Hickey091200

Independent student
newspaper of Trinity College, University
of Dublin

December 6, 2000

Readers
Letters

Jewish
Chronicle journalist got Trinity College to Cancel Invitation

Sir,

I READ in the November 15th edition of
TRINITY NEWS that the Trinity Politics Society has withdrawn its invitation to the World War II historian David Irving to participate in a debate on freedom of speech, after journalist Gaby Wine
from the London Jewish Chronicle
objected.

No doubt university leftists are rejoicing at the fact that once again the world has been made safe from Nazism,
Holocaust Denial and associated evils. The rest of us, however, many of whom were looking foreward to seeing this world-famous figure in the flesh, will likely feel frustrated and let down. One must ask who a student society like the
PolSoc is supposed to represent: the students, or journalists from a foreign newspaper?

I am not being bigoted; this has nothing to do with Ms. Wine’s being Jewish or English. I am merely stating that she is simply a journalist — a person with an opinion — and has no jurisdiction over
Trinity College. The Politics Society should have politely acknowledged her concern and then stuck to its guns, rather than caving in at the first sign of disapproval from a “grown-up”.

The article also said that it was feared that “Irving’s presence could attract substantial right-wing support.”
From where, exactly? The Dublin branch of the Nazi Party? This really is hysteria on a McCarthy-esque scale.

As far as I am concerned, the true fascists are those who, for their own idealogical interests, opposed a historian’s right to come on campus, where many were hoping to hear him. That is intolerance on a scale worth worrying about.

Brian
T. Hickey
(J.F. Arts), Dublin, Ireland.

Related
items on this website:
Sam Boland of University College, Cork,
asks if
Mr Irving speaks to extremist groups as
foes allege
Under pressure, Bucknell (Pennsylvania)
University students withdraw
invitationDavid
Irving to Speak in Irish Republic |
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
Trinity College, Dublin, student
newspaper asks
about the cancellation of the David
Irving lecture at CorkA
Radical’s Diary: bad dream; and

another
University cancels David Irving
invitation
Evans’
sneers about Mr Irving in Cambridge
university magazine Varsity
Violence
threat prevails at Oxford University:
Second invite to David Irving
cancelled