A positive and heartening development in these difficult times. Recently, the students'union at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies attempted to ban a speaker, Roey Gilad of the Israel embassy, from speaking to the School's Israel Society. This outrageous attempt to suppress free speech, at an institution which is so viscerally hostile to Israel that until recently the Israel society itself was banned, was finally defeated after a firm and courageous intervention by the School's administration, and the meeting with Gilad went ahead. The following is an account of that meeting by a participant:

'The SOAS meeting was rather a special event. Before the talk took place, about 30-40 anti-Israel protesters with (very slipshod) placards and flyers stood outside the building. Soon the protestors moved in to fill the lobby outside the lecture theatre. The lecture theater itself was pretty full, and the speaker, Roey Gilad, entered the room. As proceedings were about to start, the fire alarm went off, whilst some protestors began shouting slogans. It was clear that the alarm had been set off by the protestors, but SOAS security insisted on evacuating the building and suspending the event, pending a visit by a fire crew.

At the time, it was not clear that the event would be able to restart, and we filed outside rather angrily. The exit to the building has a large revolving glass door, and as we arrived at the exit, we saw that this had been smashed, with piles of glass lying around. It was not clear whether this was due to malice or as the result of an accident. It certainly made the atmosphere more tense. Outside the building were now about 300-400 people, including the anti-zionist protestors (now joined by a few Neturei Karta nutters).

Amongst the melee, and quite unannounced, was Trevor Phillips, the chair for the Commission for Racial Equality. After about 25 minutes, we were able to go back into the building and settle in the lecture theatre again. The meeting now began once more, this time with a packed lecture hall, and a considerable number of people standing outside. Trevor Phillips was asked to give an impromptu address. He stressed the need for freedom of expression on campus, and told the audience in a direct and challenging way that anyone who prevented this through intimidation or interference would be answerable to him and to the powers of his commission. His tone seemed to genuinely disconcert some of the protesters.

The meeting then continued with a short introduction from Gavin Gross, the JSoc chair, including the problems he had encountered and overcome in getting the meeting to happen at all, and then the invited speaker, Roey Gilad began. His talk was fairly straightforward in outlining the hopeful signs and the possible pitfalls of the current situation, but what carried weight was his approach - sincere and intelligent with a nice line in self-deprecating humour and some very pointed jokes. The message was very conciliatory and reasonable. He really showed his strengths in answering questions. He handled some predictably hostile and downright rude remarks with very solid rebuttals and a refusal to take insults. He certainly had the best of several hostile exchanges, and made the hostile questioners appear small-minded and negative in the context of the broader and more optimistic message he was conveying. The meeting came to an end pretty abruptly as the late start prevented the full 2 hours originally scheduled. However, by that time, SOAS JSoc members could leave with the sense of real achievement - not only getting the meeting to happen in the face of the appalling obstruction of SOAS student union and the petty sabotage of hostile protestors, but having the luck of hearing a very effective advocate of Israel's position. This positive outcome may well have significant impact at SOAS itself, and possibly beyond.'

This small but significant victory showed what can be achieved by a courageous and princpled refusal to be cowed by the forces of prejudice and suppression. All credit to the students, to the SOAS administration and to Gilad for determinedly pressing ahead and turning a black episode in the annals of university freedom into an intelligently handled occasion to redress the poisonous imbalance of hatred and propaganda. And credit too to Trevor Phillips, who unexpectedly chose to make a strong statement defending freedom of expression in the face of this attempt to shut it down.

Sure, it's only a small victory. The British mind is currrently remorselessly closing all around us. But at this SOAS meeting, a small candle was nevertheless lit for freedom, decency and truth. The SOAS students kept their nerve and fought back in a calm, dignified and proportionate way. It's a lesson for all of us.

Update: a reader who was also at this meeting adds:

'Trevor Phillips made a powerful statement about the 'resurgence of overt anti-Semitism' in this country and how criticism of Israel is sometimes driven by hatred of Jews. I was also impressed by the atmosphere of civility throughout the meeting. Israeli and Palestinian supporters in the audience were engaged in a polite dialogue with one Lebanese man even apologising to Roey Gilead for interrupting. Understanding each other and attempts at finding a compromise was precisely what the 'boycotters' tried to derail.'

Posted by melanie at February 24, 2005