Maryam Namazie talk disrupted by students

UPDATE 02/12/2015: Goldsmiths ISOC published a statement denying any wrong doing by their members. They claim their members “peacefully expressed their dissent to the disrespectful cartoons” and were in fact subject to “abuse” and “violence” from the Atheist Society. The ISOC once again accused Namazie of being an “Islamophobe” a claimed her presence on campus […]

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UEL Islamophobia event sees NUS officer share panel with extremists

Last Monday, the University of East London (UEL) hosted an event entitled ‘After Paris Horror…Don’t let the Racists Divide Us. No to Islamophobia. Defend Civil Liberties’. It is important that universities remain spaces in which students can both raise awareness of anti-Muslim hatred and freely discuss and criticise government policies. Unfortunately, the event was instead […]

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Brothers Behind Bars event at SOAS

An event at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) last night saw speakers defend convicted terrorists including Munir Farooqi and Anis Sardar. Called ‘Brothers Behind Bars’, the event was organised by the SOAS Muslim Students Association and sought to focus on “the Plight of Muslim Prisoners in the ‘War on Terror’”. The panel […]

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SOAS speakers claim undermined by event history

Last week, following a government press release which ‘named and shamed’ several universities for hosting extreme speakers, one of the institutions identified hit back at these claims. Laura Gibbs, registrar of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), argued in a statement that the college had “not hosted any extremist speakers in the last […]

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‘Students not Suspects’ continues to work with CAGE

Yesterday, the government launched its Counter-Extremism Strategy, which included the expectation that the National Union of Students (NUS) “avoid providing a platform for extremist speakers”. This follows a week in which NUS officers have toured the country spreading misinformation about Prevent, and shared platforms with a CAGE official at a number of events. They have […]

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NUS President denounced for cutting ties with CAGE

A number of activists within the student movement have signed an open letter denouncing the National Union of Students (NUS) President Megan Dunn for issuing a statement pledging to cut NUS ties with CAGE. Following Dunn’s claim that “working with Cage would not be compatible with the NUS’s policies on ‘anti-racism, anti-fascism and how we […]

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Preventing Prevent at SOAS

CAGE Director of Outreach, Moazzam Begg, whitewashed his history of radicalism during a controversial student event at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) earlier this week. The former Guantanamo Bay detainee claimed that: “before Guantanamo and Bagram I wasn’t politicised”. This is stark contrast to what he told the FBI in 2002, when […]

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Government outlines need to challenge campus extremism

The government has clarified that the legal duty for public bodies to “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism” will apply to universities from 21st September. This will put a legal requirement on institutions to have policies in place to challenge on-campus radicalisation, including at extremist events. Guidance […]

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Prime Minister addresses campus extremism in speech

Yesterday, the Prime Minister used a visit to Ninestiles School in Birmingham to give a speech addressing the challenges posed to the UK by extremism. In outlining the ideology espoused by Islamist extremists and detailing how it could be opposed, the Prime Minister touched on many of the issues Student Rights has sought to highlight […]

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