Oxford University Chabad Society attends protest against David Irving and Nick Griffin at the Oxford Union
27 Nov, 2007
On Monday night members of Oxford Chabad Society joined hundreds of students and non-students alike outside the Oxford Union to protest against the invitation of Nick Griffin and David Irving to speak at a “free speech forum”.
Nick Griffin was quoted last year in the Mail on Sunday as saying: "It's well known that the chimneys from the gas chambers at Auschwitz are fake, built after the war ended". In 1998 an English court found that David Irving was "an active Holocaust denier; that he is anti-Semitic and racist and that he associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism." Oxford Chabad Society believes that Luke Tryl, President of the Oxford Union, behaved irresponsibly in inviting these men to speak. The Oxford Union is, for all its faults, a prestigious institution, and giving Griffin and Irving a platform only lends them credibility. Furthermore, it is extremely naïve to believe, as Luke Tryl does, that "the way to take fascism on is through debate and that's how we're going to defeat them". The victims of the Holocaust did not die because they were bad at debating, and freedom of speech is far from being a BNP priority; Griffin himself has said “When the crunch comes, power is the product of force and will, not of rational debate”.
In the past, increased instances of racist attacks have accompanied Griffin and his speeches. Such concerns were particularly worrisome for Jewish students in Oxford, many of whom have already been the targets of anti-Semitic abuse.
As a result of the protest, the debate was delayed by an hour and a half and no attempt was made to start the full meeting. Griffin and Irving were split into separate rooms and seen by a just a few Oxford Union organisers and around half the members originally planning to attend the event.
Unfortunately certain students not affiliated with the Chabad Society took it upon themselves to infiltrate the Union and disrupt the event, shouting offensive slogans. However the demonstration was mostly peaceful, and it was heart-lifting to see blacks and whites, Asians, Muslims and Jews stand together and protest under the banner “Racism tears Britain apart”.
Avi Ohayon, President, Oxford University Chabad Society
