Below, J. Unsworth, a DDU supporter and former student of History and English Literature, explains why she found an event at Cambridge University on Winston Churchill left much to be desired. The level of debate among learned academics shows, once again, that ‘the divisiveness and tribalism that emerges now again in different periods and different […]
St Jarel of Woke and why and eye for an eye won’t do
Considering two recent cases of offensive tweets regarding Captain Sir Tom Moore, Nick Buckley , who has personal experience of twitter amplified intolerance, argues that offensive comments should not be criminalised and offenders shouldn’t lose their jobs. Freedom of speech must be a universal value, otherwise it becomes an elite privilege: Jarel […]
What’s Wrong With World Hijab Day?
Khadija Khan argues that coincidence of World Hijab Day, on the 1st of February, with the return of Ayatollah Khomeini to Iran in 1979 in order to, among other things, impose purdah, is a bitter irony. It is a poke in the eye for Muslim women who are fighting for the freedom their Western counterparts […]
Critical Race Theory in the Workplace
With much of the media attention focused on academia and public institutions, we can forget that the divisive and pernicious ideas of critical race theory affect many more people who work in private businesses as well. Here George Crichton, pen name of a DDU supporter, recounts his experience of the mandatory Diversity and Inclusion training […]
Laïcité and the Need for a Narrative-in-Common
Recently, DDU supporter and lecturer Marie Kawthar Daouda presented a thoughtful and thought-provoking essay which considers the historical development of Laïcité in legal and philosophical terms. She questions whether Laïcité is as universal as some claim, and if it is capable of providing the resources needed for French society to be able to integrate its […]
The Universality of Literature- A Response to Calls to Decolonise It
Earlier this year, PGCE lecturer, Lesley Nelson-Addy, wrote in Britain’s leading professional publication for English teachers: The ‘new’ GCSE curriculum is Anglocentric and epistemically violent: it uses knowledge as a weapon. Not solely because of the removal of the Steinbeck classic, Of Mice and Men – a book most of us grew to enjoy […]
Can You Be For Justice But Against Social Justice?
In this short essay, Isobel Marston, a student of philosophy, considers some problems with current understandings of social justice and appeals for a more universalistic approach: Following the death of George Floyd, social media exploded with cries of indignation and frustration and the streets of Britain filled with protesters in solidarity with America. Political divisions […]
Statues And Ghosts
In this personal and poignant essay, Marie Kawthar Daouda writes evocatively why, having come from a land without statues, she loves Oxford University: I come from a country with no statues. It is not that it never had statues. It must have had, not that long ago, statues of French officials; of which only one […]
Parr For The Course
Graphic designer and photographer Howard Sherwood considers the case of Martin Parr, whose response to accusations of being racist, along with little or no institutional support, has been resignation, public apology and a demand for the offending book to be destroyed. If artistic institutions continue to side with activists, whose demands curtail freedom of artistic […]
Why It’s Important to Teach the Civil Rights Movement Today
The lessons of the Civil Rights Movement in America reach beyond its time and place. With Black History Month ongoing in Britain’s schools, Cambridge historian, Nicolas Kinloch, assesses its achievement: There have always been excellent reasons to teach British students about the civil rights era in the United States. It’s an inspiring story: often complex, […]