No to ‘no platforming’

For those who attended the Union General Meeting at LSE on 22nd October 2009, they witnessed the vote of a no platform policy for fascist organisations, mainly implicating the BNP. They also saw another example of Student Unions going beyond their role and limiting free speech on campus. Student Rights draws the line at violence and hate-speech, but this doesn’t tend to be the topic for most BNP members. It was argued that these groups would divide the LSE community and incite violence if they came to the campus.


The BNP is a legitimate political party that has won two seats in the European Election, has around 60 councilors in the UK and just under one million people voted for them across the UK. Freedom of speech regarding the BNP is a difficult line to tread, as by granting the extreme right an open platform it runs the risk of normalising racism or other extreme views. On the other hand excluding them from the mainstream public arena cultivates their views underground and falls back on claims that the democracy we live in is in actual fact undemocratic. The LSESU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Officer spoke out against the motion during the meeting and supported a full understanding of freedom of speech and argued that only through open debate would their views be addressed.

Student Rights believes that LSE students have the intellectual ability to scrutinise and assess the views of fascist organisations. This decision leads to isolate the student body who want to engage in this debate and do not want to be branded fascists. Free speech does not mean accepting all views as equally valid, to silence non-violent organisations would lead to silencing democracy.