Posts Tagged ‘LSE’
Meritocracy, I wish!
Franklyn Addo is a talented black teenager from London who is making a name for himself as a rapper and has been lauded in the liberal press for getting into Cambridge. He wrote in The Guardian on Monday to set the record straight. He did not choose to study sociology at the LSE instead of Cambridge because he wants to stay close to a music scene (these days it’s all online, duh!), but because academically the LSE meets his needs better. He is undoubtedly a bright guy and I one for one am delighted he has a passion for sociology. It’s a pity then that he had to say this:
People from deprived areas must assess their way of thinking and begin to understand that society is becoming increasingly meritocratic and that anything is possible with hard work.
Would his personal achievement be any less commendable if he were to admit that because he had luck and good guidance on his side that he has not been a victim of institutionalised discrimination? Just because he has not, does not mean it does not exist. There are at least a few good sociologists at the LSE who will hopefully put him to rights!
If this is ‘freedom of speech’…
The London School of Economics has seen it fit to invite Thilo Sarrazin to a debate tomorrow as part of this year’s ‘German Symposium’. Sarrazin recently made waves with his book, ‘Deutschland schafft sich ab’ (‘Germany does away with itself’), a rant on how Germany is being ruined by immigrants. he has also said that all ‘Jews share a certain gene’. Sarrazin certainly strengthened German Chancellor Angela Merkel in her remarks in October that attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany had ‘utterly failed. Merkel’s anti-multiculturalist stance, although hardly new, gave renewed succour to David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy, both of whom have joined her in speaking out about the dangers of multiculturalism as they see it in recent days.
German academics and students in the UK have written an open letter in protest against Sarrazin’s invitation to an event under the banner of ‘free speech’. The ‘freedom’ to peddle racism is not free: it runs a high cost for those on the receiving end. Please join us in protesting this by signing the petition and/or joining the Facebook group.
Read on for the open letter sent to the LSE by Germans in the UK. Read the rest of this entry »