperse them or stop them from organising physically is an non-starter.
As for the rest: yes, we want to defend free speech against the "left" too. A big part of what has alarmed us about all this is "left-wing" student unionists taking an anti-free speech stance against people they don't like. You say:
"Just try and bring in a speaker, or an academic or a musician from Israel and try that out at SOAS or Edinburgh or Cork / Belfast universities, or a theatre or a concert hall - see how far that gets you!"
What in our record and positions makes you think we wouldn't also campaign to defend freedom of speech there?
I'd add that you seem to underestimate the extent to which there is a threat to freedom of speech/organisation from university authorities. And while that is separate from the threat you are concerned about, it intertwines with it.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Sacha Ismail
Down with Phobias: Support Dislikias!
To campaign for freedom of speech and organisation on campus and in broader society.
To remain committed to anti-fascist self-defence, including No Platform.
This is a perfect example of what makes disdain of the left so easy. Is this the best that common sense and common decency in AWL can do?
What on earth does "fascist" mean? Essentially, it means "any group we don't like". Physical self-defense? No Platform? What, do "fascists" attack you "physically" from the "platform"? The primary current spirit of denial of freedom of speech in the UK and Ireland is the mind-set of the socialist-green-muslim alliance.
Am I Islamophobic? Well, I don't get palpitations, shortness of breath and panic attacks. So the word "phobia" shouldn't apply. I do, however, undoubtedly hold high the banner of Islamo-dislikia. And Christo-dislikia. And Judeo-dislikia. And Religion-dislikia in general. And mushy-thinking dislikia too.
"To campaign for freedom of speech and organisation on campus and in broader society." Really! Just try and bring in a speaker, or an academic or a musician from Israel and try that out at SOAS or Edinburgh or Cork / Belfast universities, or a theatre or a concert hall - see how far that gets you!
This commentator resolves that:
Voting for A and Not-A perfectly expresses a culture demeaning to the relationship between language and rational, adult thought and ought to have no place in Socialist cultural baggage.
John Davidson
Israel