AFA statement on withdrawl of Nick Griffin's invitation to TCD

dublin | racism & migration related issues | press release Friday October 14, 2011 15:59 by Bernardo O'Reilly - Anti-Fascist Action afa at ireland dot com

Anti-Fascist Action welcomed the decision today of Trinity's Philosophical Society to withdraw the invitation to Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right British National Party (BNP), who was due to speak at a debate entitled 'This House Believes That Immigration Has Gone Too Far' next Thursday 20th October.

Far-right organisers like Griffin do not come to speak at universities to engage in polite debate. They use these occasions as a platform to help spread their racist, homophobic, anti-immigrant and anti-Trade Union views. As such, militant anti-fascists will always oppose such events.

A spokeswoman for Trinity said the invite had been withdrawn after staff and students objected to the visit of Griffin, a holocaust denier who has been involved in far-right politics in England since the late 1970s. Last night, 13 October, thirty AFA members and supporters called into the weekly PhilSoc debate, as part of a campaign against Griffin’s invitation. We feel that this proved to be the tipping point for PhilSoc and the college authorities to withdraw the invitation.

This direct action was the culmination of a number of weeks work by AFA which included a mass email campaign, the production of several hundred stickers and the setting up of a Facebook page, entitled 'No Platform For Nazi Nick Griffin in Dublin', which attracted the 'likes' of over 580 people.

AFA, who have been active in confronting fascism for nearly twenty years, have always adopted the dual strategy of both physical and political opposition when confronting fascism whether Irish or International, group or individual.

Lastly, we would also like to commend the broad based Students Against Fascism group who organised against the planned visit, particularly on campus.