Following the New Zealand shooting, a member of Liberty Union at the University of Kent contacted us to say he’d had enough of the extreme racism going on behind the closed doors of a free speech society. The anonymous source sent us screenshots of the offensive ‘banter’ he encountered upon joining what he thought was a legitimate debating society. Whilst he has asked us to keep his identity secret, and we won’t be sharing any names online, we do intend to pass these on to the University and Kent Union so that they can take appropriate action.

Here is a selection of the worst examples, but we were sent many more. Why are we sharing these? Because we want students, the university and the wider community to know what this society is really about, to make it clear that this kind of attitude is not welcome on campus, and to call on Kent Union and the University of Kent to SHUT DOWN THIS RACIST SOCIETY RIGHT NOW.

Firstly, some examples of Liberty Union’s internal ‘banter’:



Brownshirts refers to ‘a member of a Nazi militia founded by Hitler in Munich in 1921, with brown uniforms resembling those of Mussolini’s Blackshirts. They aided Hitler’s rise to power, but were eclipsed by the SS after the ‘night of the long knives’ in June 1934. ‘

Just a casual Holocaust reference

No doubt, these will be defended as private jokes not intended to be taken seriously. But how many people really think it’s funny or acceptable to joke about the Holocaust? We think it deeply concerning that Liberty Union is run by a committee who make ‘jokes’ such as these, and are supported by a wider group of students who don’t seem to challenge their attitudes. Liberty Union is a dangerous space, and it is making campus more dangerous too.

The danger of allowing these attitudes to fester was brought to public awareness with the tragic Christchurch shootings last week. But according to central Liberty Union members, this tragedy is the fault of Muslims, and should be attributed to multiculturalism, rather than far-right extremism and alt-right promotion of dangerous spaces. Here is Liberty Union’s discussion after the Christchurch shootings in their group chat:







This is a reference to Fraser Anning’s statement arguing that the shootings were the result of multiculturalism.

Liberty Union are a clever and devious society, who seek to gain legitimacy for their activities through charity work and collaboration. They recently organised a ball to raise funds for a charity working in areas affected by female genital cutting. If you think the idea of an ‘anti-FGM Ball’ run by a group of mostly white male students seems somewhat uncomfortable, take a look at their private discussion of ISOC’s (the student Islamic Society) decision not to take part in the event:

This suggestion that ISOC are a fundamentalist or terrorist group is offensive. There is no doubt that Liberty Union are a racist and islamophobic society. No individual or student group should work with them in future.

A more positive response to the Christchurch shooting has been organised by ISOC, the Mosque, and Kent Union. This Friday, prayers will be held in public, and anyone who feels they would like to join in or observe in solidarity with the victims of the shooting is invited to join in. We encourage all those who stand in solidarity with Muslim students to do so, because Liberty Union’s response to the invitation is disturbing:

Yeah, if it sounds bad, maybe think about why?

Students must also stand in solidarity with students of colour, particularly as they seek to enrich academic and campus life through organising as ‘Decolonise UKC.’ You can read more about this project here, but safe to say it has not gone down well with Liberty Union, who fear their white supremacy will be written out of the curriculum, and their privileged career opportunities equalised:





It is really painful to have to share these screenshots, knowing that they will cause upset and offence to many on campus, and perhaps cause them to feel more unsafe. However, students at Kent have been trying to show the racist and deliberately controversial patterns of Liberty Union activity for some time, especially regarding their speaker programme. Carl Benjamin, an alt-right youtuber, caused such outrage when his visit to UKC was proposed that Kent Union recognised the risk he posed to the safety of students and banned Liberty Union from inviting him. But the student union was undermined by University Leadership, who supported the society to hold the event anyway, all in the interests of free speech. During the talk, Carl Benjamin laughingly admitted that he believes people of colour have lower IQs. Liberty Union have since considered inviting Katie Hopkins and Milo Yiannopoulos, as well as Tommy Robinson himself. One member of Liberty Union boasts of having the number of this key member of a known fascist organisation, the English Defence League:

Students can no longer rely on their union alone to ensure the threat of racism is dealt with on campus. Every time they resist these offensive speakers, Liberty Union is given a chance to shout louder about their right to free speech. But be under no illusions about the sort of speech they want the right to make. It’s time to make our voices heard in condemning the opinions of individual members of this society, and calling for this dangerous organisation to be shut down.