Blog Index

 

  • Extremism from All Sides: The Hate Continues on Campus by Henry George

    January 28, 2019

    November and December again saw Islamist speakers gain unfettered access to students to spread their divisive ideology. Behind the badge of civil discourse lies individuals with a host of extremist views. Universities that hosted such speakers included: Roehampton and Middlesex, Oxford University and University of London, Brunel. The speakers were Yahya Raaby and Musa Adnan, ...
  • Who are Generation Identity?

    October 9, 2018

    Due to the recent visits paid by Generation Identity to university campuses in London, Wolverhampton and Manchester, we tasked Student Rights Research Assistant Ajay Taheem to look into the history of the group, and report on his findings…   Who are Generation Identity? In October 2017, a banner was hung from Westminster Bridge stating “Defend London. ...
  • Prevent plays a decisive role in challenging Far-Right extremism

    July 24, 2018

    Home Office and Police figures have shown that the number of Far-Right referrals to Prevent’s Channel programme have risen significantly in recent times. The proportion has increased from a quarter of all referrals in 2015 to around a third in 2016. In certain parts of the country these referrals reportedly outnumber all other cases, including ...
  • Far left masked anarchists violently shut down libertarian event at King’s College London

    March 6, 2018

    On 5 March 2018, the King’s College Libertarian Society attempted to host an event featuring Israeli speaker Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute and controversial YouTube vlogger ‘Sargon of Akkad’ (Carl Benjamin). Both speakers were due to talk about freedom of expression as well as ‘objectivism’, the libertarian philosophy created by Russian-American author Ayn ...
  • Anti-Israel activists intimidate students at King’s College London

    February 14, 2018

    On Monday 12 February, former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Likud Party politician Dan Meridor gave a speech entitled ‘Threats and Challenges’ to students at the Strand Campus of King’s College London (KCL). Meridor spoke about his long career in Israeli politics, the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and also wider geopolitical ...
  • UK Government pledges to fund student trips to Auschwitz to combat anti-Semitism

    January 23, 2018

    In the lead up to Holocaust Memorial Day 2018, the UK government has announced that it will partner with the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) and the Holocaust Education Trust (HET) in sending 200 university students from across the UK to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Nazi extermination camp in Poland. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local ...
  • ‘Anti-Semitic Pseudoscience’ promoted at the University of Warwick

    January 19, 2018

    On 17 January 2018, the Warwick for Justice in Palestine group hosted an event at the University of Warwick, which has been described by pro-Israel blogger David Collier as “anti-Semitic pseudoscience”. The talk, which was delivered by KCL Research Fellow Dr. Siggie Vertommen, was entitled “Anticolonial Resistance is Fertile: Sperm Smuggling and Birth Strikes in ...
  • UCL investigates secret eugenics conference promoting racism on campus

    January 12, 2018

    A secret eugenics conference that was held at University College London (UCL) is being investigated by university authorities. The event, entitled “The London Conference on Intelligence”, has taken place at least four times since its inception in 2014. The conference was organised by James Thompson, an honorary Professor of Psychology at UCL. It featured a number ...
  • Extremists target Birmingham campuses in the lead up to Christmas

    December 19, 2017

    Although students are already heading home for the Christmas holiday, extremists are still appearing on campuses. This was very much the case in Birmingham. Between 15 and 17 December, the University of Birmingham Islamic Society hosted controversial American preacher Abdul Nasir Jangda. According to the event description, Jangda gave a khutbah (sermon) as well as a ...
  • Student Rights submits written evidence to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Freedom of Speech

    December 14, 2017

    Between November and December 2017, the Joint Committee on Human Rights has held an inquiry into the state of freedom of speech in universities. So far they have received testimonies from a range of expert witnesses who are distinguished in the fields of academia, politics, law, journalism and wider civil society. ​The scope of this parliamentary ...
  • UWE Student Union President legitimises MEND extremists

    December 8, 2017

    A recent report by The Henry Jackson Society entitled ‘MEND: Islamists Masquerading As Civil Libertarians’ highlights that MEND meets the government’s definition of extremism. Several senior officials in MEND have expressed sympathy for terrorism both in the UK and overseas, peddled anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and attacked liberal Muslim groups who challenge extremism. MEND has been incredibly ...
  • ‘Students Not Suspects’ tour with convicted CAGE speaker 

    November 15, 2017

    ‘Students Not Suspects’ begin new tour with CAGE speaker convicted of terror offence As part of ‘Islamophobia Awareness Month’, the NUS have announced that a new ‘Students Not Suspects’ tour will visit campuses across the UK. It is being sponsored and co-hosted with the NUS Black Students’ Campaign, the NUS Women’s Campaign, and the Federation of ...
  • Student unions reveal hypocrisy and absurdity over speaker policies  

    November 2, 2017

    Recent news stories have shown that controversial yet mainstream speakers continue to be targeted by speaker policies on university campuses. In recent years, external speaker policies have been selectively applied at a number of campuses, targeting high profile progressive figures such as Germaine Greer, Maryam Nawazie and Peter Tatchell. In the past two weeks, other controversial ...
  • UCL due to host Hamas apologist Azzam Tamimi

    October 27, 2017

    A statement issued by the Union of Jewish Students said: “We are deeply disappointed that UCL Union and UCL have allowed an event hosting Miko Peled and Dr Azzam Tamimi to take place despite the valid concerns that we, UCL J-Soc and UCL Friends of Israel Society have raised. By providing a platform for these ...
  • Government announces tough measures against university censorship

    October 20, 2017

    Jo Johnson, the Minister for Universities, has announced that the government is prepared to use fines and other sanctions against universities and student unions that refuse to uphold freedom of expression. ​The Office for Students (OfS), a new government regulator, will replace the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in April 2018. The OfS could ...
  • Extremist group ‘Sikh Youth UK’ targets students with anti-Muslim film

    October 18, 2017

    The extremist organisation Sikh Youth UK has showcased a film demonising Muslims as “predatory sex groomers”, and claims to have screened the film at a number of university campuses, including student societies at Coventry, Nottingham, Nottingham Trent, Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Brunel, Birmingham City, Birmingham and Aston. The documentary, entitled ‘Misused Trust’, contains the fictional account of ...
  • Extremist-linked leaflets distributed at Freshers’ Fairs

    October 16, 2017

    Freshers’ Week is finally over. Freshers’ fairs, usually hosted by student unions at most campuses between the middle of September and early October, allows a range of student societies to hand out promotional literature and sign up new members. It is also a perfect opportunity for extremists to target students. This year was no different. Student ...
  • SOAS plays host to anti-Israel activist Jackie Walker

    September 15, 2017

    On Wednesday 13 September, the Khalili Lecture Theatre at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) hosted a performance entitled ‘The Lynching’ with controversial anti-Israel activist Jackie Walker. The event was advertised as “a one-woman show” and was co-hosted by SOAS Palestine Society and a group calling itself ‘Free Speech on Israel’. This was ...
  • ‘Safeguarding Against Extremism in Higher Education’: Conference Review

    September 14, 2017

    Last week, Public Policy Exchange held a conference on extremism at the Strand Palace Hotel. The conference, entitled ‘Safeguarding Against Extremism in Higher Education: Preventing Hate and Protecting Freedoms’, featured distinguished speakers from a variety of fields, including law, academia, and the civil service. It gave an invaluable insight into the current legislation surrounding extremism ...
  • UK Government distances itself from the British University in Egypt over antisemitism scandal

    August 10, 2017

    International partnerships undoubtedly bring many social and economic benefits to students and academics. They can also bring unwanted baggage. British universities that partner or set up satellite campuses across the world can run into serious issues related to unethical funding sources, links to extremism and other possible conflicts of interest. This has been very much the ...
  • Recent successes highlight support for Prevent

    August 9, 2017

    It’s been a busy time for Prevent. The past weeks have been awash with media stories of key Prevent successes. A high profile legal challenge to the government’s Prevent strategy was defeated at the High Court on 26 July 2017. In late 2016, Salman Butt took legal action against the government. His appeal for judicial review ...
  • Universities UK unknowingly plays host to Hizb Ut-Tahrir

    August 2, 2017

    It has been revealed that Jamal Harwood, a spokesman for the British branch of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, was invited to give a talk earlier this year at the London headquarters of Universities UK.His talk, entitled “Is the Caliphate a viable alternative for the Middle East?”, took place in April 2017 at the Woburn House Conference ...
  • London’s Palestine Expo reveals weaknesses of the UK’s counter-extremism strategy

    July 13, 2017

    Last weekend (8-9 July), Palestine Expo 2017 took place at the QEII Centre, a government owned building in the heart of Westminster. Many thousands attended a series of events intended to celebrate Palestinian culture. In practice, the conference also served as a platform for controversial speakers with a history of extremism. The Communities Minister Sajid Javid ...
  • Salford Student President who opposes Prevent reveals troubling views on social media

    July 5, 2017

    The news that Salman Abedi, the Manchester bomber, was briefly a student at Salford University between 2014 and 2016, has attracted a large amount of media attention. Questions have been raised about the extent of the university’s provision of staff training in extremism as well as their awareness of Abedi’s increasingly radical views, his frequent ...
  • Controversial group CAGE uses Facebook to ‘suggest’ advertisement

    June 30, 2017

    Student Rights recently received a ‘suggested video’ on Facebook from CAGE, the controversial prisoner lobby group, which was entitled ‘10 Reasons to donate to CAGE’. The video lists some of these reasons, including their belief that they speak “truth to power”, “campaign against Prevent”, “ ...