Way back in 1968
while an Art Student I joined the N.U.S.
This was during
the time of the student's revolt and there were, sit -ins and rallies an marches, we were fighting
for the rights that today’s students take for granted and
Freedom of Speech was high on the agenda.
While politicians
attempted to curb our activities by limiting the number of people who
could assemble in one place, we continued to fight on. Some were
arrested for their beliefs, others lost their place at University or
College and the removal of grants was always a threat.
Over the years I
have watched with concern successive generations of N.U.S. Committees
preside over the erosion of these rights with barely a murmur of
decent.
Student Grants
have been replaced with Loans insufficient to support the students
needs. Student accommodation has become
extortionately expensive and Universities have
increased their fees far beyond what is
reasonable or even in keeping with the standard of Further Education
on offer at their establishments.
Finally they
appear to have found a cause.
This
morning I watched in disbelief as N.U.S.-members
defended their decision to ban certain groups from sharing their
platform at debates. In effect they are refusing to allow anyone
who disagrees with them to be heard, and in doing so have
effectively ended the right to free speech within the N.U.S.
Listening to
their arguments on “Victoria Derbyshire” I was struck by
their self satisfied snugness about what they were doing and their
unwillingness to engage with the views of others which differed from
their own.
They spoke
of creating a “safe place” for their members who are, they
claimed intimidated by having their beliefs challenged. What
are they really afraid of?
Having reached
the exalted position of a place at University it seems odd that these
minor dictators have failed to grasp the very basic fact that in
order to have a debate all sides of an argument must be represented.
One young man,
dressed as if acting in a play about the young Lenin
spoke quite rudely to Peter Tatchell a former N.U.S
President and now a politician about “gay rights” and was joined
by another young man even more offensive than himself.
Peter Tatchell
has championed Gay Rights for the whole of his adult
life and from a time when the public was far less tolerant of
homosexuality than, thankfully it is today. He has been banned
from speaking on any N.U.S. platform, because what he has to say
makes for uncomfortable listening.
Entire
organisations have been blacklisted in order that no one should be
offended by having to listen to a point of view which differs from
their own. Or, God help us, something not quite P.C!
I have news for
these young “lions”. One
cannot edit life!
It is dangerous
out there and there are people who's opinions are different
and challenging, even down right unacceptable,
and they had better find this out sooner rather than later.
When the delicate
little flowers whom the N.U.S.governing body purport to
be protecting emerge in to the real world they will meet with racism,
sexism, religious prejudice of all kinds, they will encounter
homophobia, political extremism and every kind of small minded
bigotry, for which they will not be prepared.
If you lump
the arguments about feminism, racism and all the rest together
they can NEVER matter as much as every man's right to free
speech, without which no real discussion can take place.
These young
people have no experience of life and yet they feel it their right to
deny others the chance to listen to and discuss the views of those
who have been instrumental in shaping the world in which they grew
up.
They are denying
their members the right to gain for themselves an
informed opinion and this is wrong on every level.
Every generation
wants to change the world, that is natural, but the stance taken by
the N.U.S will be the cause of a great change for the worse.
An entire
generation is sleepwalking into a world where they will no longer be
able to speak their mind, I find that terrifying,don't you?
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