London, Friday October 12, 2007
Dictator
among those asked to address students : University
debating society under fire BNP leader and
Holocaust
denier
invited to Oxford Union by Matthew Taylor The Guardian THE Oxford Union debating
society came under fire last night after its
president said he had approached
Holocaust
denier David Irving,
British National party chairman Nick Griffin
and the Belarussian dictator, Alexander
Lukoshenko, to speak at forthcoming
events. Luke Tryl said he had asked Mr Irving and
Mr Griffin to speak at the union's Free Speech
Forum, due to take place at the end of November,
adding that Mr Lukoshenko, the Belarussian
president, accused of a string of human rights
abuses, had been approached to address students
later in the term. "The Oxford Union is famous for is commitment to
free speech and although I do think these people
have awful and abhorrent views I do think Oxford
students are intelligent enough to challenge and
ridicule them," he told the Guardian, adding
that no formal decision on who would be invited had
been made. However, the move drew widespread criticism from
student groups and anti-fascist campaigners. In a joint statement, Oxford Jewish Society
presidents Daniel Bloch and Steven
Altmann-Richer said: "It will be a disgrace if
these discredited
speakers are allowed a platform at a forum on free
speech. They have an embarrassing history of
disregard for legal restrictions on it. It will
certainly go down as a black mark on the reputation
of the Oxford Union." Duncan Money, a second-year student at
the university who says he has suffered a series of
threats from rightwing extremists, said: "It is
disappointing that the Oxford Union has chosen to
promote and legitimise fascism ... Doubtless the
controversy will bring them feverish excitement but
for those of us who confront hate-filled bigots and
are on the receiving end of death threats because
of it, the issue is a bit more serious." The BNP said Mr Griffin would attend the event
if it went ahead. However, the invitation to Mr
Lukoshenko was blocked by the Foreign Office, which
said he was subject to an EU travel ban. Mr Irving, who told the Guardian last
month that he was launching a comeback speaking
tour of the UK, denied that he had received any
formal approach from the Oxford Union but added
that he would like to speak to the students
there. "I have had many invitations to speak there in
the past but they normally get withdrawn after
threats of violence and intimidation. It is a pity
because I think there are a lot of students who
would like to hear what I have to say." Last
month the discredited
historian
told the Guardian that he believed the
Jews were responsible for what happened to them
during the second world war and that the "Jewish
problem" was at the root of most of the wars of the
last 100 years. -
David
Irving's Books
-
Our dossier on The Board of Deputies of British
Jews
-
-
Gerald
Gable's criminal vendetta against Mr Irving
began when the historian caught him burgling his
apartment in 1963
-
Mr Irving's diary of his visit to
Auschwitz
-
Mr
Irving's diary of his visit to the three
Reinhardt camps, Sobibor, Belzec and
Treblinka
-
David
Irving: A Radical's Diary: On
The Forward interview on the Holocaust, and the
interesting "Mel Gibson" theory that Jews have
been behind many of last century's
wars
| Jewish Telegraph Agency blurts out:
George
W Bush's Pro-'surge' group in Iraq is almost all
Jewish
- Coincidence, says one, "half of the donors
contributing to its $15 million ad campaign are
not Jewish" - and most of the GIs,
too
|