Published 18 December 200912 May 2010 · Main Posts BBC debates executing gays Jeff Sparrow The Guardian reports that the BBC news website has been running a debate on the charming topic ‘Should homosexuals face execution?’ on a talkboard discussion for a World Service programme for African listeners. This is in the context of the new Ugandan legislation that makes homosexuality a capital crime. There’s an interesting story about the links between high-profile American fundamentalists and the murderous laws in Uganda but the point I want to make here relates to the connection between the BBC’s provision of airtime for the fascist British National Party and its willingness to ponder the extermination of gays. That is, in the stoush over BNP fuhrer Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time, the BBC management asserted, almost as a matter of principle, the necessity of giving time to abhorrent views of the far right (even when, as in the case of the BNP’s racism, these views contradict the BBC’s charter). And once you’ve debated fascism, why not debate mass murder? Jeff Sparrow Jeff Sparrow is a Walkley Award-winning writer, broadcaster and former editor of Overland. More by Jeff Sparrow › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 28 March 20249 April 2024 · Main Posts Why we should value not only lived experience, but also lived expertise Sukhmani Khorana In the wake of this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, I want to extend the central idea of El Gibbs’s 2022 essay on 'lived expertise' and argue that in media accounts of racism, analytical expertise and lived experience ought to be valued together and even in the same body. 5 March 2024 · Main Posts Andrew Charlton’s school assignment Alex McKinnon Australia's Pivot to India exists for three reasons: so that when Andrew Charlton is interviewed on the radio or introduced on Q+A, his bio includes the phrase "he has written a book about Indian-Australian relations"; to fend off accusations that he is another Kristina Keneally engaging in electoral colonialism in western Sydney; and to help the Albanese government strengthen economic and military ties with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.