Five of us from Workers' Liberty in London went yesterday to join our Oxford comrades in a protest against BNP leader Nick Griffin and far right historian David Irving, who were speaking at the Oxford Union (not a union but a posh debating society) at a meeting supposed to be about freedom of speech.
Difficult to say as we were mostly crammed into the tiny alley where the Union entrance is, but there were certainly many hundreds of people there - quite possibly more than a thousand. Inevitably given the event being protested against, they were mostly Oxford University students, but there were also people from other Oxford colleges and a big turn out from local union branches, mobilised by the trades council. There were also coaches from places including London, Portsmouth and Manchester, mobilised by Unite Against Fascism and other groups.
The event was severely disrupted with about 30-40 people getting inside, occupying the meeting and forcing Irving and Griffin to speak in smaller, separate rooms.
We sold quite a lot of papers, made some contacts and had some good discussions, explaining why, as champions of free speech, we believe that the immediate violent threat fascism poses is different from other reactionary views (for more on this, see here); and defending the militant tactics - shouting, trying to block the entrance, entering the building - adopted by many demonstrators. (Our comrade Sofie Buckland got involved in some of this direct action herself.)
We also got a few people to sing the Internationale and various working-class and socialist anti-fascist chants with us!
--
Mike Rowley of Oxford AWL writes:
About 1,500 of us demonstrated yesterday outside the Oxford Union Society, a posh student debating club, against Nick Griffin, leader of the fascist British National Party, and David Irving, the infamous Holocaust denier, whom the "Union" had invited to speak in a "forum on free speech".
The demonstration consisted mostly of Oxford University students. However, there were substantial contingents from Oxford Trades Council and local Unison, CWU, NUJ, UCU, Unite and GMB branches, Labour and Green councillors and other local people, as well as supporters from London, Birmingham, Bristol, Portsmouth and even Manchester, whose support was greatly appreciated.
Socialists are in general for the fullest freedom of speech, for challenging reactionary ideas in debate and against state bans which can easily be misused against the labour movement. However, these issues are all separable from the question of whether Griffin and Irving should have been invited to speak.
Fundamentally, the issue is that the invitation to fascists/ fascist-sympathisers like Griffin and Irving could not but bring risk to minorities and the left in Oxford - Griffin was accompanied as usual by a posse of BNP skinhead thugs, and it is no coincidence that when the BNP speak anywhere racist violence increases. That is why we believe that fascism is different from other reactionary political movements.
Even some people from Oxford I spoke to confused the Oxford Union Society with Oxford University Students' Union, and thought Griffin and Irving had actually been incited by the representative body of Oxford students. This is a misconception the BNP hope to play on in the places where they are standing for election, and in the campuses all over the country they are currently making a serious attempt to infiltrate. As Martin McCluskey, the president of the real OUSU, said, "It is not just an Oxford issue. This will have ramifications for other places where the BNP are active. This is going to give legitimacy and credibility to their views".
The Tory boys (yes, almost all men, and almost all Conservative Party members) who run the Oxford Union Society claimed they wanted to "crush the fascists in debate". This is a barefaced lie - Griffin and Irving were invited to a "forum" not a "debate", and would not have to try to justify their adherence to fascism and racist views but were given the opportunity to whine in their usual demagogic fashion about being "free speech martyrs".
A Guardian journalist who attended said that Irving reiterated his denial of the Holocaust while Griffin had the barefaced cheek to launch an attack on "nazis" - whom he identified with the anti-fascist protestors! What is more, the meeting was not an open one where anyone could come and challenge the fascists, but a private affair for Oxford Union Society members only and for which tickets had to be reserved three days beforehand. We can leave the last word on whether "crushing the fascists in debate" was intended to one Tory-boy moron who told the BBC, "I think it was a very balanced argument and both sides did really well. I'm pleased it went ahead".
Essex University anti-fascist activist Peter Simpson, who got into the meeting to heckle Irving, said "I cannot believe people will sit in a room and listen to him spout his despicable ideology".
Essentially, though, the fascists were chased out. They had arrived four hours early so as not to have to face us, but things didn't go as they planned. Fifty-odd anti-fascists shoved their way into the building and occupied the main room where the meeting was to take place. Few people were able to get into the building past the demonstration, and among these were anti-fascists who heckled Griffin and Irving inside the meeting.
Direct action, in which AWL members were involved, blocked off the entrances to the building. As a consequence the meeting had to take place in two separate small rooms and lasted less than half an hour. The fascists then left in a hurry by the fire exit. Pretty much the only people who had heard them speak were Oxford Union committee members!
Shamefully, Evan Harris, Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, who had originally been billed to speak but had announced he was pulling out on the ground that the "forum" was of no conceivable interest, changed his mind at the the last moment and, according to the above-quoted Guardian reporter, spoke in one of the little rooms alongside the Holocaust denier Irving, while Griffin spoke in the other. Afterwards Harris came outside and pontificated to the press.
The demonstration was a great success. Of course it should not have been necessary - but the fascist poison was contained within the Oxford Union and then promptly expelled. What is more, what was forged and displayed yesterday evening was a unity against fascism and racism and a determination not to allow that sort of filth to pollute the streets of Oxford. Both the fascists and the Oxford Union Society will be in no hurry for a repeat performance, and if they do try again to bring hatred to Oxford the workers and students of the city will be ready for them in even greater numbers - and we will not allow them to spread their poison.
We have united in defence of our city and its diverse community, and in the strongest human solidarity with all the millions who have been murdered by fascism, from the 20s and 30s through to Stephen Lawrence. As Oxford Uni campaigner Joe Wales says, "History teaches us that we can defeat fascism only when we stand together, and at times like this our silence is morally indefensible".