Simone’s Plaintive Protest

Simone Webb of WomCam has organized a protest stating: ‘The irony of Assange being invited to speak at these awards is astounding.’

The Tab hears her justification:

‘I am protesting firstly the inappropriateness of Assange being invited to awards celebrating courage and truth-seeking, when Assange is holed up in the embassy.

Secondly, and more importantly, I am protesting the continued casualness with which rape allegations and accusations are treated in our society, a casualness towards which I believe the Union to be contributing.

Rape in this country, and most countries, goes under-reported and under-convicted: victims are frequently blamed, smeared and doubted.

Discussion of the Assange case has often involved old myths being dragged up: “If the women were partying with him after the supposed assaults, they must be lying”; “It’s not proper rape if they’ve already had consensual sex”.

The Union have said that Assange’s speech at the awards should be dissociated from his private life. To dismiss rape allegations by relegating them to the private sphere is, I believe, highly damaging. I do not believe that the Union should have invited Assange to speak at the Sam Adams awards.

This is sometimes framed as a free speech issue. However, I do not think that by saying the Union should not have invited Assange I am in any way questioning their right to do so or freedom to do so.

Of course they can invite him, and they could also choose to uninvite him. As far as Assange himself is concerned, I also do not think he should be censored.

However, no one has a right to be invited to speak at a prestigious institution such as the Union; his free speech would by no means be infringed were he to be uninvited, any more than my free speech is being suppressed because I have not been invited to speak.

Furthermore, I am not necessarily advocating a blanket no-platform policy on Julian Assange; I would feel somewhat differently were he speaking in a debate where there would be more opportunity for him to be challenged and held to account. He is not.’

Simone claims to have received ‘continual abuse from Assange fan’s on facebook, including his mother’. Christine Assange rejects these allegations, commentating that Ms. Webb ‘appears given to histrionics.’

Read Christine’s response here.