No discussion on

Free Speech allowed!

It was the Sydney Forum organising committee's genuine intention to hold a debate at the 2010 forum on the topic Hate Speech - cunning censorship or real concern? The debate was advertised on our web site, and on a number of supportive internet forums etc. However a true dialogue can only take place if you engage people with differing views. We were actually really looking forward to listening to someone justifying their support for the concept of thought crimes and censorship. So in this respect the Sydney Forum was very proactive in trying to find a suitable candidate to put forward the argument for "real concern".

Invitations promoting the debate and inviting nominations for debaters were sent to the following web sites, organisations and individuals:

The Socialist Alliance

	Antifa Australia blog
	Slackbastard
	Communist Party of Australia
	Getup
	Australian Human Rights Commission
	Resistance
	Fight Dem Back

We also sent personal invitations to the following people:

Associate Professor Katharine Gelber at the University of NSW (she has since moved to the University of Qld). Professor Gelber was a contributor to the book "Hate Speech and Freedom of Speech in Australia".

http://www.polsis.uq.edu.au/gelber

We would like to state that out of everyone we contacted, Associate Professor Gelber was the only one who acted in a completely professional capacity, and who promptly and politely replied to our e-mail, declining our invitation due to a prior engagement. Although disappointed that she was unable to attend, we would like to thank Associate Professor Gelber for her time and for her professionalism.

Mr Rick Kuhn

http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/rick/

Threads were also started on the following forums:

anarcho-punk.net

We can't give you a link to the thread as the Sydney Forum account was banned and the thread deleted almost immediately. Obviously we were a bit too scary for the punks to deal with.

Revleft

At the least the anti-free speech fascists at Revleft played a little longer, although they didn't play any nicer. And they also turned out to be rather sexist - why automatically assume the Sydney Forum poster was a male... maybe they were... maybe they weren't. Rather poor form we would have thought. We're sure the feminists at the various organisations mentioned above would have a few words to say about that.

Anyway, to rig the game, the administrators at Revleft banned the Sydney Forum account, all posts by the Sydney Forum account were deleted, but the thread was left open to "discuss counteractions". Nothing better than having a completely one sided discussion/debate with no right of reply to the other side hey guys.... Yes this is exactly the type of fight the "left" love!

http://www.revleft.com/vb/sydney-forum-2010-t138498/index.html?p=1802064

However luckily we kept a copy of the full discussion before they removed our part of the conversation here.

Should we really be surprised that not a single person from any of these organisations felt that they would be able to actually defend their position of thought crimes and free speech censorship? Probably not. However the Sydney Forum organisers again extend an open in invitation to the above groups/individuals, and any other opposing parties to come and speak/debate at the Sydney Forum.

For the historical record, the invitation to the 2010 Forum debate is shown below.

A Free Speech Debate Invitation

An open invitation to our opposition to participate in a free speech debate

At last year's Sydney Forum, a small group of protestors assembled outside the Forum displaying a variety of banners, including one that said “Hate Speech is not Free Speech”. We at the Sydney Forum do not believe that the Forum constitutes “hate speech”, in fact we wonder what the term “hate speech” really means or what the use of the term is intended to accomplish. We believe that this is a subject worthy of discussion, and at this year's Sydney Forum we are holding a debate on the following topic:

Hate Speech – Cunning censorship or real concern?

The Sydney Forum organisers will nominate a person to argue the case for “Cunning Censorship”, and we invite the public to nominate someone to argue the case for “Real Concern”. We especially welcome nominations from groups/persons who have been most vocal in condemning and trying to shut down the Sydney Forum.

	The forum organisers reserve the right to select this person from the list of nominees, and will select someone whom we consider to be academically and intellectually qualified to argue the case. If in the opinion of the organisers, no suitable candidate has emerged, the reasons for this will be stated and an address on Hate Speech will be given at the Forum and be duly published.
	Nominations for parties interested in arguing the case for "Real Concern" close on 1 August 2010, and the names of both debaters will be revealed on 2 August.
	The audience members will vote on which argument “won” the debate.
	All audience members must be paid ticket holders attending the 2010 Sydney Forum and must abide by the forum rules of respecting the speakers' right to talk without being interrupted or heckled. The same applies to audience questions.
	All persons interested in participating in the debate should contact: 0407 732 868 or radnat@alphalink.com.au

We ask that you distribute this flyer widely to publicise the event, thank you!