21st Century Wire says…
“Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state, for every form of power politics and any dictatorship-run state has its roots in the street” said Joseph Goebbels. The state has lost control of the “street” and it is scrambling to contain dissent. The cancellation of the Media on Trial event destined to take place in Leeds City Museum on the 27th May 2018 has been plagued by a mainstream media campaign against the speakers since it was first advertised.
Those who protect power from the “street” have tried to ensure that the voices of these academics, former diplomats and independent minded journalists will not be heard. On World Press Freedom Day, a day when “the universities minister has fired a warning at higher education leaders demanding they stamp out the “institutional hostility” towards free speech that has taken root on their campuses”, Leeds city council took clear steps to suppress free speech.
Who directed those steps? Firstly, Leeds Friends of Syria who have raised money for a questionable extremist sympathetic organisation that goes by the name of Hand in Hand for Syria, that has already been exposed by one of MOT’s speakers – researcher and anaylyst, Robert Stuart.
“The Charity Commission has determined that shocking images of an employee of UK charity Hand in Hand for Syria’s former “flagship medical facility” posing with weapons including an anti-aircraft gun and a shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile “do not raise sufficient regulatory concern, or represent a significant or on-going risk in relation to the Charity that would support regulatory action or formal engagement with the Charity.”
According to an article in the Yorkshire Post another contributor to the pressure upon Leeds Council to cancel the event was:
“Toby Dickinson, a political adviser on international security issues and Leeds resident, said: “Leeds City Council has made the right call. While there are differing, legitimate perspectives on how to end the human suffering in Syria, nothing is gained by giving oxygen to the views of propagandists and conspiracy theorists.”
Completely unacceptable for @LeedsMuseums to host pro-Assad propaganda event. Apologists for murdering dictators should not be welcomed in my home town. @singharj @krishgm @brian_whit @syriauk @leedsforsyria @fabianhamilton @cllrjudithblake @im_PULSEhttps://t.co/I8xUfi9Kef
— Toby Dickinson (@TobyDickinson) May 2, 2018
Interestingly, one day before, Dickinson retweeted Mark Regev, Zionist Ambassador to the UK commemorating the birth of Theodor Herzl, the “father of modern Zionism”:
#OTD 158 years ago Theodor Herzl, the father of modern #Zionism, was born.
He dedicated his life to the Jews achieving equality among the nations, writing: “We shall live at last as free people on our own soil”. pic.twitter.com/LqJXtoiTls
— Mark Regev (@MarkRegev) May 2, 2018
The following is the official statement from the Media on Trial organisers:
Today, on World Press Freedom Day, Leeds City Museum, a city council owned and operated venue, cancelled the Media on Trial’s booking for the event we had planned for 27 May.
The fact that the event was cancelled is perhaps bad enough. What became clear as the day has progressed, though, is that Leeds City Museum appear to have informed the press and media of the cancellation before they informed Media on Trial organisers. Indeed they waited for the Media on Trial representative to arrive at the venue for a planned meeting following a four hour train journey before giving us the news.
They seem to have taken this decision on the basis of misinformed assumptions about the content of the event, and offered no right of reply to Media on Trial.
Leeds City Museum has cancelled an event that threatened mainstream media and UK Government narratives that have enabled another regime change war to be waged against Syria, financed by British taxpayers contributions.
The cancellation of the event denies public consensus a platform to express its profound dissatisfaction with the systematic disinformation campaign run by a British media that protects power from truth, rather than holding truth to power.
Media on Trial fully intends to hold this event despite these attempts to silence us. We will be in contact with ticket holders shortly to explain our plans.
Further information will be published at https://www.mediaontrial.uk in due course. If anyone in the Leeds area can suggest alternative venues, please let us know and we will pass the information along. In the meantime, please share this as widely as possible.
***
READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Syria Files
SUPPORT 21WIRE – SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV