Socialist Students Southampton awaken… what a surprise.

Socialist Students Southampton have recently expressed their disdain at the new ‘Southampton Uni right-wing websites’, the Wessex Mash and the SotonTab.

This attack, of course, comes as no surprise and was a long time coming. If you have views differing to theirs in any way it’s only a matter of time before they get on their high horse and start protesting with scarves round their faces and more megaphones you can shake a stick at.

What do we want? MORE MEGAPHONES!!!

Now if you’re thinking that I’m going to kick-start a right-wing attack on socialism I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. Debates like that only end in tears and should be reserved for politics students – which, thankfully, I am not.

What this is an attack on is this statement on their website:

The legitimacy, and perhaps even legality, of these sites, and the ‘news’ they post, will likely be questioned by SUSU in the near future.

Let’s start with the obvious and completely unfounded claim that SUSU will likely question the legality of what the SotonTab publishes.

Firstly, there is nothing illegal about writing or saying whatever the god-damn hell you want, right wing or not. I think even the most staunch socialist would agree with you there (well, most of the time).

But I think what’s happened here is gross ignorance.

What they have failed to realise is the SotonTab is a completely independent company. In other words – it has nothing to do with SUSU. To claim that SUSU even could question the legality of the SotonTab is as foolish as questioning the legality of breathing.

You would think that a university society that vehemently associates itself with a political movement would have some people who are able to check and see if their ‘facts’ are substantiated – but clearly they do not.

How hypocritical, then, for them to question the SotonTab’s legitimacy. They clearly need to be gently reminded that opinions, no matter what they happen to be, aren’t even questioned for ‘legitimacy’ – they are opinions!

Maybe they mean legitimacy of the facts and news published but I challenge any of them to find facts published in the SotonTab that are not properly referenced and founded.

It seems that unless you express views and bias towards Marxism it’s like poking them in the balls with a cattle prod. I ask – would they have made such a fuss if the articles had left-wing leanings?