Union outcry as UCL hosts conference for group accused of sexism and Islamophobia

A revolutionary socialist group accused of Islamophobia and sexism is to hold its national conference in the Cruciform Building this weekend – despite opposition from some concerned students and union officials.

The Cruciform will host the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty national conference this weekend

Having ignored a union plea for a venue change, up to 120 members of the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty (AWL) will descend on campus for Saturday and Sunday’s conference.

They were able to book the 346 capacity Cruciform Lecture Theatre 1 through the UCLU Workers’ Liberty Society – but a union officer alleges that only SIX attendees will be from UCL.

BME Officer Hajera Begum and Women’s Officer Annie Tidbury today released a statement on the union website warning students that the AWL would be on campus and outlining their concerns.

Union officers are concerned and have accused the group of sexism and Islamophobia following the publication of a controversial article on their website last October.

The AWL attracted criticism for this article

Its text likens the poor of Arab countries to “the starved beggar squatting by the door of the feasting rich man’s home — in the form of a righteous other-world-serving rejection of the West and the corrupt modern world”.

Begum and Tidbury have also voiced their concerns of sexism in the group, and allege there are “reports that women have had to leave activist groups due to feeling unsafe around the AWL”.

BME Officer Hajera Begum

Part of their statement reads: “Whilst there is no formal policy in place to prevent the AWL from holding their conference at UCL, we believe that the safety of our members should be our highest priority.”

“We understand that many students feel unsafe around this group. We are therefore releasing this statement to alert our members to the fact that the AWL will be on campus this weekend.”

UCL Medical School, which is based in the Cruciform, had no say over the room booking.

A concerned second year Medic told The Tab: “It worries me that a group who have previously made students feel unsafe are being allowed to hold their conference in the Cruciform, especially given that the majority of attendees aren’t UCL students”.

The conference is still set to go ahead tomorrow in spite of UCLU’s statement.