London, April 8 2001

---

[All images added by this website]

Oxford Union invites David Irving

LONDON APRIL 17 -- David Irving has accepted an invitation to speak at the Oxford Union, the university's most prestigious debating platform, on May 10.

This is the second time in twelve months that he has been invited to speak there; on the previous occasion [October 2000] the president of the Union cancelled the invitation under pressure.

This year's president, Miss Amy Harland, has declared that she has no intention of buckling, and last year's president, Jeffrey Bell, has stated his determination to assist her to see it through.

The marxist opposition have already announced their intention of halting the debate, at which Mr Irving is to oppose the motion that "This House Thinks that Free Speech should be denied to Extremists."

The leftwing Anti-Nazi League, who fielded a thousand violent demonstrators in Cork, Southern Ireland, in November 1999 [1299] to stop Mr. Irving from debating with university students there, have promised a night of violence in the streets of Oxford this time too. The ANAL is secretly funded by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and other traditional enemies of free speech.

Seven universities, including the Cambridge Union, Durham, and Trinity College Dublin, have invited Mr. Irving to speak since the end of the Lipstadt Trial: all had to cancel under threats from the same quarters.

A reporter from The Cherwell, the university newspaper, told Mr. Irving tonight that this time the Oxford city police think they can keep the situation under control. Mr Irving expressed wonderment that the police should fail to act in advance against all those who evidently conspire to commit acts of violence and public disorder.

"I am looking forward to the event," said Mr. Irving, who received the invitation to speak several weeks ago. "I have prepared a great speech."

The anti-free speech motion is to be led by Richard Rampton, QC, who defended the American professor Deborah Lipstadt in the recent High Court trial.

Lipstadt spearheaded the secret campaign in the United States to pressure mainstream publishers to cease publishing Mr Irving's works, beginning with the attack on St. Martin's Press who were publishing his Goebbels biography.

During the debate, Mr Irving may name and shame the "Oxford professor of politics" who -- as secret Macmillan Ltd files reveal -- put pressure on them in 1992 to violate their publishing contracts with Mr Irving.

 Violence threat prevails at Oxford University: Second invite to David Irving cancelled

 David Irving to Speak in Irish Republic (Nov 1999) | Traditional Enemy threatens Violence | Marxist Mobs Riot in Ireland, Police halt Irving Speech: [Irish Times Dublin] [Cork Examiner] | David Irving's Radical's Diary reports on the riot | Dublin Press backs David Irving: "Freedom of speech is no freedom at all if it is to be conferred solely on those you agree with" | David Irving's Radical's Diary