Sorting
Wikipedia on the National Union of Students no-platform policy:
NUS No Platform Policy
No Platform is a policy of the National Union of Students (NUS) of the United Kingdom. Like other no platform policies, it asserts that no proscribed person or organisation should be given a platform to speak, nor should a union officer share a platform with them. The policy traditionally applies to entities that the NUS considers racist or fascist, most notably the British National Party,[1] although the NUS and its liberation campaigns have policies refusing platforms to other people or organisations. The policy does not extend to students’ unions who are part of NUS, although similar policies have also been adopted by its constituent unions.
How the policy works
The No Platform policy, as defined in the NUS’s articles of association provide that no “individuals or members of organisations or groups identified by the Democratic Procedures Committee as holding racist or fascist views” may stand for election to any NUS position, or attend or speak at any NUS function or conference. Furthermore, officers, committee members, or trustees may not share a platform with any racist or fascist.[2] The list of proscribed organisations, as of May 2012, includes the following organisations:[3]
- Al-Muhajiroun;
- British National Party;
- English Defence League;
- Hizb-ut-Tahrir;
- Muslim Public Affairs Committee.
The NUS also has policy refusing platforms to people or organisations for other reasons: the NUS LGBT Campaign (and formerly, also the Women’s Campaign) refuses platforms to those they consider to be transphobic, including Julie Bindel;[4] and the National Executive Committee has policy refusing a platform to those it considers to be rape deniers or rape apologists, following George Galloway‘s statements about rape when asked about the allegations of sexual assault facing Julian Assange.[5]
Let me say this about that:
Julie Bindel does not belong there.
Whether or not you think there should be such a policy, it’s ludicrous that Julie Bindel should be on that list.
Would you mind please expanding on that and explaining why not? Do you mean that the list should be restricted to political parties and organisations (and their members) only? or that transphobia generally isn’t in the same league as racism and fascism? or that Bindel’s particular type of transphobia doesn’t have the power to harm people in the same way as the other examples? (or that she isn’t a transphobe at all, or something else that I haven’t thought of?)
(or that she has more positive examples of activism that the others don’t have?)
(expanding on that – I wish I could edit these posts – she has a lot to powerful and important things to say when it comes to fighting against sexual violence whereas it’s difficult to see the BNP offering anything positive or non-hateful at all)
My point was that it should be self-evident. What the fuck is Julie Bindel doing on a list with 5 groups? What is she doing on a list with groups of that kind? How is Julie Bindel in any way comparable to those 5 groups?
Ok, thanks. Agree with you that groups are more powerful than individuals, and those five groups have done far more damage than people listed there like Galloway and Bindel. Especially those that are directly linked to terrorism and violent extremism. And on top of that, Bindel also has engaged in activism with a tremendous amount of positive impact, like reducing domestic and sexual violence.
(But for the kinds of hate some of them stand for though…it’s not generally self-evident to the people who are vulnerable to the effects of transphobia (like widely-read columns claiming that they are mutilated, that gender reassignment surgery should not be available to them, etc) why prejudice towards them is not comparable to xenophobia and racism towards immigrants, or Islamophobia, for example.)
One more thing though that just grabbed me from the most recent post:
They seriously weren’t sure about not sanctioning ISIS, of all things? That’s unfathomably stupid of them if true, and I can’t even begin to understand the reasoning behind it. There’s no logic there.
Falcon–
The bit you’ve quoted appears to be incorrect. It was actually the UK National Union of Students that couldn’t pass a measure condemning ISIS. The organization’s Black Student Campaign argued that doing so would constitute “blatant Islamophobia.”
The only references I can find to Manchester’s student union doing this are in the Brownworth piece that Ophelia linked to and a column from the highly untrustworthy Breitbart.com, both published yesterday. It looks like either Breitbart lifted the assertion from Brownworth or vice versa.
Bindel wrote a nasty piece about trans-women back in 2004. ISIS wants to exterminate Jews.
How could THAT comparison make for any difficult choice among British ‘progressives?’
Actually, Bindel did earn plenty of scorn and embarrassment ELEVEN years ago. But what is she actually saying and thinking now? Deserved negative attention should not mean censorship. Think of all the shocking tripe that ‘respectable’ public figures can be found to have said or written.
Oh okay, thanks for the correction.
It wasn’t the only nasty piece she’s written, and not just in 2004 – I’ve seen antagonistic and hateful writing from her even within the last year.
I don’t think she compares to ISIS, no.
Like what?
The comment about trans women being “men with beards and penises” from Spiked Online early this year comes to mind.
What comment?
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2015/the-wrong-kind-of-union/#comment-2605598
Comment #5
Links.
I found the spiked online article.
Falcon, please supply links to the quotes in your previous comment; linking to the comment doesn’t help.
I supplied the name of the 2009 article in that comment as a reference for it – it’s called “The Operation That Can Ruin Your Life”, and was featured in Standpoint Magazine:
http://standpointmag.co.uk/the-operation-that-can-ruin-your-life-features-november-09-julie-bindel-transsexuals?page=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C3
You’ve already found the Spiked article so no need for me to link to that one. :)