<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2627" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><!--StartFragment --> From the website of the left-wing
British-based<A href="http://www.workersliberty.org/node/view/4166#comment">
Alliance for Workers Liberty</A><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Leicester University has cancelled a talk by Muslim lesbian
feminist Irshad Manji because of fears of hostile reaction from right-wing
local Muslims.<BR><BR>Compare Haifa. Ilan Pappe, a lecturer at Haifa
University, is a vehement anti-Zionist, as unpopular with right-wing and
conservative opinion in Israel as Irshad Manji is with right-wing and
conservative Muslims.<BR><BR>Pappe has had trouble at the university, and some
professors there are very hostile to him, but he is still in his job, still
lecturing.<BR><BR>The pro-boycotters in the Association of University Teachers
persuaded the AUT conference on 22 April to declare an academic boycott of
Haifa because of Pappe's hard times.<BR><BR>If so, why not a boycott of
Leicester University? The Manji incident shows up the pro-boycotters' double
standards.<BR><BR>Irshad Manji spoke in London today, 12 May. She is, as far
as I can judge, no sort of socialist or social radical, but she is an advocate
of universal human rights, an opponent of cultural relativism, an advocate of
what she calls a "reformation" in Islam.<BR><BR>According to Irshad Manji,
Leicester University gave two reasons for cancelling.<BR><BR>First, that they
feared hostile reactions from some local Muslims so severe that they could not
guarantee the security of a lecture by Irshad Manji.<BR><BR>Secondly, the
scheduled date of the lecture being soon after the General Election, they
feared pressure during the election campaign on local politicians to come out
against Manji speaking.</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Manji is in the midst of a speaking tour
of Britain. According to the <A
href="http://www.outrage.org.uk/pressrelease.asp?ID=285">Outrage news
service</A><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Ms Manji describes the main purpose of her visit as being to speak
on various dimensions of Islam and human rights - from the perspective of a
faithful yet struggling Muslim. "My core message is that no community, no
ethnicity, no culture and no religion ought to be immune from respecting the
universality of human rights. This, of course, is a controversial message in
an age of cultural relativism. Mine is a positive message of pluralism. I
truly believe that we can be pluralists without becoming relativists. That's
especially important for the lesbian and gay movement to understand, given the
bigotry we so often face from ethnic and religious groups."</BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV class=byline>Stuart Elliott</DIV>
<DIV class=byline><A
href="http://newappeal.blogspot.com/">http://newappeal.blogspot.com/</A><BR></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>