UCL recently banned Macer Gifford from talking at a Kurdish Society event. The article below shows a great balanced understanding of the altercation which occurred between I and the activities officer, Asad Khan.
However unfortunately, in this incident UCLU proved their unwillingness to take a stance against ISIS and to support the Kurdish cause.
Macer Gifford is an excellent example of someone laying his life on the line in order to champion human rights, and to deny a man who has spoken at the BBC, Portcullis House and an ex-UCL student is absolutely outrageous.
They first claimed he would encourage individuals to go fight in Syria which was nonsense. Having told them I would set provisions for his speech, they still continued to deny him.
Their focus then fell on to YPG, one of the most democratic units in the Middle East and the most effective fighting force against ISIS in the region who receive praise and support from the western coalition.
They placed the YPG in the same brackets as Hamas and Hezbollah, even though they are far from terrorist groups. They ignored the thousands of articles supporting and praising YPG and instead focused on 3 factors; Turkish news sources, an amnesty report and a UN report.
Firstly anyone with an understanding of Kurdish-Turkish relations will realise the animosity which exists within the groups, and with Turkey indirectly supporting ISIS, it's no surprise they would be at the forefront of YPG libel. I specifically warned them to not take this as a source, yet they did not listen.
With regards to the biased Amnesty report which has been retorted as utter rubbish by numerous outlets and groups, they once again focused on Turkish news sources to be their fountain of enlightenment.
Lastly, the great human rights abuse which they accuse the YPG of committing was the enlistment of individuals under the age of 18. Not only have YPG signed a declaration to prevent this from occurring, but in the scope of 'human rights' I would hardly consider the enlistment of say a 17 year old the crime of the century.
All in all, UCL and Asad Khan displayed horrible prejudice against the Kurdish cause, human rights and the freedom of speech. From the beginning they were intent on preventing Macer from speaking. Furthermore, adding insult to injury, they broke their 10 day policy for approving speakers and made me wait 15 days, which subsequently meant that due to the former policy, I could not find a replacement and as such had to cancel my event.
Asad concluded that UCLU are not willing to take sides in this conflict. By taking a neutral ground, you are implicitly supporting ISIS.
Not only am I angered by this decision but I am deeply offended and disgusted.
So please, if you stand for human rights, for freedom of speech and for eradicating ISIS, please share this message and let the world know of this injustice and biased agenda.
Thank you.
http://thetab.com/…/union-ban-ex-student-from-talking-about…
