Selina Todd has been disinvited from "Women's Liberation at 50" because of association with WPUK

[stumbledin]

Have just seen this on facebook and am totally taken aback. She is listed as a speaker here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/womens-liberation-at-50-tickets-75905313837

Everyone of the other speaker if they go ahead and dont protest should be totally ashamed of themselves.

This is her tweet twitter.com/selina_todd/status/1233456777057964035

Some of the women speaking are those I have told I should and I do admire.

This sickness that is dividing women is so upsetting.

Not sure where or how we can show our disgust at this and make sure they know they do not speak for women.

Toby Young's Free Speech Union has waded into this. Although he's a prat, I do think the FSU is a good idea and I think Exeter are clearly in the wrong here. As does Kathleen Stock, who is an alumnus.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/03/oxford-college-investigates-feminist-lecturer-barred-womens/

Alumna.

Snippy

There's not much language that emphasizes women's presence, so let's hold onto what we can.

An article on this was published in The Times Online at 5pm today, so will presumably be in tomorrow's paper.
www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/professor-selina-todd-barred-from-event-celebrating-womens-lib-is-backed-by-free-speech-campaign-7r98m5j9p

And Guido Fawkes - with plenty of comments....
order-order.com/2020/03/03/guardian-editorial-conference-descends-trans-row-moore-article/

This is also reported in the Daily Mail. The article quotes Julie Bindel as saying the organisers should hang their heads in shame for giving in to this mob

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8071859/Oxford-don-barred-speaking-feminist-history-event-fallout-transphobic-remarks.html?ito=native_share_article-masthead

Yes it's in the Times this morning with some comments on already approved

From the Times. This is getting media coverage across all the major newspapers. The existential threat to freedom of speech and academic research needs to be robustly challenged:

^Sir Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, has written to Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, asking her to investigate and to state her commitment to free speech.
Students and graduates of Oxford said that they were “utterly ashamed” by Professor Todd’s treatment. Ruskin College has said that it would not have silenced her and that she had an open invitation to speak on any aspect of feminism.
Another academic said she was welcome to speak at University College London, and that “Oxford colleagues should know that no-platforming scholars and attacking academic freedom is just bullying and intimidation by another name”^

The Guido article is quite funny. Here is Suzanne Moore stating someone reasonable and a someone throwing a tantrum about not being safe. At some point someone somewhere is going to stand up and say 'Get over yourself, the world doesn't revolve around you now sit down and shut the hell up.'

I also enjoyed Guido. Horrified too. Jess saying she does not feel safe at work because they printed Susanna Moore's article. That's comedy gold.

Unsafe. Really? So, all those grauniads are going to beat Jess up in the gender neutral toilets later? No of course not. Jess means she might be exposed to views she disagrees with. Or be in a room at work with people who hold views Jess disagrees with. FFS.

I find it disturbing that a room full of serious journalists and the surrounding staff did not (a) laugh (b) tell her to get right to fuck with her crap attempts at oppressing journalists, they'll not be having any of that shite in a broadsheet setting.

Except they aren't crap attempts are they? These guys have succeeded in getting Guardian journalists to cower.

Everybody on the planet knows women exist and men cannot actually become women but apparently nobody at the Guardian can even talk about the major issues round the office. Too easily kept under the thumb boot are those journos.

The person who was "fucking crying and literally scared to death" or whatever it was has claimed to have resigned from the Guardian over Suzanne Moore's column.

Sarah Ditum has just Tweeted that she actually quit weeks ago.

Sorry, meant to post that on the Suzanne Moore thread...!

Is the person who resigned the same one who was too scared to go into work?

It is confusing.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/dfgdfgdfgfd_uk_5e5e7444c5b6732f50e8d509

Yeah. The resigner must’ve been working out their notice period and realised a temper tantrum over a column would get them put on paid Garden Leave

Excellent grift.

It just goes to show that nothing is ever enough. Anything other than total submission is transphobia tantrums.

Janice Turner today

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/its-time-to-stop-giving-in-to-gender-lobby-bullies-gjk99czgt?shareToken=71896e863847bfd2c3488f367e6ff9c8

The open letter in support of Selina Todd has been published with signatories - an encouraging number!

resistersunited.org/open-letter-in-support-of-selina-todd/

Oh dear - have read the letter and think it just doesn't really make the point.

Quite honestly the introductory paragraph, which isn't in the letter is all that needs to be said:

" ... This is our open letter to the organisers of the Women’s Liberation at 50 Conference. We stand in solidarity with Professor Selina Todd and against the no platforming of feminists and academics. ... "

And as I understand it, it was a contrived event by Feminist Fightback and some 70s feminist (those more aligned to socialism than feminism) took part as it did so completely obscure the radical feminist strand of feminism.

I suggest that in a large part this is why none of them took a principled stand against no platforming. Had it been one of them I get they would all have been outside picketing.

Never underestimate how deep the disrespect was by socialist feminists of radical and revolutionary feminists.

For me this event means that if I see any of those women listed as speakers, or put forward as being able to give an historical account or talk of the WLM, I will not be listening.

It seems that Amber Rudd is the latest victim of censorious no-platformers at Oxford:

twitter.com/AmberRuddUK/status/1235838618221948928

stumbledin what point(s) do you think the letter should have made? Or, didn't make?

somanydevices - as i said up thread, there is only one issue. No platforming. All the letter needed to say is as said in the intro paragraph.

"We stand in solidarity with Professor Selina Todd and against the no platforming of feminists and academics."

All that waffle about doing a difficult job of organising. Seriously. Women working in the NHS have difficult work.

Feminist Fightback put together a programme of socialists feminist to try and claim WLM for themselves. They offered this programme to the organisers of the Oxford Festival.

At the last moment, possibly at the instigation of Feminist Fightback a speaker pulled out. All they had to do is say sorry you are pulling out, it is very inconvenient telling us at the last moment when you have known all along who the speakers are.

Anyone of the other speakers could have filled in that one slot, and probably over half of the audience.

It is about no platforming.

I am amazed that Julie Bindel and all the others who say they are in favour of free speech stayed on to listen to a programme happening whilst someone was no platformed. (Dont forget Julie Bindel pulled out of an early FiLia because they "disinvited" a speaker at the last moment.)

The letter would have done better to not only just say we dont agree with no platforming but suggest all future events claiming to be feminist agree in advance of asking speakers that they wont no platform whatever the pressure.

And none of the women who stayed to speak should ever be asked to speak at any event again. IMO!