"It must have seemed the easiest offer in the world to refuse. Would students at Bangor University enjoy a question-and-answer session with Sarah Pochin the Reform UK MP famous for saying it drives me mad to see TV adverts full of black people and Jack Anderton, the 25-year-old influencer who helped send Nigel Farage's TikTok account viral among teenagers? No, the university's debating society decided, it would not."
"So imagine how he must have felt when Bangor debating and politics society responded that in line with our values it was declining his offer, expressing zero tolerance for any form of racism, transphobia or homophobia. Finally, a proper no-platforming! (Though strictly speaking, he and Pochin were never actually given a platform of which to be stripped.) That's worth more in terms of reach than trekking to Bangor on a wet February night to face a half-empty room."
Bangor University's debating and politics society declined invitations from Reform-linked figures Sarah Pochin and Jack Anderton, citing zero tolerance for racism, transphobia, and homophobia. Anderton's "A New Dawn" campus tour has attracted small audiences in multiple university towns, with about 30 attendees in Cambridge and similar turnout in Exeter and York. The tour, modeled on American rightwing campus tactics, has failed to produce large live controversies or significant YouTube viewership. The society's refusal generated wider attention than the events themselves, prompting coverage from national media and critical social-media responses from Reform representatives.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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