Et foredrag om nazisme og antisemittismen i Midtøsten ble for sterkt for ledelsen ved Universitetet i Leeds. I siste liten ble foredraget til Matthias Küntzel avlyst. Det tyske instituttet kalte det regelrett sensur.

Ledelsen klaget over at de først fikk vite om foredraget 36 timer forut, men dette sier instituttet er tøv da forelesningen har vært annonsert i lang tid. De viser også til at fakultetet for moderne språk hadde forlangt tittelen endret.

The title of his lecture had originally been ‘Hitler’s legacy: Islamic anti-semitism in the Middle East’ but he agreed to a change after the head of the department of the school of modern languages and cultures pointed out the title was «unnecessary inflammatory».

The university said it had cancelled the lecture, which was open to the public, on safety grounds as it had only been told of the event less than 36 hours before it was due to take place.

Mr Gair said: «Contrary to our rules and protocols no assessment of the risk to people or property was carried out, no stewarding arrangements were in place and the university was not given sufficient notice to ensure safety and public order.»

Members of the university’s German department, which had organised the event, claimed the cancellation was an attempt by the university to prevent academic free speech after the vice chancellor’s office received some emails complaining about the lecture.

In a statement Dr Annette Seidel Arpaci and Morten Hunke said «The sudden cancellation is a sellout of academic freedom, especially freedom of speech, at the University of Leeds.»

The university denied it had bowed to pressure to cancel the event following the emails, which amounted to a handful of complaints.(guardian)

In a statement yesterday, two academics in the Leeds German department, which had organised the event, claimed the university had bowed «to Muslim protests». Dr Küntzel said he had given similar addresses around the world and there had been no problems.
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He added: «I was told it was for security reasons – that they cannot shelter my person. But I don’t feel in any way threatened.

»I know this is sometimes a controversial topic but I am accustomed to that and I have the ability to calm people down. It’s not a problem for me at all.

«My impression was that they wanted to avoid the issue in order to keep the situation calm. My feeling is that this is a kind of censorship.»

He has given the talk at Yale and in universities in Jerusalem and Vienna.

Dr Küntzel said the contents of emails described to him did not overtly threaten violence but «they were very, very strongly worded».

Freedom of speech row as talk on Islamic extremists is banned

Mennesker har måttet gå under jorden, og er sogar blitt drept. Nå blir altså universitetsforelesninger avlyst på grunn av frykt.