University LGBT society disbanded after arguing feminists need to be 'reeducated' in gulags

We are through the looking glass

Goldsmiths LGBTQ+ society has been suspended and disaffiliated from the Students' Union after tweeting an extensive thread defending the use of gulags for "reeducation."

A member of the society with access to its Twitter account spent Monday September 10 attacking "T*rfs" (Trans-exclusionary radical feminists), before arguing that gulags have been mischaracterised as a result of CIA propaganda, sending bigots to them is "compassionate" and that the Soviet penal system was, in actual fact, "rehabillitary [sic]."

A Trans-exclusionary radical feminist is a person who does not accept a trans-woman is a woman.

The Twitter account posted these views in the "mini-thread" transcribed and screenshotted below, since the society's webpage has been taken down and tweets made protected:

"So… first of all,the USSR no longer exists, therefore “gulags” no longer exist. May as well make a case against orientalism but USSR =/= Russia. Russia is NOT governed by a communist party. Got that? Okay, good. So… gulags. First myth to debunk: “u work until u die in gulags!!!!”. The Soviets did away with life sentences and the longest sentence was 10 years. Capital punishment was reserved for the most heinous, serious crimes. Why? The penal system was a rehabillitary one and self supporting, a far cry from the Western, capitalist notion of prison. The aim was to correct and change the ways of “criminals”. If it couldn’t be done in 10 years, it couldn’t be done at all. Much like wider Soviet society, everyone who was *able* to work did so at a wage proportionate to those who weren’t incarcerated and, as they gained skills, were able to move up the ranks and work under less supervision. Educational work was also a prominent feature of the Soviet penal system. There were regular classes, book clubs, newspaper editorial teams, sports, theatre & performance groups. There’s so much more to add but the reality is none of you actually care to learn about gulags. You don’t care about what fascism actually is and how it fuelled by anti-communist, orientalist myths and lies propagated by the CIA. Long story short, friends, the ideas of TERFs and anti trans bigots literally *kill* and must be eradicated through reeducation. Science must be decolonised and de-essentialised in order for this to happen. # noterfsonourterf Final note: If your sources are written by fascists or supported by the US State Department, they’re probably pretty trash sources. Good night and remember – # NoTerfsOnOurTurf"


Goldsmiths Students' Union (SU) has launched an investigation into the "offensive material."

A spokesperson for the SU told JOE: "We condemn the abhorrent content of the tweets and they are in complete opposition to the views and values of the Students’ Union.

"The Society have broken multiple Union policies and procedures, including failing to adhere to our code of conduct, and we have issued multiple requests for the group to delete the tweets.

"Societies are autonomous groups that operate with support of the Students’ Union, governed by our policies and procedures, but their views and behaviour is led by independent groups of students."