Deputy News Editor
Irish Independent journalist Kevin Myers has criticised both College and the anti-fascist groups who opposed Nick Griffin’s invitation to speak at a University Philosophical Society debate on immigration.
Speaking to The University Times, Myers claimed that the blame for the withdrawal of the invitation was ‘largely the responsibility’ of College authorities who he believes influenced the decision made on public order grounds.
The conversation occurred following the publication of an opinion piece on the Irish Independent’s website in which Myers revealed that he had rejected an invitation from the College Historical Society to speak on the proposition side of a debate positing ‘that this house would place no limits on the freedom of speech’. The post, entitled ‘TCD denies free speech to right-wing speakers’, compared speaking on the subject of free speech in Trinity to ‘discussing virginity in a brothel’.
Myers also criticised student activist groups Trinity Against Fascism and Students Against Fascism for their role in the cancelled invitation. When asked if he would place a portion of the blame for the withdrawn invitation on those who protested, Myers said that the groups had ‘no right’ to demand the invitation be withdrawn.
‘[Those groups] chose not to allow freedom of speech to someone who is entitled to utter his opinions. They have no right to demand from the College or the State the power to censor opinions they don’t like.’
In response to a popular anti-fascist protest that right-wing extremists should be denied a platform by the College lest it be used to incite racial hatred, Myers stated his belief that Griffin’s potential to incite racial hatred was vastly overstated by those who stood in opposition to his visit.
‘It’s not complex; is this man entitled, in a Western, European democracy, to speak his mind? Of course he is. Is he entitled to make statements that incite racial hatred? No, he is not, but is he likely to? I’ve seen and heard him a number of times on the television and radio, and he has never said anything that might be construed as incitement to hatred.
‘He’s not some little Nazi that we’ve dug up from a hole somewhere – he’s the person we’ve seen in the media.’ He added that ‘freedom of speech, not Nick Griffin’ was the major issue at play in his decision to reject the Hist’s invitation and that he was ‘indifferent’ as to whether or not the College or any student society chose to extend the invite again.
When asked if it would be fair to say that he would not been accepting an invite to speak in Trinity for a long time to come, Myers responded ‘yes, that would be fair to say’.
