The NUS assault on free speech mimics the fascism of apartheid
by Karen Harradine, TCW:
I grew up under apartheid so I recognise fascism when I see it. The NUS are leading this current generation of students down a dark path of destruction and racism, so similar to apartheid. Its creation of ‘safe spaces’ reminds me of the whites-only areas enforced by the apartheid government.
The restriction of free speech, advocated by the NUS through their no-platforming policy, copies the apartheid government habit of closing down newspapers that criticised its heinous actions. We had our very own propaganda ‘trigger warnings’ about the ANC. Nelson Mandela’s autobiography was banned lest it ‘upset us’. The concept of ‘cultural appropriation’ was banned by the apartheid law against mixed race marriages. The NUS and their acolytes are not showing me anything new. They would make the architects of apartheid proud with their creation of such fascist policies. The NUS has become a dangerous parody of itself.
The NUS is made up of 600 student unions and claims to represent seven million students. This adds up to a lot of young people being sullied by an ideology that teaches them that their perceived rights and victimhood are more important than free speech and democracy. My experiences in apartheid South Africa showed me that free speech is a gift, which the NUS is determined to destroy. Its dictatorial policies have meant that the one thing that students fear most – being called racist – is what they have become.
Its contorted virtue signalling is apparent in its support for Islamic hate preachers who spread hostility and anti-Semitism on campuses, while accusing anti-racist campaigner Nick Lowles of Islamophobia and banning him. In a fit of misogyny the NUS also tried to censor feminist Germaine Greer, branding her transphobic.
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