Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

On 7th October, 2022, news broke that Westminster student union has been accused of “racial segregation” after banning white students from #BlackHistoryMonth.

This thread is about truth, the culture war, the UK's broken news media, & the amplification of hate.

On 7th October, the non-dom billionaire-owned Telegraph broke the story, followed the next day by the same story appearing in the non-dom billionaire-owned Mail.

Both newspapers quoted Dr Neil Thin, a social anthropology lecturer at Edinburgh University.

Dr Neil Thin said it was “tragic” to see a UK university “copying the racial segregationism that we have previously seen in South African & USA education systems”, adding: “It is bitterly ironic to see the rhetoric of ‘safe spaces’ abused to justify racial segregation.”

The Free Speech Union's Toby Young was quoted in the Mail & Telegraph: “You’d think it would be clear to these zealots that you’re not going to reduce racial discrimination by discriminating against people on the basis of their race.” He also wrote a piece in his "Daily Sceptic".

Anti-abortion #TuftonStreet mouthpiece & ERG Tory MP, Sir John Hayes, said he was concerned about “how sinister it is that such ideas can be propagated in a free and open society”, & called for an investigation into any potential discrimination.

On the 8th October, the right-wing Express amplified the story by pretty much copying & pasting the telegraph story word for word, including the same quotes from the same people.

The story went viral, both on & offline, with tens of thousands of hateful (almost invariably anonymous) tweets amplifying the story, denouncing the 'madness' of the 'woke terrorist lefties' for reintroducing dangerous "anti-white" "racial segregation" & introducing apartheid2.0.

By the 8th October, Nigel Farage was claiming Britain now had "apartheid", & by the 10th, many GB "News" presenters were discussing how white students were BANNED from #BlackHistoryMonth emphasising the idea that this would lead to a Britain characterised by "racial segregation".

Pretty much every GB "News" presenter framed the story in the same way, despite recent denials that GB "News" was a "right-wing" channel following the announcement that John Cleese was joining them. LBC joined in, again quoting the same handful of people.

The far-right hate group, 'Save Britain', quoted GB News' "Anglican Deacon Calvin Robinson" (who has opposed #BLM for years): he was “sorry to see [the Westminster Student Union] implementing racial segregation at [the University of Westminster]"

Far-right US "news" site Breitbart: "While the British education system has imported many tenets of the far-left 0n issues surrounding race & gender from the United States, instances of racial segregation have not been a prominent feature of the ‘decolonise the curriculum’ push."

Rather than gathering a range of views from academics the UK's 160+ HE institutions, every "news" publication quoted just ONE academic - Dr Neil Thin, who in 2020 was accused by many of his students of spouting ‘racist & sexist’ comments, becoming a cause célèbre for the Right.

Eventually, the investigation into Thin didn't uphold the complaint made by his students, leaving at least one “bothered by Dr Thin’s complete lack of accountability throughout the process, for the negative impacts he has caused through derogatory marking, teaching, & tutoring.”

Thin was in the news again in July this year, when the University of Edinburgh saw a decrease in cash donations following its renaming of its David Hume Tower because of Hulme's slavery links. Thin called those calling for a name change "censorious idiots" & an "extremist mob".

So after the divisive hateful media furore, what's the truth of the original claim that Westminster University was introducing "racial segregation" & had "banned" white students from attending #BlackHistoryMonth events?

The reality, as you might imagine, is somewhat different...

There is a wealth of evidence demonstrating that news stories using divisive culture war rhetoric provoke outrage & produce the demonisation of Others, which are the most shared posts on social media, & thus drive the most clicks, & thus ad revenue & data harvesting/resale.

I've written elsewhere about the culture war; about the discursive demonisation of Others; about the importance of how the framing of issues guides political debate; & about the UK Govt's & national news media's embrace of Steve Bannon's strategy of 'flooding the zone with shit'.

The fact is that the story was triggered (no pun) by just a single email from Westminster Students union, which said *some* events would be reserved for black students in a bid to encourage a space for debate & "honest conversations".

Most events were open to *everyone*.

The manufactured outrage hinges on a principle: whether it is EVER acceptable for some groups, defined in some contexts by largely immutable human characteristics (eg sex, age, or ethnicity), to EVER hold ANY meetings/events that are open only to members of that particular group.

Let's start with an extreme example: would it be acceptable for female rape survivors to have a women-only event/meeting?

We can only speculate, but imho, pretty much everyone in Britain - including every single person objecting to the Westminster situation - would support this.

Some people might object that 'comparing black people to rape survivors is unfair' - a strawman argument. Well OK, how about non-rape victim women holding a women only event? I guess some of the people objecting to the Westminster situation would say this is "sexism against men".

And let's not forget the female Tory councillor who defended the disgraced *men-only* dinner at the Presidents Club & accused the FT of exaggerating the behaviour of its guests, saying on #Vine that “real harassment” took place at women-only functions.

theguardian.com/politics/2018/…

Another example: given that 75% of Tory MPs are male (94% are white btw) how about if a campaign to elect more Tory women into parliament were to hold "women only" events?

Would that be "sexist"? Would that be introducing "sex segregation"? Would that be an example of apartheid?

Because that's exactly what the @Conservatives' Women's Organisation, in conjunction with the Parliament Project & the @Conservatives did in 2020.

Strangely enough, the Mail, Telegraph, GB "News", Breitbart & tens of thousands of largely anonymous @Twitter trolls didn't mind.

Perhaps those objecting to Westminster Uni holding a few events just for black students would also insist that men should be able to attend ALL women-only events: they could offer their views on eg coping with menopause, or share tips on how to avoid lactating through clothes...

Here's another example of the same process from April. Right-wing extremist politicians & "news" media are intent on deflecting from the multiple crises we face after 12 catastrophic years of Tory misrule by focusing on dividing voters on cultural issues.