There are a number of clumsy comments in Gavin Williamson’s new paper on protecting free speech at English universities. The funniest is the line that talks of the “many people who experienced first-hand the persecution of the gay rights movement or the oppression of the Soviet Union”, the construction of which could render the sentence either pro-Soviet or homophobic.
The most unfortunate is the plainly racist phrasing that the United Kingdom had “done the right thing by offering Salman Rushdie sanctuary” at the time of the fatwa against him following the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988. Rushdie is a British citizen, and at the time of the fatwa, was a resident of the UK. He was not “offered” sanctuary any more than a British schoolchild is “offered” schooling or you and I are “offered” sanctuary if we call the police after being victim to a crime.
Content from our partners
