Should I resign from the Oxford Union?
My colleague Julian Lewis has resigned from the Oxford Union because of their decision to invite Nick Griffin from the BNP and David Irving, the Holocaust denyer. I have been a member of the Union for 21 years, and I won’t be resigning, though it was a tough call.
Students like to shock and be outrageous. This is clearly a stunt, although there is aserious point behind the idea. One of the most memorable debates I went to at the Union when I was a student was when the Union asked Gery Adams along. I remember Tim Hames, now a Times columnist, taking him on, as well as a man whose diplomat father had been murdered by the IRA. It was a hugely emotionally charged occasion, but enormously worthwhile. I don’t think any of us felt we had crossed a moral line.
The BNP and Irving sit in a kind of limbo land - neither ignored, but not engaged with and defeated. If I was a student now, I would go, and I would look forward to their ideas being defeated in open debate. It is a bit silly to deny Irving a platform, when the Iranian President is just as bad and is free to trot along to the UN. Similarly, however unpalatable Griffin’s views, his party wins seats. He will continue to win if we ignore him. By engaging them we defeat them.
canvas said on November 26th, 2007 at 9:25 pm:
I guess this what democracy is all about - freedom of speech - but I wish the BNP didn’t exist.
I think the Oxford Union are being irresponsible - perhaps the students don’t fully understand what ’shocking’ really means …I hope they realise the consequences of their actions in due course.
Votedave said on November 26th, 2007 at 9:48 pm:
The BNP are a vile lot - they should be banned I say.
Sue said on November 26th, 2007 at 10:33 pm:
Excellent comments Ed - that’s my first thought.
When I read the title of this blog, I thought for sure that your answer would be “Yes”, that you would resign from the OU. But now, having re-read this several times, I can only agree with you, much as I hate to do it. If we can’t ban them (as Dave suggests) then we need to do whatever we can to expose them for their lies, their evil, the stupidity of their claims (thinking of Irving here).
But, you know what, if we do allow them to speak, aren’t we taking a chance that they will win some recruits? That’s what worries me. These are educated men who believe in evil. How can someone deny the Holocaust, with all the proof that there is to verify that horrible period in history?
Years ago I met a man who was very high up in a religious cult. I won’t mention the name of it, in case someone here belongs to the same organisation (well, it’s a huge one, and I got caught up in it for a while). Anyway, when I started to question their beliefs, it always came back to this one thought - how could this wonderful man that I knew, who was so smart, so bright, so charming and intelligent, highly educated, how could he be so wrong about this one thing? By letting the likes of Irving talk about his beliefs, you have no idea what will result from it. I’m not sure now, if it’s worth the risk.
canvas said on November 26th, 2007 at 10:46 pm:
Sue, It wasn’t Tom Cruise by any chance?!
only joking
You’re right about exposing these people for the fools that they are…
Sue said on November 26th, 2007 at 10:58 pm:
If it HAD been Tom Cruise, I’d probably still be a member!! (ooh, I’m so shallow!!) :p
Tizzy said on November 27th, 2007 at 12:35 am:
Oh no, not even for Tom Cruise, yuk. Makes David Icke comparatively sane.
What’s happened to the Oxford Union? Why did they feel the need for this particular debate/stunt (or non-debate, since I understand it was called off after an invasion)?
The BNP et al appeal to the ignorant. Has Oxford become so dumbed down? There’s a time and a place for such a debate and it ain’t the Oxford Union.
Sue said on November 27th, 2007 at 12:49 am:
Tizzy, I thought it was called off as well, but seems that it has gone ahead after a “delay”.
Nick Griffin gave an interview to ITV, but on the edge of the city, far away from the Oxford Union building. Looks like he was running scared. I wish he’d just kept running
jonjii said on November 27th, 2007 at 9:40 am:
I was a student in “Liberal” South African University in the late sixties early seventies.
I was always disappointed when those with a radical pov refused to give a platform to others who disagreed with them..
They bemoaned the lack of “academic freedom”. This always seemed to me hypocritical. It seems that here in 2007 England nothing has changed.
I disagree with just about everything both the BNP, UKIP and Tony Benn say but am still prepared to listen… I don’t have to agree.
Yes Ed Don’t give up on OU just yet.
Julian said on November 27th, 2007 at 12:56 pm:
It seems to me that the protesters gave Irvine and Griffin far more publicity than they deserve. Without all the protests and brouhaha, I doubt the debate would have reached the national TV news and so very few people outside the Oxford Union and university would have known that it was happening.
Having said that, I wouldn’t deny them their right to protest but equally they shouldn’t prevent a legal event from taking place.
Somehow, the inconsistencies, fallacies and weaknesses in the ideas of the likes of Irvine and Griffin have to be exposed and an Oxford Union could debate could be one place to do that.
canvas said on November 27th, 2007 at 4:36 pm:
Hi Jonjii- I wish you hadn’t included Tony Benn in the same sentence as the BNP and UKIP!
That’s very unfair. I have all the time in the world for Tony Benn. He is a good egg whether you like his views or not.
Votedave said on November 27th, 2007 at 8:00 pm:
Tony Benn was seen in the early 80s as a dangerous left-wing extremist - he nearly ousted the moderate Denis Healey as Deputy Leader which all helped to boost the SDP and ensure a landslide for Margaret Thatcher.
But I’d agree, these days he’s a harmless fellow who I wouldn’t mind sharing a pint with.
Tizzy said on November 28th, 2007 at 12:16 am:
Like Dennis Skinner? And Ken? They’re all so cuddly now, aren’t they? Like boa constrictors.
While I can respect Tony Benn for his steadfastness and general integrity, he’s as mad as a bag of badgers when it comes to modern day politics.
Julian Lewis said on December 13th, 2007 at 7:37 pm:
FULL TEXT OF MY RESIGNATION LETTER TO THE OXFORD UNION
(Please note second paragraph)
24 November 2007
I am writing, in my personal capacity and with great sadness, to resign my Life Membership of the Oxford Union after 37 years, in protest at your decision to offer the privilege of a platform to this country’s best-known Holocaust denier and also to the leader of the British National Party. As your President seemed surprised when I indicated my intention to him on Thursday, let me explain as clearly as I can why this is necessary.
No-one denies that even the most unpleasant people must be allowed to say what they like within the limits imposed by law. No-one denies that a private debating society is at liberty to invite anyone it selects, similarly within the law. Yet, it should equally be obvious that no-one has a right to such an invitation unless that society chooses to offer a platform. The right of free speech does not confer a right of access to privileged platforms from prestige organisations. So why is the Union choosing to offer one to David Irving and Nick Griffin?
During my visit for last week’s debate on terrorism, four reasons gradually seemed to emerge – two explicit and two implied. I set them out here in descending order of merit:
The first reason is the principle of free speech – as if either of these individuals has been prevented from publishing his views far and wide in books, pamphlets, papers and on the internet. The Union does not seem able to distinguish between the right to express one’s views, on the one hand, and access to a privileged platform, courtesy of a (hitherto) respectable organisation, on the other.
The second reason is the belief, reiterated by your President on BBC television, that their “awful and abhorrent” opinions will be “crushed and defeated” in debate on Monday. This is either laughably naïve or rather disingenuous. Mr Irving could not possibly be discredited more completely or convincingly than occurred in the Lipstadt trial and subsequent book (Telling Lies about Hitler) by Professor Richard Evans, and in Mr Justice Gray’s devastating verdict (easily accessible) at the end of that trial. In any case, my understanding of Monday’s debate is that it will not be about Holocaust denial or BNP doctrine per se, but about issues of free speech – in which case [your President’s] televised excuse is simply misleading.
The third reason is an understandable, if morbid, curiosity to see this notorious duo in the flesh; whilst the fourth – and most discreditable – reason is to attract a blizzard of nationwide publicity for the Union itself and/or its current leading figures. As politicians often find out to their cost, however, it is always easy to generate media coverage if one is willing to behave sufficiently badly.
For Holocaust deniers and the BNP there may well be no such thing as bad publicity; but for most of the rest of us the opposite is true. Do you think for one moment that the national media would be in the least interested in this debate if Irving and Griffin were being offered a platform by a body with no status to confer nor reputation to lose?
Nothing which happens in Monday’s debate can possibly offset the boost you are giving to a couple of scoundrels who can put up with anything except being ignored. It is sheer vanity on your part to imagine that any argument you deploy, or any vote you carry will succeed in causing them damage. They have been exposed and discredited time and again by people vastly more qualified than you in arenas hugely more suited to the task than an undergraduate talking-shop, however venerable.
So far as I can see, the only good to have come from this self-indulgent behaviour is the fact that Muslim and Jewish students are working together to condemn the appalling message you have sent to their communities, both locally and nationally.
Yours sincerely,
JULIAN LEWIS
(Balliol & St Antony’s, Ex-Secretary)