Quilliam Society invites Tommy Robinson to speak at Oxford Brookes

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- zeca
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Quilliam Society invites Tommy Robinson to speak at Oxford Brookes
OP - February 08, 2017, 09:50 PM

http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/uk_589b0b2fe4b076856217bd47/
Quote
A talk by controversial English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson about free speech at UK universities has been cancelled after hundreds of students planned to protest the event.

Robinson, who now heads up Pegida UK, had been invited to speak at Oxford Brookes University by an anti-extremism student group.

But the university’s student union refused to approve the event after police warned it posed too great a risk of “public disorder”.

More than 300 students had planned to demonstrate outside of Robinson’s speech, accusing him of spreading “fascism and white supremacy”.

Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lonnon, founded far-right street protest group the EDL and now heads Pegida UK, which fights against the “Islamisation” of the West.

Last month, he announced plans to for an EDL march in Bristol in memory of a man who died in jail after being sentenced for a bacon attack on a mosque.

A petition launched by the protesters claimed: “Regardless of his official departure from the EDL in 2013, Robinson has built his career on Islamophobic, racist speech and violence.

“We believe that allowing him a platform in this city will promote and dignify such hate speech, as well as fear and violence against communities in our city.”
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Robinson, who claims he has been banned from speaking at four universities in the past 12 months, has slammed the police and university for “surrendering free speech to a load of hippy morons”.
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Some Oxford Brookes students have also expressed their disappointment at the union’s decision.

Harvir Dhillon, who invited Robinson to speak on campus as president of the union’s Quilliam society, said he was “annoyed” at the missed opportunity.
....

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Quilliam invites Tommy Robinson to speak at Oxford Brookes
Reply #1 - February 08, 2017, 10:30 PM

Harvir Dhillon on twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/HarvirDhillon

Oxford Anti-Fascists on twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/OxfordAFN

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- AGirlWithDoubts
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Quilliam invites Tommy Robinson to speak at Oxford Brookes
Reply #2 - February 08, 2017, 11:37 PM

This is why I cannot get behind Maajid Nawaz. What's the use in standing up to certain extremists when you're going to cosy up to other types of extremists?
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Quilliam invites Tommy Robinson to speak at Oxford Brookes
Reply #3 - February 09, 2017, 05:14 PM

I haven't seen any evidence that Robinson is a white supremacist. I'm pretty convinced he just hates all Muslims though.

https://storify.com/TheRationaliser/tommy-robinson

I don't come here any more due to unfair moderation.
http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/index.php?topic=30785
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Quilliam invites Tommy Robinson to speak at Oxford Brookes
Reply #4 - February 09, 2017, 08:35 PM

Quote from: AGirlWithDoubts on February 08, 2017, 11:37 PM
This is why I cannot get behind Maajid Nawaz. What's the use in standing up to certain extremists when you're going to cosy up to other types of extremists?

This was by a quilliam student society.

Maajid is does not at all agree with Tommy's views and is likely not even aware of the details of what the quilliam societies are doing.

Thats partly because the societies are new so there are growing pains on how to do oversight properly.

I don't want to sound like an apologist for Maajid since I disagree with him on certain issues regarding politics but he has been a victim of constant smear campaigns.

In my opinion a life without curiosity is not a life worth living
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Quilliam invites Tommy Robinson to speak at Oxford Brookes
Reply #5 - February 09, 2017, 10:31 PM

Quote from: TheDarkRebel on February 09, 2017, 08:35 PM
This was by a quilliam student society.

Maajid is does not at all agree with Tommy's views and is likely not even aware of the details of what the quilliam societies are doing.

I hadn't seen this when I started the thread but Harvir Dhillon does make it clear that the student society was acting independently, and so my thread title may have been misleading. I've edited it now.
Quote from: https://mobile.twitter.com/HarvirDhillon/status/829246788007821313
As a university society, we're only connected to Quilliam in name & values espoused.

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Quilliam invites Tommy Robinson to speak at Oxford Brookes
Reply #6 - February 09, 2017, 10:39 PM

Quote from: TheDarkRebel on February 09, 2017, 08:35 PM

This was by a quilliam student society.

Maajid is does not at all agree with Tommy's views and is likely not even aware of the details of what the quilliam societies are doing.

Thats partly because the societies are new so there are growing pains on how to do oversight properly.

I don't want to sound like an apologist for Maajid since I disagree with him on certain issues regarding politics but he has been a victim of constant smear campaigns.

I see, makes sense.

Everyone is going to have some views which I disagree with but I like a lot of Maajid's articles and think that he speaks some sense. I want to support him, but the people he chooses to associate with makes me question his principles.
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Quilliam Society invites Tommy Robinson to speak at Oxford Brookes
Reply #7 - February 09, 2017, 10:41 PM

Quote from: TheRationalizer on February 09, 2017, 05:14 PM
I haven't seen any evidence that Robinson is a white supremacist. I'm pretty convinced he just hates all Muslims though.

https://storify.com/TheRationaliser/tommy-robinson

Yeah, people should use the appropriate labels. We don't know if he's a White supremacist but someone who continuously uses Robert Spencer and Pamela Gellar propaganda is definitely an anti-Muslim bigot.
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