Challenge all bigotry & hate but also defend free speech
Protest at National Union of Students HQ in London to urge revision of its safe space & no-platform policies, which restrict freedom of expression. Challenge all bigotry & hate but also defend free speech.
Join us!
Thursday 17 March 5-6pm
NUS headquarters
Macadam House, 275 Gray’s Inn Road, London, WC1X 8QB
Nearest tube: Kings Cross MAP: https://goo.gl/lvCimd
Please tweet:
I call on @nusuk to revise its safe space & no-platform policies to facilitate, not restrict, free expression & thought
Take part in the thunderclap campaign: https://goo.gl/xV1H6j
Email the NUS: [email protected]
Statement by the protest organisers:
“We are deeply concerned by the increasing attempts by the National Union of Students (NUS) and its affiliated Student Unions to silence dissenters – including feminists, apostates, LGBTI rights campaigners, anti-racists, anti-fascists and anti-Islamists – through its use of No-Platform and Safe Space policies.
“We stand against all prejudice and discrimination. We agree that free speech does not mean giving bigots a free pass. A defence of free speech includes the right and moral imperative to challenge, oppose and protest bigoted views.
“Educational institutions must be a place for the exchange and criticism of all ideas – even those deemed unpalatable by some – providing they don’t incite violence against peoples or communities. Bigoted ideas are most effectively defeated by open debate, backed up by ethics, reason and evidence.
“The student body is not homogeneous; there will be differences of opinion among students. The NUS’s restrictive policies infringe upon the right of students to hear and challenge dissenting and opposing views.
“We, therefore, call on the NUS to revise its No-Platform and Safe Space policies to facilitate freedom of expression and thought, rather than restrict it.”