Harry’s Place

Touche!

Well done!!!

hahaha. I’m about 10 minute walk from SOAS, if ony i didn’t have a meeting to go to….

As an afterthought, am I not paying this blokes wages in order that he may teach, or at least do something useful. I trust he’s taken a day off to do this.

sl - exactly what I was thinking. Also, do they ever actually do any teaching in this SOAS place, or do they just send emails about things and get het up a lot?

How come Johnny Darlington is teaching - has an office even - but his highest qualification is an MA?

I’m in love with Lucy Lips.

anyway– isn’t it a sorry state of affairs when college officials and academics are organising protests (whatever they are) rather than students. Doesn’t that strike one as an abuse of position and privelege?

“How come Johnny Darlington is teaching - has an office even - but his highest qualification is an MA?”

Well, it looks like he only teaches basic English to international students. You don’t really need a doctorate to do that.

“This occupied space will be open to the public.”

???!!!

I have just told Greenpeace that the whole SOAS office has been touted for a runway…watch this space.

brilliantly absurd

btw: what about that exhibition? racism - defence - is it that other Harry again?

“other Harry”

What! There’re two

I’m at UCL and avoid SOAS like the plague, except when I take the short cut through it to get to tottenham crt rd.

Do they still all openly smoke dope in the student union?

If only I was still in London! I’d get a contingent in from the Strand to join the fun.

“How come Johnny Darlington is teaching - has an office even - but his highest qualification is an MA?”

o c’mon: it’s english as a foreign language - you don’t need an MA for that…

think will go home now and occupy our living room - in protest against the illegal use of our staff lift by several students. in solidarity with paparazzis, who are persecuted by the human rights act, i will nominally declare it open for the public. but as i don’t mean it i won’t tell the public where it is. if someone should find it anyway i will lecture them on the illegal occupation of axminster by toff chicken

This is the exhibition they find so offensive: http://www.soas.ac.uk/events/event48751.html

“Do they still all openly smoke dope in the student union?”

…seem to have moved on to the senior commons now… or at least that’d be a rational explanation…

Is this true, please tell me this is true!

bissli: “This is the exhibition they find so offensive: http://www.soas.ac.uk/events/event48751.html”

hmm - that sounds just like the opposite of racism to me (unless the Windsors have written the captions, that is).

supports the dope theory…

Brilliant HPers!

Much rep and applause!

Yes, please tell me this is true!

Damn I wish I lived in London….just occasionally!

Perhaps Darlington thinks that non-White people who fought against Japanese imperialism and German fascism were “Uncle Toms”

And they let a fool like Johnny Darlington TEACH people?

Also at UCL - and as amused as I am by the idea of a underqualified English-as-a-foreign-language tutor called Johnny Darlington, it’ll take more than that to motivate me to take the trek down to SOARSE

I’ll pop round in my tea break see how things look from the outside. I wonder why he left his office unlocked?

From a totally parochial point of view, if someone does go the exhibition, can they let me know if the Zion Mule Corp from WW1 and the Jewish Brigade from WW2 get a mention?

“And they let a fool like Johnny Darlington TEACH people?”

only people whose english is deemed not sufficient to study at soas - which is a clear case of racist othering.

they also have racist images on their website
http://www.soas.ac.uk/ifcels/
the right hand picture clearly shows that they define people in need of english foundation courses as racially different. their othering of people with nonenglish as mother-and-fathertongue is intolerable….

Johnny on Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/jonasdarlinstein

I’ll pop round in my tea break see how things look from the outside. I wonder why he left his office unlocked?

Because he’s a fuckwit?

The only good thing about SOAS is the hare krishna who hands out free food every lunch time. Apart from that, i try to avoid it (although i did go and hear the israeli ambassador speak last year).

I can’t believe UCL’s provost wants to take over SOAS (allegedly), WHY?!

This whole exchange up until now is one of the LOL funniest I’ve encountered here in a looooonngggg time!

This is the Seymour’s Place link:

http://leninology.blogspot.com/2009/01/soas-students-occupy-brunei-gallery-in.html

… now look at that..
http://www.vimeo.com/1236005

if the exhibition about people from somehow somewhere else in that imperialistic institution “the british armed forces” is racist, then clearly exhibiting the ethnicity and/or nationality of soas (educating for the empire…) surely is also… racist???

i need more dope to understand all this…

That exhibition sounds interesting. But now I can’t visit it because all the posho-anarchist SOAS students will be in the way?

‘Perhaps Darlington thinks that non-White people who fought against Japanese imperialism and German fascism were “Uncle Toms”’

I can believe that all too well.

Incidentally, have SOAS farmed all their teaching out to graduate, non-PhD students? I also can’t find any mention of John Game on their website. Has he sacked his doctorate finally?

Perhaps Darlington thinks that non-White people who fought against Japanese imperialism and German fascism were “Uncle Toms”

Dunno about that, a goodly few of them were certainly Tommies!

I am waiting for my room to be occupied but alas nobody has taken you up on it so far I live in room F105 at SOAS please come along all welcome!

Johnny:
if this is fake: nice one!!!!

if this is real: you live there? and how d’you know i’m not already there? you’re supposed to be on a galley to brunei…

Johnny:
if this is fake: nice one!!!!

if this is real: you live there? and how d’you know i’m not already there? you’re supposed to be on a galley to brunei…

If that’s the real Johnny, why is his grammar so bad? Surely an English tutor would use at least some punctuation?

“No damage will be done to any of the space”

An interesting philosophical concept: is it possible to damage “space”? Hurt a vacuum? Traumatise an absence?

Discuss.

The Principal of SOAS speaks

Very good statement.

Indeed, technically it *is* political, because the “No justice, no peace” crowd don’t want an immediate ceasefire…

hold on - is he telling them to seek help?

He is merely expressing a hope that both sides will stop shooting at each other.

That is entirely possible, and very much desirable. All it requires, is for Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel.

Here’s the ‘occupiers” link. Note John Rose is trying to flog his book:

6pm – John Rose “The Myths of Zionism” – Brunei Suite

http://soassolidarity4gaza.blogspot.com/

If that’s the real Johnny, why is his grammar so bad? Surely an English tutor would use at least some punctuation?

You’re read John Game’s missives? Do you need to really ask that question?

Ho hum. New year - new SOAS uproar. In recent years they’ve tended to be focused exclusively on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and always in favor of the latter camp. Who remembers the attempts a couple of years ago to ban a spokesman from the Israeli embassy from addressing an audience at SOAS? and the op-ed piece in the student rag defending the murder of Israeli civilians? ad infinitum.

It should of course be pointed out that it is the School of Oriental [i.e. Asian] and African Studies, and therefore the study of Israel and interaction with Israeli academics is part of the school’s remit - regardless of the Israeli Government’s policies.

No external signs of an occupation in the Faber building - plenty outside the “Liberated” Brunei building…

To the Barricades!

I’m a SOAS student, and i find it very unlikely anyone has bothered to “Occupy Johnny Darlington’s Room’. When I got up and spoke against the pro-Hamas motions at the UGM yesterday I was wasting my time, firstly because barely anyone there listened to reason and secondly because out of those students who care enough about politics to turn up to the UGM, about 3 were willing to declare themselves anti-Hamas, let alone pro-Israel. Our Israel society would not advocate an act like this, because unlike the pathetic pro-Hamas goons currently illegally taking over the Brunei gallery, we host intelligent, academic events rather than publicity stunts. So basically, I can’t imagine that leaves anyone who would actually bother, as funny as it might seem.

Then again, I could always get off my arse and check it out for myself.

SOAS is an excellent academic institution. I only have positive things to say about the place. I recently spent some time in their library accessing books on South-East Asia. Not only was the collection world class, but the assistance I received from the librarians was most appreciated.

Last night I attended a lecture there given jointly by Colin Shindler and Emanuele Ottolenghi on “Israel and the War in Gaza.” It is a credit to SOAS that they can obtain such high quality people to give such lectures.

SOAS is a specialist college and part of the University of London, but in my opinion, and I did not study there, it is a superb institution and a credit to academic reputation of the United Kingdom.

It was a fantastic lecture wasn’t it Mikey? I agree, SOAS is a first-rate institution of education and the majority of staff are experts in their fields. It would be perfect if it was not for the students…

Yes, SOAS may be a good academic institution, and its lecturers in Israeli studies are of high quality, I agree.
This, however, doesn’t make up for the fact that most of the students are morons.

Oh Rob, great minds think alike.

@Rob G,

Yes, I did think it was an excellent lecture. It is a shame that at the very end, it got slightly rowdy. I did find it amusing that the PhD student who was asked by Emanuele Ottolenghi to name a Palestinian historian who has written about the history of the conflict mentioned “Benny Morris.”

Regarding the students, due to the nature of the subjects that it specialises in, it is quite well known for attracting a higher proportion of radicals than other colleges. This does not, in my mind, detract from the quality of the place, indeed, it makes it more exciting.

@N,

You argue that:

most of the students [at SOAS] are morons.

I do not know with what grounds you make such an assertion or what your own academic qualifications are to feel that you can insult SOAS students in such a manner, but in my opinion, your comment says more about you than it does about students of SOAS.

I used to be a SOAS student, thanks - I left *because* of the morons.

N,

A definition of “moron” is as follows:

a person of borderline intelligence in a former classification of mental retardation, having an intelligence quotient of 50 to 69.

Do you really feel that “most of the students [at SOAS] are morons”?

Okay then… I shall rephrase it - ‘Some of the students at SOAS are morons’.

It says that is a former classification, anyway, maybe the new classification is “A person who is politically outspoken about an issue they know little about, or choose to ignore the facts regarding, and likes to shove it down people’s throats when they are at university every day” - in which case I don’t retract what I said earlier :P

I love the “anything else?” at the end of their list of demands. It is pure Dave Spart.

OK N, I get the point of what you are saying. It is just that I personally rate SOAS very highly, and I get annoyed at people who ridicule the place.

I took a stroll past SOAS to see what was happening, when I went past the ‘Liberated’ Brunei gallery suite today it looked like the only way for the liberators to get in or out was through a window.
So much for “open to the public.”

As for the weed smoking in the bar. I am told that rarely occurs inside, but there is a new external smoking area adjacent to the bar where the SOAS tradition can continue.

Mikey - I graduated from SOAS. It is academically sound but I’m afraid the lunatics are firmly in control of the asylum.

Ziocon,

Maybe they are today. It is a bit old hat this occupation of rooms at universities. It went out of fashion at the end of ‘68.

Mikey, ‘68 never really went away at SOAS. I was there during the Iraq war and some of my lectures turned into impromptu open-cry sessions on the war - all I wanted was to get on with class!

Ziocon,

This is a recollection of an occupation at SOAS in ‘68. At the end she comments:

Marriage and 4 children later, I went back to Uni, read law and became a lawyer.

In my opinion, a student who has never been in a protest of some kind or other has missed out!

Like some above, I also write a SOAS alum and can remember numerous occupations (particularly of the library), outbursts and brouhahas. The common theme in all these was the democratic deficit. Sure, issues would be put to the vote at SU general meetings, but attendance was desultory and it was easy for ‘interested’ parties (read: SWSSers and other special interest groups) to vote en masse and gain the desired outcome. I suspect this a problem affecting SUs up and down the UK. The decision to bar the Israeli embassy spokesman from SOAS was made under similar conditions, and I’d like to know what the mandate was.

here’s the original motion:

http://www.soasunion.org/pages/your_union/ugms/motions_document-_ugm_3.html

Johnny must be having fun - two of the easiest ways to get laid in life are:

1. Teach English as a foreign language.
2. Get involved in some daft occupation with Trot students.

Students declare victory -

http://socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=16881

This is a recollection of an occupation at SOAS in ‘68.

In those days, anti-war slogans appear to be even-handed, ie. genuinely against warfare, rather than partisan, calling for the “underdog” to be victorious:

“It didn’t seem much later when we marched through London to the US embassy in Grovesnor Square, chanting ‘Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today’ and ‘Ho, ho, Ho Chi Min, how many kids have you done in’.

Actually Sea Kitten, there were plenty who wanted Ho Chi Minh to win the war. Tariq Ali, who I gather is speaking at SOAS is exactly one of those people.

Can someone confirm an anecdote about, after spending the preceding years calling for the same, John Pilger went for the next helicopter out of Saigon?

“Johny Darlington” may be his nom de guerre now, but I remember him back in the good old days at Spunkbridge Uni as plain “Grant”. He was in the Stompi Moketse bar most nights, and, if memory serves, he lived in Jim Bowen Hall.
Great times.

‘Can someone confirm an anecdote about, after spending the preceding years calling for the same, John Pilger went for the next helicopter out of Saigon?’

Alec, it’s in Max Hasting’s memoirs as a war correspondent. I’ll dig out the quote when I get back to my office tomorrow (and yes … I know it’s Hastings, and I think he’s a twat as well. Yet it’s a great story, and Pilger never denied it).

‘Ho, ho, Ho Chi Min, how many kids have you done in’.

Never heard that one before. I thought it was ‘Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh; Ho Chi Minh is gonna win’. Obviously, the chant got a bit stale after 1969, and I do assume that most of the atheistic socialist types of that generation didn’t actually believe in an afterlife.

I also recall the cautionary tale of Joan Baez protesting against Vietnamese human rights abuses in 1979, only to be roundly condemned by the comrades. Jane Fonda was foremost amongst them, and also compounded her vileness by stating that accusations of widespread atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge were baseless.

sackcloth and ashes,

I cannot think of Jane Fonda without thinking of her famous line that she made to Duke University students in 1970,

“If you understood what Communism was, you would hope and pray on your knees that we would someday become Communist.”

And then of course, there are the famous pictures of Hanoi Jane behind anti-aircraft guns of the NVA.

Truly sickening.

An article and picture in LSE’s The Beaver

What an insult to black and Asian veterans. Shameful.

SOAS - A great place in spite of the liberal loonies.
Colin Shindler - Brilliant man….

Of all places, SOAS should be promoting freedom of speech. How anyone can attack Colin is beyond me. He is a peace loving, open minded and honest man and to think that he has been subjected to a barrage of abuse is a crime!!

Academic freedom and freedom of speech!!!!!!!!

Shabba Goy - “Johnny must be having fun - two of the easiest ways to get laid in life are:

1. Teach English as a foreign language.
2. Get involved in some daft occupation with Trot students.”

That’s exactly what I thought! And then I saw his picture.

Alec, the Pilger anecdote is in Hastings, ‘Going to the Wars’ (Macmillan 2001), p.228.

Jane Fonda always struck me as an empty vessel - she accepted sexual experimentation in the 1960s because her then-husband, Roger Vadim, demanded it; her radicalism in the 1970s coincided with her marriage to Tom Hayden; and then she became the good little trophy wife when she was with Ted Turner. Mind you, she did have the common sense to drop out of a tour with Gorgeous George back in 2005.

Corrections: 1) Johnny was not occupying with us. In fact we did not even see him. He sent round the email to alert staff.

2) We actually ‘liberated’ the space from the MoD which, if you read correctly, we simply wanted to rearrange a bit; adding to it rather than to remove it altogether. The school would not let us allow people in, hence the climbing in and out of the window, to see the new exhibition so we asked for it to removed. the exhibition, although important, and indeed, i even argued at last years UGM to allow the exhibition as long as it also included information and photo’s of the millions of BME who did not volunteer but were, rather, conscripted and then used on the front line as human shields. The MoD did not agree to this and if you had come to see it you would possibly agree with us that the exhibition was a pure propaganda exercise.

3) John Rose was not trying to flog his book - it has sold out! but dont worry, there are plenty of copies in the SOAS library.

He has now challenged Colin Shindler to a debate. Look at my blog for further details.

4) The Tel Aviv lecture series stuff. I think the main point about the proposals was that at a time when Israel is inflicting such atrocities against Gaza the series is at best insensitive. Cast your mind back to the Tsunami; the BBC cancelled a showing of Waterworld due to the timing.

5) SOAS is one of the last places where debate can be had openly and freely. The Israeli Society at SOAS, distinct from the Jewish Society, decided to boycott the UGM. They regularly holds events which i sometimes attend and people from it have written often about the fact that SOAS is not anti-semitic despite media uproars. We, the Students’ Union, host events for HMD and even ran a trip to Berlin last year for HMD, passed a motion to help fund it and did a report back to the UGM.

6) no, we do not still smoke weed in the bar (shame!)- you do know that it is illegal and will not be tolerated!!

7) all power to students for standing up for what they believe in. Democracy is not just a vote every four years you know…

I’m not very good at writing so i hope this all makes sense. I do not normally engage in on-line debates, what a waste of time, especially on a blog like this but just wanted to correct you. For any further clarifications email me.

oops, i got the blog address wrong. It is http://soassolidarity4gaza.blogspot.com