After reading this account of a recent Oxford Union meeting, https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-oxford-union-has-disgraced-itself/which shows how low the standard of students, their behaviour and intellects at what is (was ?) the world's leading higher education establishment have dropped, I wrote the following to its current President and copied the vice-Chancellor.Neither has yet replied.'To: Ebrahim Osman Mowafy President of the Oxford UnionI have been a life member of the Union since 1964 when on arrival at Exeter I paid £10 from my £300 annual grant to join.This was to enable me as someone interested in politics yet whose state school background gave little exposure to it, the opportunity to listen every Thursday night to distinguished speakers of all persuasions debate in a civilised matter the issues of the day.I relished the opportunity and learnt much. It must be said that some debates - "That this House will under no circumstances fight for its King and country" (a re-run of the original 1933 debate) were quite heated.And yet the situation remained civilised. You can thus imagine how disappointed I was to read about the disgraceful fracas that took place recently under your Chairmanship. The motion was “This House Believes Israel is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide.”Somewhat loaded one would have thought ?It was reported that your behaviour throughout the evening was not that of a neutral chair but of an orchestrator, stacking the odds against the opposition and fostering an environment of unchecked hostility.You even forwent the traditional impartiality of the chair’s role to speak against the motion yourself. I read that apparently 'as one speaker against the motion rose to speak, the mob of a crowd pointedly giggled and coughed to show their animosity. Their interruptions grew louder and more vicious culminating in a young woman standing and screaming obscenities in his face 'like a banshee': “Liar! F*** you, the genocidal motherf***er!”'Not your responsibility it is true, but furthermore when the audience was asked to indicate by a show of hands how many of them would have reported prior knowledge of the October 7th massacres, the vast majority of the room remained still.Obviously many Union members are supporters of sexual assault, rape and kidnapping of women, children and the elderly, many still held captive and whose bodies seem to be now released spasmodically for some sort of grotesque media stunt.And one proposer Miko Peled, described as 'a relentless anti-Israel activist', even described the atrocities of 7 October as acts of “heroism" !Not your view I hope.All the while, you were reported as sitting unmoved, permitting this orgy of hate to continue unimpeded, as members of the audience cursed opponents in Arabic and disrupted the proceedings.One of the opposing speakers described the experience thus: 'This was not a debate; it was a show trial, it seems to me, orchestrated by a deeply biased president and cheered on by a mob that had no interest in facts or truth.This felt like a marker, the moment when the Oxford Union truly fell. Not just as a debating society, but as a symbol of intellectual freedom. The room that night was not filled with future leaders engaging in the battle of ideas; it was a mob baying for blood, intolerant of nuance, and utterly resistant to the values the Union claims to uphold'.Not just an indictment of the Union but also the university itself I would have thought.I wonder if you plan to return to your homeland when you receive your Oxford degree.Will you feel that Egypt's attitude to free speech aligns with your own as displayed at the Union especially where Israel is concerned ?Or will you feel somewhat nervous that the demonstration of your very partial and strongly held views might be held against you were you brave enough to begin to criticise the Egyptian government ?Have you read how Human Rights Watch have described the current political climate in Egypt -'The Egyptian authorities have in recent weeks arbitrarily detained and referred for prosecution at least four critics of the government on charges stemming solely from their legitimate exercise of freedom of expression, as part of their work, in a fresh assault on freedom of expression, eight organizations, including Human Rights Watch, said today. Those prosecuted include two detained journalists and a researcher living in exile.The authorities have employed incommunicado detention, abusive pretrial detention, and unsubstantiated terrorism-related charges against the critics. The family of one detainee alleged that he was tortured. Harsh repression has stymied freedom of expression and independent media in recent years, despite the government’s claims that it is pursuing reforms.“Egypt cannot turn a new page without respecting freedom of expression, which is part and parcel of promoting other political and economic rights,” said Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Egypt should urgently cease targeting critics and immediately release those unjustly detained.”'Will you be challenging your own government with as much bravado as you challenged the behaviour of Israel or is the thought of 'discussions' with Egypt's security forces perhaps a little daunting ?Whatever it is I hope you felt some self-congratulatory satisfaction from bringing the primitive political posturing of your homeland and the Middle East in general to this country to defile Oxford University, its institutions and its attitudes to free speech.Let's hope other Oxford students show more open-mindedness, maturity and common sense than you do. I hope you will do me the courtesy of giving a reply and I wish to make it clear that I will be sending a copy of this email to the vice-Chancellor.J W HawkesExeter 1964'
John Hawkes ● 20d