Oxford Union - Speakers Denied A Platform

Speakers Denied A Platform

Harold Macmillan called the Oxford Union "the last bastion of free speech in the Western world", a quotation which continues to feature prominently in the Union's publicity. However, the Union's commitment to free speech has not enabled it to resist pressure to deny platforms to controversial speakers.

Read more about this topic:  Oxford Union

Famous quotes containing the words speakers, denied and/or platform:

    All the great speakers were bad speakers at first. Stumping it through England for seven years made Cobden a consummate debater. Stumping it through New England for twice seven trained Wendell Phillips.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    That I am not a member of any Christian Church, is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion.
    Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

    I have never yet spoken from a public platform about women in industry that someone has not said, “But things are far better than they used to be.” I confess to impatience with persons who are satisfied with a dangerously slow tempo of progress for half of society in an age which requires a much faster tempo than in the days that “used to be.” Let us use what might be instead of what has been as our yardstick!
    Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)