Demonstration against Let Women Speak Oxford

[IwantToRetire]

A demonstration organised by the campaign group Let Women Speak (LWS) took place today at Bonn Square. Around 100 counterprotestors also assembled, including members from the Oxford Green Party, Stand Up to Racism, and Oxford for Trans Rights (O4TR).
https://www.cherwell.org/2025/10/18/oxford-trans-counterprotest-women/

Event was https://www.letwomenspeak.org/event-details/let-women-speak-oxford-2

No

Muslims account for 6% of the population so even if they weren't counted you still have a monumental epidemic on your hands.

I think that the reference is worldwide, not just the UK. According to google there are nearly 2 billion followers worldwide

@cowleycyclist sorry for the slight derail but I would argue with your statement that Oxford belongs to your Islamic neighbours as much as to anyone else. That might be true of many cities, but Oxford has a particularly historic heritage that is English. A thousand years or so, shaped by kings and queens, war, religion, education…
If I move to Istanbul- a similarly historic place perhaps even older, shaped by the culture and religion of the area over a thousand years, I do not get to claim Istanbul. I will forever be an incomer there, and rightly so, no matter how hard I might try to assimilate, amd it’s laughable to infer otherwise.

I read the article. How exactly where KJK and the far-right racist group who were with her discriminated against? Because counter-protestors turned up?

If people are going to talk about "free speech" then this should mean allowing people who aren't on your side to have free speech also right?

You might want to read more about the multicultural influences that shaped England. The Roman invasion, for instance. Or after the Norman invasion, the ruling class who were living in Oxford and writing and speaking in French.

Oxford University in particular was very much a site for international scholarship from when it began in the late 11th century to the present day. The history of Oxford has always been international and multicultural.

Oxford is also closely linked to the history of colonialism and empire. In the words of the cultural historian Stuart Hall, 'We are here, because you were there.'

I recommend David Olusoga's book Black and British.

The idea that Oxford's 'historic heritage' is exclusively English is a myth. At the risk of outing myself, I'm a medievalist who teaches in Oxford.

They weren't exercising their right to free speech, they were there to drown out LWS right to free speech. Duh. 🤯

I think that the point is, the counter-protestors had very little to say other than shouted infantile slogans amplified over a PA system. The only point of their 'free speech' was to drown out the free speech of others.

In your world does the free speech only go to the group with the loudest PA system?

Would LWS' free speech count for more if they invested in a stack of Marshall amplifiers?

Yeah I find it a bit ironic that KJK's organisation is called 'Let Women Speak'. Some posters on this thread have implied that KJK and women formed one protest, whereas a lot of shouty men formed the other. In fact, there were many women among the counter-protestors.

Much as I dislike KJK and what she stands for, she fits into the tradition of Oxford very well in some ways, as preachers and other polemicists have been standing around Cornmarket shouting for centuries now. It's part of free speech in action.

KJK's group would more accurately be dubbed, 'Let SOME Women Speak'. Or 'Let Women Who Agree With Me Speak.'

KJK's group would more accurately be dubbed, 'Let SOME Women Speak'. Or 'Let Women Who Agree With Me Speak.'

My understanding is that any woman (and afterwards any man) that wants to speak is given the microphone and as long as they need to express their views.

I'm pretty sure that this is not the case for the counter-protest

Did you grow up there, or are you an incomer? I studied there.

I’m not arguing that Oxford has no historical multicultural influences. I’m arguing that it belongs more to people who have been there generations than to those who have been there decades. In time, it will belong to their children. I live in a pit village. It’s not mine in the way it’s the home of those whose fathers and grandfathers were down the pit. I’ve been here 25 years. A friend has been here 40. It isn’t ours. We aren’t locals.

I love the tapestry of people and cultures moving around the globe, though it isn’t an area of speciality. I particularly love the Moorish influence in Spain. Empire and influence is really interesting, people taking their culture with them wherever they go, and leaving a little of it behind when they move on.

It does no one any good to deny heritage or culture matters.

Don't get me wrong, I don't see feminism as homogenous or monolithic. We don't all agree. That doesn't mean we can't find some points of agreement in common.

I find KJK scary because she shouts down her opponents rather than trying to engage in dialogue. To me, that smacks of fundamentalism.

Words like 'asshole' when addressing a Muslim guy you don't know are not productive.

My understanding is that any woman (and afterwards any man) that wants to speak is given the microphone and as long as they need to express their views.

yes, and a lot of the women speak about other issues that affect them too. It's not all about gender ideology.

Again, I don't think I'm the one denying heritage here. The monolithic view of Britishness espoused by, say, the Reform Party, is one that deliberately turns its back upon the complexity of history.

I find KJK scary because she shouts down her opponents rather than trying to engage in dialogue.

If you listen to the footage of the LWS event on you-tube. At times, despite having their own PA, the voices of the LWS women were drowned out completely by the screaming and shouting from meters away, across a road. The protestors achieve this using intimidation, numbers and amplification - are you sure it is KJK that shouts down her opponents?

Is there some sort of Godwin's Law equivalent where anyone who expresses any concern about fundamentalist islamic immigration to the UK in the 21st century is told 'umm, but the Huguenots, checkmate racist'

How does one engage in dialogue with people who scream and shout at you.

On the odd occasion when a TRA has spoken at an LWS event they have tried to run off with the mic or tried to destroy equipment

Well, it was definitely KJK who wouldn't let Dr Sheikh Ramzy finish his sentence in the Twitter clip I saw. Who assumed that he was anti-woman because he was holding a copy of the Koran, and because he was part of the counter-protest group (ie didn't agree with HER).

I've had some thoughtful, mutually respectful discussions with trans-exclusionary feminists. Nothing I see about KJK makes me think she's genuinely interested in listening or debate. She's a provocateur.

So Christianity is an ethnicity?

Agree. When KJK went to Australia Neo-Nazis turned up in support of her.

Not a good look at all.

My question is what were they even doing there, it's been reported that they were a counter protest, but you only be a counter protester if you have a protest to counter. Let Women Speak weren't there to protest anything they were there just exercising their to right free speech, so the others could only have been there to protest the right of women to speak. How does that not make them the 'bad guys?

What was Dr Sheikh Ramzy doing at an LWS event?

Why had he taken along a copy of the Koran? Is this something that people commonly carry in the street?

This post also makes me think about citizenship. Most of the Muslims I know in Oxford are British citizens. It's pretty repugnant to me to think that there are tiers of belonging within citizenship, and that people whose families have acquired citizenship more recently are somehow less British than families who have had it for generations.

It's in that direction that racism rears its ugly head.

John Pesutto in Australia is almost bankrupt due to losing a defamation case for saying that.

I thought that he was bankrupt but for being bailed out by party supporters?