Free-D (www.free-d.org.uk), the campaign that promotes free debate, discussion and discourse in universities has created a series of videos aimed at provoking students to get involved in the discussion around free debate in universities.
The films ask the question: should there be a limit to free debate? Shot in a ‘talking heads’ style, they characterise views that are widely considered to be extreme or controversial among large parts of the UK population, including homophobia, xenophobia, animal rights and pro-life.
If you are interested, have an opinion or want to know more you can log onto the Free-D website. There you can read and comment on others’ views and enter a journalism competition to win a laptop or video camera and a day at The Guardian offices.
Free-D also welcomes video submissions from the public, which it will host on the campaign website. So pick up your mobile or camcorder and get shooting! You can also contribute to the debate by commenting on the videos listed on the campaign YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/JoinFreeD)
A spokesperson for the Free-D campaign said: “If there’s one place that ideas should be discussed openly and freely, it’s in our universities. These are the places in which concepts are born, destroyed, and reconceived; the small stage for the big ideas of the day, where students can argue and declaim in the knowledge that they are doing what students are supposed to do.
“At least that’s the commonly held ideal. But is it a reality? The Free-D campaign is about students exploring for themselves what free debate is and what it should be.”
Is free debate a basic right? Can it ever cause more harm than good? Should extremist views be given a platform?
Ask questions like these and you’re thinking in Free-D.
