One of the telling aspects of this episode is that a complaint against Sam Maiden only needed to be made for the conference organisers to decide that it must be true, with no attempt at verification and no right for Sam Maiden to defend herself against the complaint. This, to me, is another example of the mindset of some of the "pro-Palestinian" movement (and other elements of the Omnicause) that theirs is a higher cause that supersedes considerations of democratic civility, due process, procedural fairness, etc. Mind you, I shudder to think what will happen when these "student journalists" carry this mindset forward into their careers in the media.
I am not a fan of “no platforming” on ANY issue. Let the person speak. It’s far better to expose their ideas to sunlight. The Maiden complaint is frankly a bit discombobulating. I didn’t think she’d even said anything particular on that issue??? Doesn’t say much for the courage of the editors, no.
I truly enjoyed this read. Thank you for speaking so candidly on something I myself have thought about many times. There is little that scares me more than the blind ferocity of the mob
The power of the mob can seem, and probably is, very threatening.
It is something that needs to be managed by governments through their policing systems.
Unfortunately we are seeing too many examples of organisational and politician capture by advocates of those supporting the mobs which does not bode well for individuals or groups threatened by the mob and also for our cultural balance.
I’m sorry to say that the UK has been failing in this area in how it handles baying mobs of antisemitic Palestinian supporters and trans activists.
Fortunately I’m old enough to have seen many cases where the mob excesses get so extreme that the silent majority of sensible, balanced individuals and organisations come out to play and restore common sense until the next fashionable extreme idea arises.
There’s an interesting discussion to be had on what the incentives are for both the police and the protesters. In some protests, the police really have not wanted to get involved at all. I am guessing it’s a lose-lose situation for them if they do anything: they get accused of brutality, the government doesn’t back them, and they potentially get hurt.
There seems to be a particular wariness and unwillingness to intervene in protests for “progressive” causes. In COVID times, the State government allowed a “Black Lives Matter” protest, even at the height of fierce lockdowns when everyone was very constrained. By contrast, the police shot rubber bullets at anti COVID lockdown protesters, which totally horrified me. I don’t think even French gendarmerie do that?? (They’re my notional ultimate scary anti-riot police). This same division is reflected in the way media and universities deal with these things too.
At my university I feel that the balance is being restored, after the excesses of the past eighteen months. It’s finally being realised - targeting individual academics is dangerous, as is allowing protesters to intimidate people. I’ve had students who come from other areas of the world who have been genuinely terrified at how protests on various issues got out of control, either because their societies were torn up and drawn into civil war by these things, or because they felt it was not under control when it should be.
I don't know about Australia, but in the UK I think there's a strong class dimension to the favourable treatment of 'progressive' causes. There's a sense that 'nice' middle class teenagers chanting 'globalise the intifada' should be charitably interpreted as not literally calling for the murder of Jews, for example, while a working class person shouting 'deport foreign rapists' or some such is much more likely to be understood as revealing racist and/or violent inclinations.
I think that’s present here too, to a lesser degree than in the UK (I lived in the UK for 6 years). Things which would not be excused if it were not a nice middle class university student go through to the keeper.
Thankyou Katy. It is always so refreshing to read your well reasoned and unprejudiced opinions, particularly on topics as heated as this.
Even preaching reason on such controversial issues puts you at risk, and I respect the fact that irrespective of that risk, you are not afraid to speak freely and honestly.
This essay goes in the right direction but is still very far from a true restoration of the university space to what it should be and used to be. The fundamental problem is that the university has become a political (and politcised) space inherently. A very large proportion of Arts academics are semi-activists who actively use institutional resources for the development and advancement of ideological objectives. Of course they also use the access to thousands of young minds every year to impart that ideology onwards. Where does KB think these naughty students' fervour comes from?
It is true there are some countries where uni campuses are explicitly political places, but these are nations with authoritarian pasts where students only had the campus as an unmolested space. Australia is not Greece under the colonels' regime.
I went through Melbourne during the peak of the Kennett/VSU years and remember having to press my way through a mob to get into a 1stY psych lecture under the Baillieu... (I guess they were trying to no-platform him before they knew what it was called yet!). The "left" effectively owns the campus space and polices it as an exclusive territory - see Holly Lawford-Smith's bullying. This has to be done away with entirely - finally using the long-untouched student disciplinary process is a good start.
Believe me, I know exactly where all of this came from - also an undergrad student during the 1990s. I published an op ed in The Age in 2021, saying that universities have to be less political, or we lose our social licence - of course I got piled on and called a fascist. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/why-the-government-is-unwilling-to-support-universities-20210519-p57t9z.html So, this is a drum which I have been beating for some time, for what it’s worth.
Hi Katy, as usual, very thoughtful and insightful and thank you for being brave enough to share your views. Am sorry you have got COVID again, hope you make a quick recovery. Best wishes, Helen
Another hard hitting piece written with moral clarity. In India, Hindu Nationalist mobs started witch hunting Muslim traders under the false accusation of cattle smuggling/ eating beef and killing them in broad daylight without due process. A term was circulated in the media back then- mobocracy. Whilst, things are not that extreme in Australia because it has a strong history of maintaining law and order but such behaviours need to be condemned.
Here is another manifestation of the phenomenon under discussion:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/2025/jun/06/david-marr-follows-sam-maiden-to-the-exit-after-honi-soit-withdraws-speaking-invitation-ntwnfb
One of the telling aspects of this episode is that a complaint against Sam Maiden only needed to be made for the conference organisers to decide that it must be true, with no attempt at verification and no right for Sam Maiden to defend herself against the complaint. This, to me, is another example of the mindset of some of the "pro-Palestinian" movement (and other elements of the Omnicause) that theirs is a higher cause that supersedes considerations of democratic civility, due process, procedural fairness, etc. Mind you, I shudder to think what will happen when these "student journalists" carry this mindset forward into their careers in the media.
I am not a fan of “no platforming” on ANY issue. Let the person speak. It’s far better to expose their ideas to sunlight. The Maiden complaint is frankly a bit discombobulating. I didn’t think she’d even said anything particular on that issue??? Doesn’t say much for the courage of the editors, no.
Also, the Heckler’s Veto well in operation.
I truly enjoyed this read. Thank you for speaking so candidly on something I myself have thought about many times. There is little that scares me more than the blind ferocity of the mob
The power of the mob can seem, and probably is, very threatening.
It is something that needs to be managed by governments through their policing systems.
Unfortunately we are seeing too many examples of organisational and politician capture by advocates of those supporting the mobs which does not bode well for individuals or groups threatened by the mob and also for our cultural balance.
I’m sorry to say that the UK has been failing in this area in how it handles baying mobs of antisemitic Palestinian supporters and trans activists.
Fortunately I’m old enough to have seen many cases where the mob excesses get so extreme that the silent majority of sensible, balanced individuals and organisations come out to play and restore common sense until the next fashionable extreme idea arises.
There’s an interesting discussion to be had on what the incentives are for both the police and the protesters. In some protests, the police really have not wanted to get involved at all. I am guessing it’s a lose-lose situation for them if they do anything: they get accused of brutality, the government doesn’t back them, and they potentially get hurt.
There seems to be a particular wariness and unwillingness to intervene in protests for “progressive” causes. In COVID times, the State government allowed a “Black Lives Matter” protest, even at the height of fierce lockdowns when everyone was very constrained. By contrast, the police shot rubber bullets at anti COVID lockdown protesters, which totally horrified me. I don’t think even French gendarmerie do that?? (They’re my notional ultimate scary anti-riot police). This same division is reflected in the way media and universities deal with these things too.
At my university I feel that the balance is being restored, after the excesses of the past eighteen months. It’s finally being realised - targeting individual academics is dangerous, as is allowing protesters to intimidate people. I’ve had students who come from other areas of the world who have been genuinely terrified at how protests on various issues got out of control, either because their societies were torn up and drawn into civil war by these things, or because they felt it was not under control when it should be.
I don't know about Australia, but in the UK I think there's a strong class dimension to the favourable treatment of 'progressive' causes. There's a sense that 'nice' middle class teenagers chanting 'globalise the intifada' should be charitably interpreted as not literally calling for the murder of Jews, for example, while a working class person shouting 'deport foreign rapists' or some such is much more likely to be understood as revealing racist and/or violent inclinations.
I think that’s present here too, to a lesser degree than in the UK (I lived in the UK for 6 years). Things which would not be excused if it were not a nice middle class university student go through to the keeper.
Thankyou Katy. It is always so refreshing to read your well reasoned and unprejudiced opinions, particularly on topics as heated as this.
Even preaching reason on such controversial issues puts you at risk, and I respect the fact that irrespective of that risk, you are not afraid to speak freely and honestly.
Thank you Katy. A brilliant piece of moral clarity. How true - a sense of righteous anger is a heady and dangerous drug indeed.
This essay goes in the right direction but is still very far from a true restoration of the university space to what it should be and used to be. The fundamental problem is that the university has become a political (and politcised) space inherently. A very large proportion of Arts academics are semi-activists who actively use institutional resources for the development and advancement of ideological objectives. Of course they also use the access to thousands of young minds every year to impart that ideology onwards. Where does KB think these naughty students' fervour comes from?
It is true there are some countries where uni campuses are explicitly political places, but these are nations with authoritarian pasts where students only had the campus as an unmolested space. Australia is not Greece under the colonels' regime.
I went through Melbourne during the peak of the Kennett/VSU years and remember having to press my way through a mob to get into a 1stY psych lecture under the Baillieu... (I guess they were trying to no-platform him before they knew what it was called yet!). The "left" effectively owns the campus space and polices it as an exclusive territory - see Holly Lawford-Smith's bullying. This has to be done away with entirely - finally using the long-untouched student disciplinary process is a good start.
Believe me, I know exactly where all of this came from - also an undergrad student during the 1990s. I published an op ed in The Age in 2021, saying that universities have to be less political, or we lose our social licence - of course I got piled on and called a fascist. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/why-the-government-is-unwilling-to-support-universities-20210519-p57t9z.html So, this is a drum which I have been beating for some time, for what it’s worth.
Hi Katy, as usual, very thoughtful and insightful and thank you for being brave enough to share your views. Am sorry you have got COVID again, hope you make a quick recovery. Best wishes, Helen
Another hard hitting piece written with moral clarity. In India, Hindu Nationalist mobs started witch hunting Muslim traders under the false accusation of cattle smuggling/ eating beef and killing them in broad daylight without due process. A term was circulated in the media back then- mobocracy. Whilst, things are not that extreme in Australia because it has a strong history of maintaining law and order but such behaviours need to be condemned.