Forelæsning om "Muslimsk Anti-semitisme" aflyst på UK Universitet

Den tyske forfatter og doktor i statskundskab, Matthias Küntzel skulle have holdt et foredrag og ledet et to-dages seminar på på universitet i Leeds om emnet islamisk anti-semitisme, men universitetet har valgt at aflyse efter pres fra muslimske studerende:

A leading university has been accused of "selling out" academic freedom of speech by scrapping a talk on links between the Nazis and Islamic anti-semitism after allegedly receiving emails from Muslims protesting about the event.

Matthias Küntzel, a German author and political scientist who specialises in the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, was told yesterday by the University of Leeds that a talk scheduled for yesterday evening, and a two-day workshop, on Hitler's Legacy: Islamic Anti-semitism in the Middle East, had been cancelled because of security fears.

Universitets-ledelsen benægter (naturligvis) at man har givet efter for trusler. Man har blot ikke haft tid nok til at indkalde vagter (!) i tilstrækkelige mængder til garantere sikkerheden under forelæsningen.

I en e-mail protester en studerende således:

One of the protest emails, from a student who describes himself as ''of both Middle Eastern and Islamic background", complained that the title of the event was "profoundly offensive''. It added: ''To insinuate that there is a direct link between Islam and anti-semitism is not only a sweeping generalisation but also an erroneous statement that holds no essence of truth."

Og sådanne deklamationer fra islamiske studerende har altså været nok til at få rektoratet til at ryste i bukserne. Selvom man ikke altså ikke har bøjet sig for pres, selvfølgelig:

However, last night the university denied the claims. It said: "The decision to cancel the meeting has nothing to do with academic freedom, freedom of speech, anti-semitism or Islamophobia and those claiming that is the case are making mischief.

''Nor are we bowing to threats or protests from interest groups. The meeting has been cancelled on safety grounds alone and because - contrary to our rules - no assessment of risk to people or property has been carried out, no stewarding arrangements are in place and we were not given sufficient notice to ensure safety and public order.''

Hovedpersonen er naturligvis skuffet al den stund han også har givet forelæsninger i kristen anti-semitisme og i øvrigt ikke føler sig specielt truet.

Men Allah forbyde, at nogen ytrer et kritisk ord om islam. Sikken en ballade, der kunne blive. Krav om de ansvarliges afgang ... Fare for pensionen ... Nej, så hellere helt lade være. For Herregud, siger manden egentligt noget nyt?

(Via The Daily Ablution)

Update: Mellanie Phillips er heller ikke begejstret:

The lecture was hardly a spontaneous event. No, this sounds like the university simply wimped out. Coming after the pressure put on Oxford demographer Professor David Coleman by a group of bigoted and ignorant students, and the ongoing scandal at Clare College Cambridge where a couple of students who published one of the Mohammed cartoons are now being hung out to dry by the university and are even being threatened with prosecution by the police [se evt. her] — not to mention the universities’ continuing general refusal [Phillips' eget link] to curb the recruitment to Islamist extremism proceeding apace on campus — it looks as if the British universities have already given up the battle for civilisation against barbarism.