We’d like to bring your attention to the sinister motion that is being proposed at the NUIGSU. To give you a brief introduction, for those of you who don’t know us, we are a grassroots radical feminist organisation made up of Irish women and migrant women whose sole aim is to fight for women’s rights.
We found out on social media that our group along with another feminist group Irish Women’s Lobby have been included on a list presented by Conall Mc Callig, a Student Union rep and a People Before Profit activist calling for SU to “automatically oppose any invitation from members to speak at this university”; to “counter-protests” any meeting at which one of the groups in the motion appear; to prohibit officers of the SU to share “a public platform” with members of the listed organisations; to “oppose…any other groups or individuals” who espouse “conspiracy theorist, far-right extremist or discriminatory views.”
A member of our group, Saoirse who is a student at NUIG and is a disability campaigner have received extreme hostility and bullying. Ever since our group was formed last year, we have been smeared as ‘transphobic’ for merely believing in material reality and how material reality impacts women and girls. Hence when another SU rep have posted that they will set fire to ‘transphobes’, we cannot help but question whether NUIG SU promotes violence against women and girls because anyone who knows biology to be true is considered ‘transphobic’ in queer theory/gender ideology.
To call a group of radical feminists who have campaigned and still continue to advocate for pro-choice, gay rights and gay marriage, who are anti-capitalists and anti-patriarchy as “far-right extremists” is ridiculous and makes no logical sense. How has campaigning against Female Genital Mutilation & against the practice of child brides be discriminatory? Is supporting the Nordic Model considered discriminatory? Because it is only discriminatory against pimps and brothel owners who are happy enough for prostitution and sex trafficking to continue.
Girls and women have a right to organise and to be included in groups where their concerns are heard.
According to the Congress notes, Fascism is a form of authoritarian ideology that focuses on power that uses forcible suppression of opposing views and opinion.
But who exactly is suppressing opposing views and opinion, here?
What gives the NUIG SU the right and the moral authority to decide on who to deplatform whenever they want? This is censorship, plain and simple and it is this SU rep displaying authoritarian traits to enforce his own ideologies. In practice, if this motion passes, that would mean that any student showing public support for this group would be actively silenced. A similar motion to this was rejected last year at the National Union Congress for being unconstitutional as the national union/all student unions are meant to be apolitical.
This motion will be decided upon on Monday 22nd March at 6pm and we sincerely hope that this doesn’t push through as it is outrageous and it is a threat to free speech. College is supposed to be a place of learning where your ideas are challenged with facts and information, not propaganda, intimidation and bullying.
Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from UN state that:
- Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
- No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
This means that the motion to de-platform any student to associate freely with our group is a grave human rights violation and is simply unacceptable.
Who will check the accountability of the reps of NUIGSU?
Watch Dr. Kathleen Stock talk about freedom of speech in academia from an event we organised with Irish Women’s Lobby and how progressives are failing women and girls.
