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A right to refuse
At its annual conference last weekend, Natfhe members agreed a motion to back any lecturer who refuses to teach an "active fascist". Donald MacLeod speaks to the union's leader, Paul Mackney, about the controversial idea
Monday June 2, 2003
The lecturers' union Natfhe has reaffirmed its policy of unreserved support for any member who refuses to teach a known member of the British National Party. The issue has stirred fierce debate among lecturers.
Paul Mackney, Natfhe's general secretary, has been on the receiving end of intimidation by the then National Front and argues passionately that staff are justified in taking a stand and universities ought to protect them from the threatening presence of BNP members in their classes, particularly in the case of ethnic minority staff.
"Just as we expect members to enjoy a safe and healthy working environment we expect them to be able to work free from racism and discrimination," he says. A major obligation on employers, reinforced by the Race Relations Amendment Act, was to promote tolerance and deal with outbreaks of intolerance.
"If there is political activity from organisations which proclaim as policy that Britain should be white only, then we would expect the university to take steps. We would expect them not to permit fascist activity on campus. The issue is not a simple one of free speech - it goes beyond free speech to threats and violence."
But would it be legal for a university to expel a student for BNP membership? Yes, argues Mr Mackney. "There is a requirement on the university to make it clear that racist behaviour will be dealt with severely under the Race Relations Amendment Act."
He adds: "Sometimes you have to stand up to things and be extreme in order to prevent extremism." However, he insists the union is not seeking to ban people because of their views. "They can renounce their activity in the BNP while they are at university," he says.
Mr Mackney makes a distinction between organised members of the BNP of the kind who harassed him in Birmingham in the 1980s when the trades union council of which he was president was campaigning for the wrongly imprisoned "Birmingham six" and students who expressed racist views. As a further education lecturer he had plenty of experience of apprentices who said they supported the National Front and shop stewards who had racist opinions. He made it his business to challenge their views by, for instance, researching why their families had come to Birmingham. The reasons for moving from Ireland, Shropshire or Jamaica turned out to be remarkably similar, which he believes helped people understand their neighbours and workmates better. "That's very different from people who are members of a fascist organisation committed to the repatriation of black people - that's the distinction," he adds.
The thrust of Natfhe's policy is to head off threats, partly by training staff to deal with racist incidents, he says. In this respect universities lag behind further education colleges. "We feel that all new university teachers should be given instruction on how to handle racist taunts and comments in the classroom or lecture hall - that is doubly important for black teachers. Very few institutions give any such advice, though it is one of the major problems of classroom control, particularly for new lecturers."
Any anti-racism code in a university must be sensitive and recognise that there are not simple right and wrong answers to many questions, but that some things are unacceptable in classroom discourse, says Mr Mackney.
As he told his union's annual conference last weekend: "The whole 'war against terrorism' climate is ratcheting up Islamophobia and asylum hysteria. The home secretary believes he has the right to tell people whom they can marry, what language they should speak in their own home (though he hasn't got on to prescribing diet yet).
"This plays into the hands of the BNP, which says openly that it wants a 'white Britain'. ... Well we don't. And neither do the vast majority of British people.....Black people were central to the post-war reconstruction of Britain. Black people are not going anywhere they don't want to. And we will not let fascists drive them out. Nor will we tolerate fascist activity in any college or university or in our union."
Mr Mackney sees the latest resolution on the right not to teach BNP members as practising what Natfhe preaches.
He concludes: "If any of our members finds themselves in a situation where they feel threatened because they have fascist members organising in the classroom we would support their right not to teach that person."
At its annual conference last weekend, Natfhe members agreed a motion to back any lecturer who refuses to teach an "active fascist". Donald MacLeod speaks to the union's leader, Paul Mackney, about the controversial idea
Monday June 2, 2003
The lecturers' union Natfhe has reaffirmed its policy of unreserved support for any member who refuses to teach a known member of the British National Party. The issue has stirred fierce debate among lecturers.
Paul Mackney, Natfhe's general secretary, has been on the receiving end of intimidation by the then National Front and argues passionately that staff are justified in taking a stand and universities ought to protect them from the threatening presence of BNP members in their classes, particularly in the case of ethnic minority staff.
"Just as we expect members to enjoy a safe and healthy working environment we expect them to be able to work free from racism and discrimination," he says. A major obligation on employers, reinforced by the Race Relations Amendment Act, was to promote tolerance and deal with outbreaks of intolerance.
"If there is political activity from organisations which proclaim as policy that Britain should be white only, then we would expect the university to take steps. We would expect them not to permit fascist activity on campus. The issue is not a simple one of free speech - it goes beyond free speech to threats and violence."
But would it be legal for a university to expel a student for BNP membership? Yes, argues Mr Mackney. "There is a requirement on the university to make it clear that racist behaviour will be dealt with severely under the Race Relations Amendment Act."
He adds: "Sometimes you have to stand up to things and be extreme in order to prevent extremism." However, he insists the union is not seeking to ban people because of their views. "They can renounce their activity in the BNP while they are at university," he says.
Mr Mackney makes a distinction between organised members of the BNP of the kind who harassed him in Birmingham in the 1980s when the trades union council of which he was president was campaigning for the wrongly imprisoned "Birmingham six" and students who expressed racist views. As a further education lecturer he had plenty of experience of apprentices who said they supported the National Front and shop stewards who had racist opinions. He made it his business to challenge their views by, for instance, researching why their families had come to Birmingham. The reasons for moving from Ireland, Shropshire or Jamaica turned out to be remarkably similar, which he believes helped people understand their neighbours and workmates better. "That's very different from people who are members of a fascist organisation committed to the repatriation of black people - that's the distinction," he adds.
The thrust of Natfhe's policy is to head off threats, partly by training staff to deal with racist incidents, he says. In this respect universities lag behind further education colleges. "We feel that all new university teachers should be given instruction on how to handle racist taunts and comments in the classroom or lecture hall - that is doubly important for black teachers. Very few institutions give any such advice, though it is one of the major problems of classroom control, particularly for new lecturers."
Any anti-racism code in a university must be sensitive and recognise that there are not simple right and wrong answers to many questions, but that some things are unacceptable in classroom discourse, says Mr Mackney.
As he told his union's annual conference last weekend: "The whole 'war against terrorism' climate is ratcheting up Islamophobia and asylum hysteria. The home secretary believes he has the right to tell people whom they can marry, what language they should speak in their own home (though he hasn't got on to prescribing diet yet).
"This plays into the hands of the BNP, which says openly that it wants a 'white Britain'. ... Well we don't. And neither do the vast majority of British people.....Black people were central to the post-war reconstruction of Britain. Black people are not going anywhere they don't want to. And we will not let fascists drive them out. Nor will we tolerate fascist activity in any college or university or in our union."
Mr Mackney sees the latest resolution on the right not to teach BNP members as practising what Natfhe preaches.
He concludes: "If any of our members finds themselves in a situation where they feel threatened because they have fascist members organising in the classroom we would support their right not to teach that person."
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