Another BNP debate cancelled

[robotsmfc]

I'm not very happy at the moment. The reason for which is that I've discovered that I'm a member of a violent, fascist organisation through no fault of my own other than my status as a student.

That organisation is none other than the NUS - a body supposedly in place to look out for the interests of students - who have threatened Durham University with both legal action and, worst of all, violence, in order to get the Durham Union's debate on Multiculturalism cancelled.

When the NUS found out that the debating union were planning to hold a debate with Andrew Brons MEP and another BNP councillor under the motion 'This house supports a multicultural Britain', they sent a rather rude letter to the Durham SU, the Durham Union Society and the University Vice Chancellor. This letter, ironically from the anti-fascism convenor of the NUS (why they need one of those for a student union, I don't know), stated that the University was breaking equality laws (by treating the BNP like everyone else!) and could face legal action, as well as warning that the NUS was co-ordinating a violent protest outside the debating hall on the proposed night (again, rather humourously at the gates of the castle and opposite the cathedral) along with Unite Against Fascism, and if anyone got hurt then it would be the fault of the University!

If anyone is interested, I could post the letter on here for your collective scrutiny.

It is absolute madness, and painfully ironic, that the University has had to cancel a debate after being threatened and blackmailed by the anti-fascist wing of a body which is supposed to be representing its students against exactly that sort of bullying and foul play. The NUS ought to be ashamed of themselves and I don't think they will be hearing the last of this. They did the same thing to Oxford (or possibly Cambridge - one of the two) when they had a debate planned on the same issue. It seems that whenever anyone has the balls to stand up to the BNP (and let's face it, with two BNP members on one side and a Tory MP and an Asian political commentator and a load of students on the other, there was no way they were going to come out of this well) the anti-fascist groups try to stop them. Unfortunately they can't see how ironic, hypocritical and counter-productive this is.

[thevicar]

They did the same to UCLU debating society back in '99 and even picketed a few of our other debates - anything to do with Israel / Palestine was a big no no. We had some fairly 'interesting' guests who fairly frequently proved themselves to be bigoted arses.

Back then the view of debating societies was that they were elitist organisations (they are to some extent) and they were an easy target for the militant left that controlled a lot of the NUS. NUS has made a complete hash of protecting students for the last 15 years, can't see why they would change any time soon.

[loy PRA]

Well, I sympathise with you wholeheartedly.

I'm a former member of the Public and Commercial Service Union who recently proposed a full ban on all BNP members being recruited or working for the Civil Service on the grounds that we're a diverse organisation. You can immediately see two flaws in this argument; how exactly can you ask or examine one's political affiliation during the recruitment phase and secondly as long as their political beliefs don't interfere with their employment (that principle could be applied to all of us) then why exactly do we have to organise some sort of witch hunt?

We had one (one!) vote against this motion (Newcastle East) at Conference and my own representative from Gateshead, despite having prattled on about her opposition to this motion being against her 'core values' and 'social justice' tamely captiulated to the mob. The wider union, although not explicitly stated, threatened legal action and certain robust 'reps' aggressively bullied and cajoled members into supporting the ban.

Seems that Unionisation, either NUS or PCS seem to be less worried about the influence of the BNP and more concerned with trying to drag themselves down to the same level to have a bit of a face of. Dispicable state of play. For what it's worth I'd ignore the NUS and go ahead with it, I'd even go as far as showing up to give my support for the debate.

Perhaps empathy, rather than sympathy, is the more appropriate word!

[robotsmfc]

These people are no better than what they claim to oppose.

[Col ISIHAC.]

Funny.
I am still working on the assumption that the Civil Service - working as it does, for the Govt of the day, is essentially a-political and also that the PCS; despite being run by a staunch socialist, with a tray of chips on each shoulder, has no formal political affiliations. How then, can an extreme at either end of the political spectrum be deemed worthy of debate by Serwotka and chums?

He's the reason I left the union. I have not seen anything which suggests I was hasty in doing so.

[readinglad]

BNP video very funny www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QAvkFS_cgk

[Col ISIHAC.]

Clever.
Scary just how easy it is to do though