Pro-trans activists at a top London university are calling for their conservative political enemies to be sent to Soviet-style gulags for refusing to support “trans rights.”
The “Goldsmiths LGBTQ” club last Goldsmith University made the bizarre threat on Twitter, after they were criticized by special ed teacher, Claire Graham, for the club’s plan to threaten feminist academics who the club claimed were prejudiced against transgenders.
Goldsmiths LGBTQ said that the ideas of “anti-trans bigots” must be “eradicated through re-education.”
Graham responded, “I said that I thought their choice of language, in talking about lists and purging people was intended to shut down debate about trans people and the law. I then received unpleasant and dehumanising threats about being sent to the Gulag. I feel bad for other trans people because this kind of response by some makes them seem so extreme and intolerant.”
Which is when Goldsmiths LGBTQ when on a full-throated defense of shipping political prisoners to “gulags,” claiming that shipping political opponents off to work camps is actually a “compassionate, nonviolent course of action.”
“So… first of all, the USSR no longer exists, therefore ‘gulags’ no longer exist,” they said. “May as well make a case against orientalist but USSR =/= Russia. Russia is NOT governed by a communist party. Got that? Okay, good.”
“So… gulags,” they continued. “First myth to debunk: ‘u work until u die in gulags!!!!’ The Soviets did away with life sentences and the longest sentence was 10 years. Capital punishment was reserved for the most heinous, serious crimes. Why? The penal system was a rehabilitary one and self supporting, a far cry from the Western, capitalist notion of prison. The aim was to correct and change the ways of ‘criminals.’ If it couldn’t be done in 10 years, it couldn’t be done at all.”
They continued, “Much like wider Soviet society, everyone who was ‘able’ to work did so at a wage proportionate to those who weren’t incapacitated and, as they gained skills, were able to move up the ranks and work under less supervision.”
“Educational work was also a prominent feature of the Soviet penal system. There were regular classes, book clubs, newspaper editorial teams, sports theatre and performance groups.”
I've noticed Goldsmiths LGBT society (LGBTQGOLD) have deleted their super woke thread on how the gulag wasn't all that bad. Here it is for posterity. pic.twitter.com/YKZL9HRRMp
— Stephen Knight (@GSpellchecker) September 11, 2018
“There’s so much more to add but the reality is none of you actually care to learn about gulags. You don’t care about what fascism is and how it is fueled by ant-communist, orientalist myths and lies propagated by the CIA.”
“Long story short, friends, the ideas of… anti trans bigots literally *kill* and must be eradicated through reeducation. Science must be decolonized and de-essentialized in order for this to happen.”
According to Soviet files, more than 1 million people died in Stalin-era gulags between 1934 and 1953.
Graham, the alleged “anti-trans bigot” that sparked the rant, summed it up most succinctly: “The LGBTQ group’s interpretation of the history of the Gulag system is madness.”
Goldsmiths LGBTQ refused to apologize, and have now been suspended by their college’s students’ union.
A statement from the students’ union and the university said, “We condemn the abhorrent content of the tweets and they are in complete opposition to the views and values of the Students’ Union.”
