 The Defence Secretary, Des Browne, is leading a group of politicians
and public figures who are boycotting an increasingly divided Oxford
Union over the decision by its president to host a talk involving the
Holocaust-denying historian David Irving and the BNP leader, Nick
Griffin.
The
event, entitled Free Speech Forum, which is planned for next Monday,
has provoked uproar at the university and beyond. Some Oxford students
say they have received death threats and fear they will be targeted by
far-right groups.
More than a thousand people have signed a petition on the Downing
Street website calling on Gordon Brown to condemn the talk. A protest
rally in Oxford against what many students see as a cynical publicity
stunt by the union's current president, Luke Tryl, is planned for
tomorrow.
A string of politicians and celebrities have now pulled out of
events at the world's most famous debating society, the credibility of
which appears to have been badly damaged by Mr Tryl, a former chairman
of the Halifax branch of Conservative Future, the Tory party's youth
wing, who sees himself as a future prime minister.
Among those who have cancelled appearances are the television
presenter June Sarpong, the Labour MPs Chris Bryant and Austen
Mitchell, and Mr Browne. Sources close to Mr Browne said he did not
wish to be "on the same programme as such people", and that "if he had
known they had been invited he never would have agreed to speak in the
first place".
Mr Tryl is said to be increasingly isolated in the society. One
union insider said: "He has sacrificed so many great guests, simply for
the sake of a fascist and a Holocaust denier to speak."
Denis McShane, the former Europe minister, pulled out of a meeting
at the union last Thursday night after writing to Mr Tryl to object to
plans for "two notorious anti-Semites to be given a platform at the
Oxford Union". Mr McShane said: "To put four-star Jew-haters on to a
prestigious platform like the Oxford Union is to validate modern
anti-Semitism. If the Oxford Union has a right-wing ex-Toryboy
president, he is entitled to invite whoever he wants. But those who
think there should not be a platform for Jew-baiters are entitled to
their view, too."
Asked about his position Mr Tryl, who describes himself as a "very
liberal, modern person", said: "The BNP are in a minority, but they
gain support when they say the liberals are silencing them." Pressed on
BNP policies, however, Mr Tryl called them "abhorrent".
Yair Sivan, of the Union of Jewish Students, said: "There is no
place for racists and fascists at universities ... Democracy does
include the right to free speech, but it also includes the right to
tell extremists they are not welcome – that democratic right would be
one far more fitting for the Oxford Union."
The Oxford University newspaper, Cherwell, said students had
received death threats from neo-Nazis. It is believed that BNP
supporters are planning to "target" demonstrators at tomorrow's rally
and at the event next Monday.
|
The
Litchfield Historic District Commission will be without its chairman as
it considers Chabad Lubavitch of Litchfield County's plan to restore
and expand a West Street house for use as a Shul and Jewish
community center.
