‘Speak Out’ – or ‘Shut-Up’?
Leanne Muhamad, a student at Wanstead High School who is British-Palestinian, won the “Speak out” challenge after giving this impressive performance to enthusiastic applause. But one day later, the Speakers Trust decided Leanne will no longer be sent through to the grand final of the public speaking competition. It seems that giving a personal account of the Nakba and a plea for end to discrimination against Palestinians is not acceptable in the UK in 2016. Once Leane’s win was retracted, the video was removed from the Speak Out Challenge website and Youtube channel, but we managed to retrieve the copy below.
The Speak Out Challenge is described by its organisers thus: “In each one-day workshop, students take part in games and exercises to encourage them to think on their feet in a fun, interactive and safe environment. The day culminates in a “Speak Out” speech contest where students can speak on any topic they feel strongly about – using only their voices, their words and their passion. Notes are not allowed; they must use the techniques from the training.”
Judge for yourself the quality of this young person’s presentation.
[vimeo 168536103 w=640 h=360]
UPDATE:
Erased: Speakers Trust rewrites history by removing all trace of Leanne Mohamad’s win See more at: http://freespeechonisrael.org.uk/erased-speakers-trust-rewrites-history-removing-trace-leanne-mohamads-win/#sthash.iK2XO8a5.vjAm5JeL.dpuf
Amendment: This post has been amended since the source of this news, Jewish Chronicle were reporting falsehoods. They wrote “Following complaints by blogger Edgar Davidson to the Speakers Trust” the decision was taken not to put her through to the grand finals. In fact, they had already taken the decision to censor her.
The JC were correct on this: the letter from Speakers Trust CEO to Davidson: “There are two fundamental rules that are made explicit during the training: the speech must have a positive and uplifting message – in fact this is one of the core terms of the agreement with the Jack Petchey Foundation [and] a speaker should never inflame or offend the audience or insult others and this, by definition, means that propaganda is ruled out absolutely from the outset… Speakers Trust and Jack Petchey Foundation judging panel decided unanimously against sending Leanne Mohamad through to the next stage and she will not be speaking at the Grand Final. These were precisely our concerns.”
Edgar Davidson, as we previously reported, is an anti-Palestinian activist with extreme views, who has published his exchanges with the Speakers Trust CEO on his blogsite.
May 31, 2016
Update: Speakers Trust betrays ignorance of the Palestinian experience – See more at: http://freespeechonisrael.org.uk/update-speakers-trust-ignorance-palestinian-experience/#sthash.RWP5SK0m.dpuf
June 1, 2016
Update: Speakers Trust re-instate Leanne’s video and issue statement. http://www.speakoutchallenge.com/leanne-mohamad-winner-jack-petcheys-speak-challenge-redbridge-regional-final-2015-16-2/?utm_campaign=leanne-mohamad-winner-jack-petcheys-speak-out-challenge-redbridge-regional-final-2015-16&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter
