Free speech and peculiar opinions

There was a reason for my choice of the two quotes for today from Noam Chomsky - a men about which I agree with hardly anything else - who said that if we don't believe for free speech for views we despise, we don't believe in it at all.

I was inspired to make that choice of quote because I was deeply disappointed to read that a professor at my old University has said something that I find quite shameful.

You may be surprised to learn that what he has said to offend me was an attack on the new Leader of the Labour party.

You may be less surprised if I explain that the professor concerned appears to think the problem with Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party is that it was too tough on people accused of Anti-Semitism.

He also thinks that the new leader has basically been bought by "the Zionist movement."

Professor David Miller thinks that Sir Keir will sweep any investigation into the leak of the Labour Anti-Semitism report under the carpet because his leadership campaign received a donation from a prominent Labour donor and philanthropist, Sir Trevor Chinn, who happens to be Jewish and a supporter of the Jewish community.

Professor Miller said in an online broadcast, in reference to the leaked report, that

"We are obviously not going to get a proper investigation of this by Comrade Starmer or by Lisa Nandy – who have been in receipt of money from the Zionist movement, from Trevor Chinn."

Which brings me back to my quote of the day.

I don't believe my old University should take disciplinary action against the professor for this, because if you don't believe in free speech for views you despise, then you don't believe in free speech.

But perhaps the University of Bristol might consider making clear that Professor Miller's views are his own and he does not speak for the University.

Comments

Gary Bullivant said…
Prof Miller was indeed implying that the Corbyn led Labour party was too tough on people accused of antisemitism. But he also said that very many of those who were accused were singled out by the organisation pre-Corbyn, largely to undermine and neutralise supporters of Corbyn's leadership campaign. The result was that many of the accusations of rule breaches, including but not only the holding of antisemitic opinions, were based on the flimsiest of evidence for reasons of internal factional politics. The Corbyn era party was then shamed into acting not by the weight of evidence in each case but by the wider systemic pressure to be seen to be doing something to counter the manufactured criticism. So, I don't think there is anything in what he said, the way that he said it or where he said it that warrants any distancing intervention from his employer. As for the Starmer era burying the report, there are more reasons for doing that than just owing one to a donor or two. Isn't someone holding back a report about Russian links for similar reasons?
Chris Whiteside said…
Obviously the first two sentences of your post are a statement of the opinions of Professor Miller.

Just so there can be no misunderstanding, is the rest of your post from "The result was" onwards a statement of your own opinions or your description of his?
Gary Bullivant said…
Up to the word "So" was a precis of what I heard him say in the webcast. I didn't offer an opinion on whether or not I agreed with him, which is neither here nor there since I don't have a dog in the fight, other than to say that I didn't find the idea of Jewish donor pressure to be a convincing explanation for Starmer kicking the report into the long grass.
Chris Whiteside said…
Thank you for clarifying that.

The first time I read your post I thought you were agreeing with the views expressed, but on a more careful reading I realised that this might be a mistaken inference.

I didn't want to make any response other than the request for clarification until that was sorted out.

Given how careful you have been not to express an opinion in favour of or against the views concerned, up to the word "So," I would hope it would be obvious why I might want an institution which I care about and have supported for many years to do the same.

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Quotes of the day 19th August 2020

Quote of the day 24th July 2020