Freedom of Speech: Amazing individuals, organisations, and achievements
It was only on Sunday, September 15, that my wife and I attended a very special one-man show by Paddy O’Keeffe, a dear socialist comrade.
The venue was the remarkable Rialto Theatre, a Grade II Listed building at 11 Dyke Road, in the heart of Brighton and Hove. In the five years since it opened — replacing a far less welcoming nightclub — I had never ventured inside.
After the Sunday-evening performance of Paddy’s Bernard Shaw Invites You, I chatted with one of the venue’s two directors (neither of whom will I name, for reasons that I hope are obvious in the light of the bullying abuse the venue was to receive as a result of that serendipitous conversation.
With just six days to the start of the Labour Party Conference, a small and diverse group of local party members and supporters had discussed an ambitious plan to hire a huge marquee to host events — including some featuring Chris Williamson, the socialist MP for Derby North — who had been the target of thugs and bullies when he last spoke in our city.
The plan was to call the venue — to be erected on council-owned Regency Square — “The Freedom of Speech Tent”. With doubts about whether the party conference would even go ahead (with a possible general election looming) and with council bureaucracy delaying the issue of the necessary “Event Consent” form, we needed a back-up plan. Not least because costs were escalating: 2,000 for the marquee (with lighting, seats, and a generator).
In addition, a similar amount was required for round-the-clock security over five days. (In truth, the reason we did not go ahead with this plan centred mainly on my sleepless nights about likely sabotage and vandalism by anti-democratic, anti-Corbyn elements who have been quick to make known their opposition to freedom of speech.)
The reason for this blogpost is not to report in detail the magic that happened on Saturday (September 21) and Monday (September 23) as the result of the collective efforts of a small but immensely-brave team of socialists. And the robustly decent staff at the Rialto Theatre.
I won’t give the surnames of those who helped plan the events (because several are the targets of shocking and frightening abuse online and offline). All I will say is they could not have happened without Becky, Anne, Will, Denise, Tony, Alex, Asa, Paddy, Pam, Trefor, David, and Sue.
To understand why some individuals and/or organisations are mentioned, it may help to read back on my Twitter feed: @GregHadfield.
For now, I just want to put on record my gratitude — and, I hope, that of the vast majority — to those who ensured the thugs and bullies will never “no-platform” a Member of Parliament in the free-speech city that is Brighton and Hove.
I also hope the experience of Rialto Theatre strengthens the future resolve of venues such as the Brighthelm Centre, Holiday Inn Brighton — Seafront, Friends Meeting House, Komedia Brighton, Jurys Inn, Dorset Gardens Methodist Church, and Waterstones.
All seven of these venues caved in — understandably, to a degree — to torrents of anti-democratic threats and abuse: in person, by email and telephone, but more often from anonymous cowards on social media.
Finally, I must record that not a single national media outlet gave not even the briefest of mentions to any of these outrageous attacks on freedom of speech. And none of Brighton and Hove’s leading politicians spoke out: Peter Kyle triggered the attacks by his initial intervention in the Brighthelm Centre; While Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion (whose constituency is home to all bar one of the venues that came under attack); Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, stayed unusually silent; so did Nancy Platts, leader of the Labour administration on Brighton and Hove City Council.
In contrast, thanks be to:
Venues:
Rialto Theatre (@Rialto_Brighton) - https://twitter.com/Rialto_Brighton
Brighton and Hove City Council (@BrightonHoveCC) — https://twitter.com/BrightonHoveCC
Raffle prizes:
Steve Bell
Organisations/organisers:
Brighton & Hove Labour Left Alliance
Labour Representation Committee
Jewish Voice for Labour
Labour Against the Witch-hunt
Graham Bash
Pete Firmin
Speakers:
Chris Williamson
Jackie Walker
Tina Werkman
Anne Mitchell
Professor David Miller
Professor Bill Mitchell
Greg Philo
Mike Berry
Justin Schlosberg
Antony Lerman
Adriana Alvarez
Cathy Augustine
Steve Tiller
Kerry-Anne Mendoza
And finally…
Ken Loach
*In the next day or so, I will add details of each person/organisation — along with any relevant websites, social media links
