It is one of Britain’s oldest debating societies, regarded as a bastion of free speech and a training ground for future politicians.But the Oxford Union’s governing body has passed a unanimous motion recognising that it is “institutionally racist” following an outcry over a “highly offensive” cocktail named “The Colonial Comeback”. The nearly 200-year-old society hosted a debate entitled "This House Believes Britain Owes Reparations to her Former Colonies" with speakers including Sir Richard Ottaway, the former Conservative MP.The event was marred by criticism over the Brandy, Peach Schnapps and lemonade cocktail which was advertised by a poster featuring a picture of black hands in chains.Union officers now face being sent to racial awareness workshops amid growing concern about a “culture that marginalises black and minority voices”. At a Standing Committee meeting to address the fallout over the cocktail, the society’s Treasurer Zuleyka Shahin proposed a motion that the society was "institutionally racist".Kiran Benipal, co-chair of the Campaign for Racial Awareness at Oxford University, said there was an “uncomfortable silence” just before the motion was passed. “We had been discussing whether the cocktail was racist, and whether the way the Oxford Union dealt with it was indicative of further problems,” Ms Benipal said. “The Treasurer proposed a motion that ‘The Oxford Union is institutionally racist’ and it was discussed for about 15 minutes before being passed.”Ms Benipal, a first year Classicist, added: “They now have to do some work to deal with the fact that they have recognised that they are an institutionally racist organisation. “The cocktail was symptomatic of a wider problem in the Union of racism. There is a culture where someone felt comfortable enough to make a poster like that and felt that it would go unpunished.” She said that the Union had got in touch with her about arranging race training workshops for its officers. Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, a spokesman for Rhodes Must Fall, an Oxford University group which campaigns against imperialism, said: “Officers realised that [the cocktail] was reflective of an institutionally racist culture that marginalises black and minority voices. “This motion sends a very clear message that the Union and its leadership acknowledge the scale of the problem and that there is a systemic problem in the Oxford Union that silences certain voices.” The row over the “Colonial Comeback” cocktail prompted the resignation of the Union’s Black, Minority and Ethnic officer Esther Odejimi. She told the student newspaper Cherwell that she was “disgusted” at the way the society had behaved over the “ridiculously insensitive poster”. The Union did not respond for comment.
Quote from: Meta Cognition on June 04, 2015, 08:45:32 PMThe event was marred by criticism over the Brandy, Peach Schnapps and lemonade cocktail which was advertised by a poster featuring a picture of black hands in chains.So either this didn't bother you or you didn't read the article.
The event was marred by criticism over the Brandy, Peach Schnapps and lemonade cocktail which was advertised by a poster featuring a picture of black hands in chains.
It's going out of the way to be aggressively racist for no reason at all.
It's pretty much the equivalent of showing Jews behind a barbed wire fence and using the word "concentration".
Oxford University Union admits it's "institutionally racist"
