This article contains content relating to racist language, violence and sexual violence.
EXCLUSIVE
A talk hosted by Freedom Society featured numerous Islamophobic comments, as revealed in a recording provided anonymously to Exeposé.
The talk, entitled “Two Tier Policing: Injustice Unveiled” was delivered by a former student and current University of Law student in Exeter. The speech, delivered on the 10th October 2024, covered policing of the summer riots and offered far-right perspectives on immigration and race.
During the talk, the speaker labelled immigration as the “ethnic displacement” of the white English population by Muslims, saying “they’re literally replacing us in our own country. We’re being genocided.”
“they’re literally replacing us in our own country. We’re being genocided.”
Speaker
Last summer, following the murder of three girls in Southport, anti-immigration protests broke out across the country, many of which descended into violence and racism. Disorder was fuelled by online misinformation that the murderer was a Muslim immigrant – a fact that was disproved long before the Freedom Society talk.
Later in his speech, the student described “the history between the native English population and the imported Muslim population [as] one of relentless attacks from their population against ours — coming in the way of terrorism, general street violence, ethnic displacement and of course, grooming gangs […] which everyone knows is a cute term for the mass racially targeted rape of young English girls.”
He then labelled white English people as “a disprivileged native population who don’t even have the right to collectivise and defend themselves,” before characterising the riots as “natives essentially rebelling against their displacement.”
He said a “refreshing” aspect of the summer riots was how they allowed “the ethnic divisions [that] we know are there … to come to the surface.” He also criticised multiculturalism, saying it was “rooted in the idea that white people have it coming to us.”
The end of the presentation was met with a round of applause and followed by a question and answer session, where many questioners praised the talk.
When asked how he would handle policing, the speaker replied that if he were in charge, “there would be no minorities to police.” This comment was met with laughter from the crowd.
When asked how he would handle policing, the speaker replied that if he were in charge, “there would be no minorities to police.”
Freedom Society describes itself as “right-wing students […] dedicated to promoting free speech and uncensored political discourse.” They host weekly off-campus events featuring talks from students and external speakers.
When approached for a comment, Freedom Society told Exeposé, “Freedom Society supports the right to free speech as a core principle of our organisation. We have no ‘party line’ and speakers voice their own opinions, therefore we neither condone nor condemn statements made at our events. Freedom Society invites those who take issue with unorthodox ideas to attend our events and challenge them as part of the discussion.”
The speaker told Exeposé, “it is possible that a few comments and jokes which were made may have crossed the line of political correctness. But the overall purpose of the speech was to address serious injustices and atrocities which are taking place in British society today. In my view, it is far preferable to discuss these issues in a politically incorrect manner than not at all.”
Guild takes limited action
A spokesperson for the University of Exeter described the comments as “deplorable”, but said that they “trust the Students’ Guild to investigate the staging of this event, and the subsequent reports that have been made.”
They further added, “we are clear that the University supports and protects the right to freedom of speech and expression, so long as this is within the law. We are equally clear that there is absolutely no justification or place for any type of discrimination, hate speech or harassment within our community. We are committed to taking all appropriate action to ensure our campuses and community are both safe and welcoming for everyone.”
When Exeposé brought the comments to the Guild in November, they initiated an investigation, and this article was withheld until its conclusion. Last Friday, when this story was due to go off to print, the Guild provided a statement indicating that they were taking no further disciplinary action:
“Following concerns raised by some students regarding the expressed views at the event by the speaker, we launched an investigation. The scope of the investigation focused on the society’s conduct – whether appropriate external speaker processes were followed and ensuring appropriate risk management.
Whilst the investigation did consider the views expressed by the speaker at the event, the speaker themselves does not fall within the scope of our Members’ Code of Conduct. As your Students’ Guild, we support freedom of speech. We want to foster an environment where our members can participate fully, feel able to question and challenge, express new ideas, discuss controversial opinions within the law- all without fear of intolerance or discrimination. We equally believe that there is no place for hate in our community. The role of the Guild is to facilitate lawful free speech through the organisation of student-led groups events and activities.”
We then sent the article off for review, and shortly before we went to press (and after our agreed comment deadline) the Guild added a last minute amendment, adding the line – “the investigation has concluded with recommendations around improving Freedom Society’s processes which we’re supporting them with.”
In a statement posted today, 12th February, on its Instagram story, the Guild offered a further statement, titled ‘Islamophobia has no place in our community’.
The post emphasised that, ‘we are taking this seriously’, and said that Freedom Society’s regular ‘Pint and Policy’ (the weekly event at which the talk was given) had been suspended. However, according to a very recent post on Freedom Society’s Instagram, their weekly session is still going ahead tomorrow, at the same location, at the same time, in the same format, just with a different name.
Additionally, the speaker remains, at time of writing, a committee member for another Guild-affiliated society, and on Friday 7th February, after the Guild investigation had already been concluded, Freedom Society was allowed to set up a stall in the Forum and spend the day advertising and recruiting students.
These developments have raised questions about the robustness of the Guild’s response to this serious issue.
If you have been affected by this content please contact wellbeing at wellbeing@exeter.ac.uk or 01392724381.
This article was published in Exeposé issue 766, but has been amended for online to include subsequent actions from the Guild.
