NUS ban George Galloway and cut all ties

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George Galloway Banned By The NUS For Julian Assange 'Rape' Comments
Dina Rickman
The Huffington Post UK
27/09/2012

The National Union of Students has banned George Galloway for being a "rape denier", despite a last-ditch plea from a member of his office who claimed his views on Julian Assange are "widely held on the left of the political spectrum." The was motion passed against the Respect MP came after he made outspoken comments about the case of Assange, who is accused of sex crimes. Two other politicians who have made controversial comments about rape, Tory MEP Roger Helmer and Andrew Brons, MEP for the BNP, have also been banned. Galloway, MP for Bradford West said in a podcast that the allegations against Assange "don't constitute rape" and were at worst "bad sexual etiquette."

An NUS spokesperson told The Huffington Post UK: “NUS believes that there is a culture of undermining rape victims and rejects attempts to glorify, joke about or dismiss rape. The motion passed yesterday confirms that NUS shall not offer a platform to speakers who are rape deniers or apologists, or support events where such individuals speak. NUS will campaign to tackle attitudes on campus that trivialise sexual assault or seek to blame survivors, and instead promote a better understanding of consent.”

Galloway had made a last-ditch attempt to prevent the ban, with a representative from his office, Rob Hoveman, emailing members of the students' body national executive committee (NEC) to claim "George’s view that Assange has been set up has been one widely held on the left of the political spectrum and by those who have examined the detail of the allegations against him in the public domain."

An NUS source verified the email to The Huffington Post UK, saying a number of members of their NEC had received the letter. Following the comments he was denounced by his then party leader, Salma Yaqoob, and his comments were branded "offensive and deeply concerning" by Rape Crisis. He was also sacked from his job as a columnist for Scottish political magazine Holyrood. The Huffington Post UK could not reach a representative of George Galloway for comment on the ban, despite repeated attempts.

The motion was passed by 24 to 6 votes.

READ: Galloway's email in full

Dear NUS Executive Member,

We are extremely surprised to learn that the NUS Executive plans to debate a motion to ban George Galloway from speaking at NUS organised events and NUS elected officers from speaking on platforms with George Galloway. No-one from the NUS Executive planning to move or support this motion has bothered to contact him or his office to seek clarification of his views on the matters that have provoked this extraordinary move, not that the NUS Executive has ever invited him to speak on its platforms in recent years.

I am however pleased to provide you with clarification of George Galloway’s views both on rape and Julian Assange, views which have been subject to widespread misinterpretation since the podcast in which he expressed views about Julian Assange.

Firstly, on the issue of rape, George Galloway has always held and continues to hold the following positions. No always means no, and never means yes. Consent must be present for any sexual intercourse or other sexual contact. Without meaningful consent, sexual contact will imply sexual assault or rape. Meaningful consent cannot be given if someone is not conscious and sexual intercourse in such circumstances could therefore prima facie imply the possibility of rape. He is also mindful that rape has been severely under-reported over many years because of fear on the part of women, and that it has proved difficult to secure rape convictions in many cases where rape has occurred. He wholeheartedly welcomes the work done by many women’s groups and others to assist women who have suffered domestic and sexual violence and to change attitudes on these issues and he deplores the closure of projects to assist women in these circumstances, and especially women’s refuges, as a result of government and local government spending cuts.

Secondly, on the issue of Julian Assange, he holds the view, based on the evidence in the public domain, that Julian Assange has been set up by those who had most to lose from the exposure by Julian Assange and Wikileaks of the support for murder, torture, rape and abuse of those whom Western Imperialism has deemed enemies of its interests or “collateral damage” as it invades and occupies other people’s countries. This is what he was addressing in his podcast, the specific issue of Julian Assange. He was not seeking to generalise on the wider issues of the definition of rape in other cases where very different factors and evidence is involved. George Galloway also believes that the extradition demand on Julian Assange should be dropped and the Swedish authorities should guarantee that he will not be extradited to the United States where he could face a life sentence in the appalling conditions being inflicted on Bradley Manning for his whistle-blowing.

I hope this will at least clarify for you where he stands. As far as we are concerned, there may be those who still disagree with his assessment of the Julian Assange case, although George’s view that Assange has been set up has been one widely held on the left of the political spectrum and by those who have examined the detail of the allegations against him in the public domain, including presumably by the Stop the War Coalition who gave a platform to Julian Assange at a rally in Trafalgar Square last year long after the allegations had arisen. We certainly do not see any justification in this legitimate disagreement for imposing a policy of no platform on him and indeed we believe such a move would bring the NUS Executive into disrepute in the eyes of many.

With best wishes,

Rob Hoveman
Office of George Galloway MP

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As a comment on there says, I'm sure this will be quite upsetting for GG.

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George Galloway sues NUS over 'rape denier' comments
bbc.co.uk
1st October 2012

Respect MP George Galloway is suing the National Union of Students for libel after it labelled him a "rape denier". Campaigners had earlier criticised his remarks on Julian Assange, who denies sexual assault claims. He was quoted as saying the Wikileaks founder was accused of nothing more than "bad sexual etiquette". A spokesman said the NUS comments were "defamatory" and "offensive" and the MP was "absolutely clear that no means no" and "non consensual sex is rape".

The action has been prompted by the NUS description of Mr Galloway and its ban on him from speaking at events affiliated to the union. A spokesman for Bradford West MP Mr Galloway said: "The NUS can ban whoever they want, but George is categorically not a rape denier." Mr Assange, 40, is wanted in Sweden for questioning on sexual assault allegations made by two women. In August, Mr Galloway, who had also said the women's claims were "totally unproven" and the Wikileaks founder had been "set up", was criticised by anti-rape campaigners.

Any damages recovered from his legal action "will be donated to the defence fund for Julian Assange and Bradley Manning".

A spokesman for the NUS said it was yet receive a letter from Mr Galloway's lawyers, and would not comment until it had. Mr Galloway himself was unavailable for comment because he is in Venezuela ahead of the country's presidential elections.

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[major.tom]

Some might call GG letigious, but if you feel others are mis-representing your views in a manner that causes injury, what other option is there but to try to yell louder than your critics? That sort of battle is hard to win, especially when most of your enemies own all the megaphones.

[gordonrussell]

Kate Connelly
counterfire.org

Leading anti-war campaigner and socialist Tony Benn will be ‘no platformed’ like Tommy Robinson of the racist EDL and Nick Griffin of the fascist BNP if a motion to the National Union of Students gets passed this week. If local student unions follow the national union then Tony Benn may be refused a platform in any student union in the country.

Refusing to allow fascists a platform has long been the policy of the left and the student movement. But in a remarkably ill-thought out move the National Executive of NUS is about to apply the same policy to Tony Benn and Respect MP George Galloway.

The reasons given for this unusual step are comments they made about the charge that Wikileaks whistleblower Julian Assange raped two women in Sweden. The motion states that Galloway ‘referred to a man inserting his penis into a sleeping woman as, “bad sexual etiquette’ and that Tony Benn said of the Assange case, “the charges are that it was a non-consensual relationship. Well that’s very different from rape”.’

Tony Benn has since, at the request of Goldsmith Students Union, of which he is the honoury president, retracted his remarks, apologised and restated his life-long commitment to women’s liberation. But still the NUS is persisting with its resolution. The comments in both Galloway’s and Benn’s cases are of course wrong. It is wrong to state that non-consensual sex is not rape, and it was wrong to try to defend Assange from extradition by dismissing the claims of the women involved. But beyond this, there is a fundamental problem by responding to these comments by trying to no platform Benn and Galloway. 'No platform' is an exceptional position that the Left has typically campaigned for Unions and other organisations to adopt in the fight against Fascism.

It is an unprecedented departure from the left’s defence of freedom of speech on the grounds that there can be no free speech for those who would deny such freedoms to others. There can be no democracy for those who would use genocide and extermination to end democracy.

These conditions clearly do not apply in this case. It is the exceptional danger posed by Fascism that prompted the tactic of no platform to be applied exclusively to fascists. To apply it indiscriminately to other political views we oppose means fascists cannot be isolated by the no platform policy as an exceptional threat.

Backward ideas about rape are profoundly upsetting and damaging to the fight against women’s oppression. However, the prevalence of these ideas (which the motion acknowledges) points to the fact that they stem from the sexist society in which we live. Therefore it is within society that we have to fight these ideas.

Surely it is much better to have Tony Benn, a figure that many people look up to as an inspiration, apologise and restate his commitment to women’s liberation as he has done, than to let damaging remarks remain unretracted where they can continue to damage and distract our movement. This is a fight we can win – we can change people’s minds, we can challenge sexism in our movement.

Astoundingly, if the writers of the motion genuinely believe these remarks have put Benn and Galloway beyond the pale, then there are a lot of people missing who should be named in this motion.

While the motion makes brief reference to Roger Helmer (UKIP MEP) and Andrew Brons (an MEP for the fascist BNP and a former leader of the fascist National Front), why are the members of the Coalition government who are overseeing massive cuts to rape crisis and domestic violence services not in this motion?

Why not the whole of the Cambridge Union Society who invited Dominique Strauss-Kahn to speak there earlier this year? Why not those government ministers whose refusal to demand that Assange will not be extradited from Sweden to the US is effectively prolonging the injustice to the women involved? All these people have gone far further than to make an offensive remark.

What’s more, the NUS would not dream of no platforming war criminal Tony Blair. And the NUS quite regularly opens its platforms to Zionists. In this context the attempt to no platform Tony Benn and Galloway looks absurd.

And why is the NUS, which has let its members down so badly over the fight against fees and cuts, not organising against the closure of rape crisis centres? Where are the leaflets, the posters, the protests, the pickets and the demos?

Tony Benn was a wholehearted supporter of the student movement of 2010. Which is more than the NUS executive can claim. It would be better if the NUS spent less time either censuring or no platforming Tony Benn and George Galloway and more time actually defending its members.

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Tony Benn is in the firing line too

[MegaChairmanMao]

It's been my opinion for a while that the NUS is full of yuppie airheads and this seems to prove it. I hope Galloway sues the pants off them.

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Oxford Union draws feminist flak for hosting Galloway
Alis Lewis
19th October 2012
oxfordstudent.com

The Oxford Union welcomed controversial MP George Galloway on Tuesday, despite considerable outcry surrounding his visit. The Respect Party MP, who Union President John Lee called “one of the most famous politicians in the world”, is currently suing the National Union of Students (NUS) prompted by their description of him as a “rape denier” and their banning of him from speaking at events affiliated to the union.

A male student from Ruskin College said that whilst the Oxford Union is not affiliated with the NUS they are still betraying the student organization by giving Galloway a platform to speak. He added: “By suing the NUS, Galloway is effectively suing students. The Union should not be endorsing such a man.” The student wished to remain anonymous “in case Galloway decides to sue me next”.

The Oxford Feminist Network (OFN) also reacted angrily to Galloway’s visit, arranging a protest outside the Union to “make it known that excusing rape is never acceptable.” A statement on the OFN website explained that “(p)latforming a rape apologist when the NUS is discussing an explicit no-platform rule for these sorts of people is a smack in the face to all women.”

Rosie Huzzah agreed with OFN on the Oxford Union Facebook group, saying: “The NUS have banned Galloway from speaking at their events due to him being a rape apologist. By going against the largest student body in the country, what kind of example is the Oxford Union setting for its students? For its women students? This is a blatant disregard for women’s rights and wishes.”

Galloway himself seemed rather unconcerned about the protesters on Monday however, and when questioned about the group congregated outside the Union gates with placards, he said: “I respect their right to protest…now let’s not let this get out of perspective. I’ve said what I said about no always means no.”

“The feminist network might have better targets than me.” He added: “I do not condone rape…My views on rape are the same as I believe yours to be.”

Yet not all students in the audience seem convinced. One student was happy to disrupt the MP, yelling that he was a “misogynistic homophobe”. Perhaps reflecting his recent litigious streak however, Galloway was quick to respond that “that’s defamatory I’ll remind you. You are a foul liar and I will not be accused… of a foul defamatory lie.” Galloway then berated the “viciousness of the comment.”

Another student also faced Galloway’s wrath for questioning him on his support for Julian Assange. He said: “One day the point will come when you will be embarrassed to have asked me that question because you will know what I know. You do not know what I know.” Galloway added that Oxford University students “should be able to smell the rat.”

Galloway’s reception was not entirely unfavourable however, with one student saying: “[Galloway’s] passion is compelling, whether someone agrees [with him] or not.”

The MP was at the Oxford Union to give a talk entitled ‘The World at War’, and during his speech he covered topics including Iran, Afghanistan and the Arab Spring. On Afghanistan, he said: “It has been the worst foreign policy decision since the Boer war…[and] made them hate us more than they already did. No-one has been able to conquer Afghanistan. Even Alexander the Great couldn’t do it.” “David Cameron certainly isn’t great,” he added.

When contacted, John Lee the President of the Union commented: “There was a lot of anticipation in the run-up to Mr Galloway’s appearance at the Union. I’m pleased that the lively discussion inside the debating chamber was mirrored by the protestors who chose to express their opinions outside. The Union has a track record of representing all sides and opinions of the topic under discussion. Mr Galloway’s audience ensured that his appearance was far from an easy ride, asking some fierce questions and receiving equally fierce answers.”

Mr. Galloway was due to visit Bristol University on Tuesday but it is understood that the University retracted their invitation earlier this week.

[MegaChairmanMao]

Clearly a mass demonstration and worthy of media coverage.

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MP George Galloway told he is not welcome at De Montfort University
October 26, 2012
thisisleicestershire.co.uk

Controversial MP George Galloway has been banned from speaking at De Montfort University. The Respect MP, whose views on the Iraq war resulted in his expulsion from the Labour party in 2003, was scheduled to deliver a speech at the university on November 14. However, he has now been told to stay away by its Student Union executive.

The executive say legal issues between Galloway and the National Union of Students (NUS), mean his visit is now deemed "inappropriate." Joseph Hayat, 19, chairman of DMU's Respect Society, organised the event. He said he has been left "infuriated" by the decision and intends to find an alternative venue so Mr Galloway's speech can still go ahead. Mr Hayat said: "It's completely undemocratic and preposterous. Oxford University hosted Mr Galloway recently. Why should students there get to listen to him speak, and not those at DMU? The situation with the NUS was no different then and, ironically, Mr Galloway was intending to speak about the importance of more young people getting into politics, regardless of their political persuasion." He is now looking for alternative venues, not affiliated to the university, to host the event.

Mr Galloway, MP for Bradford West, is suing the NUS for libel following criticism of his remarks about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The NUS branded Mr Galloway's comments "offensive" and said they would no longer share a platform with the MP. DMU Student Union president Lynette Williams, said: "All external speakers are checked for health and safety reasons and De Montfort Students' Union was asked if George Galloway was a suitable external speaker for one of our society's events. While discussing this application, it came to light that Mr Galloway had declared he was going to sue the NUS, who we are affiliated with. NUS represents every student in the country and, in our opinion, an attack on the NUS is an attack on every student, including those at De Montfort University. We feel it would be inappropriate for Mr Galloway to attend an event on campus while in a legal altercation with our affiliate national movement."

A spokesman for DMU added: "The university fully supports the decision and believes the sanction taken is in the best interests of the Students' Union." A spokesman for George Galloway said yesterday: "He is absolutely appalled, but not surprised that the Student Union should do this. "It's a gross infringement of freedom of speech and he is sure that it's not representative of the majority of the student body.''

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