Friday 5 February 2010

Upon The Holy Hills

Fuss and bother that a BNP MEP and a BNP Councillor are to come and speak against multiculturalism in a building owned by God's Own University and to an audience made up largely or entirely of its students. I'd have them on Desert Island Discs, and Mock The Week, and anything else you care to name. The more rope with which to hang themselves, the better.

I cannot see why there should be a No Platform policy for the BNP but not for Stalinists, Islamists, Trotskyists, Likudniks, the old hired help of apartheid South Africa and Pinochet's Chile, or people who believe the Provisional Army Council to be the sovereign body throughout Ireland, among others.

And perhaps someone at Durham will have the gumption to ask these two speakers, both of whom are from Yorkshire, why, if their party is the voice of the white working class (in which case it would the only ever working-class Fascist movement), it does so pitifully badly in the North East that no one in elected office here could be found to come and speak? Are the North East in general and County Durham in particular not white enough, or not working-class enough, or both?

6 comments:

  1. Have you read the NUS's astonishing letter telling the DUS, VC and Durham University Students' Union to cancel the debate, threatening legal action and busloads of UAF hands to stir up violence if they let it go ahead? It really is astonishing.

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  2. They have gone and cancelled the debate - http://www.dus.org.uk/Joint_Statement_-_Debate_cancelled -

    "Durham Union Society (DUS), with the support of Durham University, has today announced that it has had to cancel plans for a debate entitled
    'This House believes in a Multicultural Britain' in Durham City, scheduled for Friday 12 February.

    The DUS had invited political commentator and advisor, Kulveer Ranger, and Conservative MP Edward Leigh to propose the motion, and elected British National Party (BNP) representatives Andrew Brons MEP and Councillor Chris Beverley to speak in opposition.

    The decision to cancel the debate was taken by both the DUS, a long-established, independent debating society, and the University, after extensive consultations with the Police on the issue of public safety. While the debate was to be open to DUS members only, evidence of an escalation in planned protests and violence outside the chamber from both anti-fascist and fascist groups had increased the risk of public disorder and intimidation to students and staff.

    DUS President Anna Birley said: "There has been mounting interest in the debate with both concerned and very supportive feedback from students and staff. I am confident that the debate would have been intelligent and responsible and an opportunity for our membership to expose and challenge any offensive views. I am disappointed that the focus has been moved away from a debate about multiculturalism to a planned confrontation outside of the chamber.

    "I respect the right of groups to protest peacefully, but when a minority of both fascist and anti-fascist groups use peaceful protests and a controversial debate as a pretext for threatening behaviour, we must prioritise the safety of students attending the debate. I'm particularly concerned that the National Union of Students (NUS), which the DUS has no affiliation with, had planned to go out of their way to bring coaches of students to Durham, putting both their students and our members between rival groups of impassioned demonstrators."

    The University, which had initially given consent for the debate to take place on its premises after careful consideration of its code of practice and statutes which preserve 'freedom of expression' within the University's estate, was supportive of the Society's decision to call-off the debate when it became clear that the safety of students, staff and visitors outside of the debating chamber could not be guaranteed.

    Carolyn Fowler, the University's Registrar said: "The welfare of students and staff has always been our first priority and the University statutes clearly state that any threat to public safety supersedes the importance of freedom of expression, so we fully support the decision of DUS to cancel the debate on these grounds. The University was not prepared to provide an occasion for external extremist groups to engage in provocative and intimidating demonstrations that could endanger people and property.

    "The views of the BNP are diametrically opposed to Durham University's expressed ethos of cultural-diversity and tolerance. We welcome staff and students of all cultures and faiths and from all parts of the world."

    Durham University has the highest percentage of international staff of any UK University and is proud to welcome more than 1800 international students from over 160 countries."

    Appalling.

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  3. I wonder why they put up with this? If there is a better use for the police than protecting freedom of speech and arresting those who plan and commit violence in order to express it, I do not know of one.

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  4. Fear of being sued if anyone were injured?

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  5. Are you peeved that this has not received the attention paid to Griffin and Irving at the Oxford Union?

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  6. Not at all. I said at that time, that the amount of attention being paid to a student organisation was ridiculous both absolutely and because the grown-up City of Oxford was politically one of the most interesting places in the country. It still is.

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