From:    Shane Lyons <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: MUFF and their false free speech argument.

THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH IN THE PRESENT: David Irving at the Melbourne Underground
Film Festival.

I am a baby Aryan
Not Jewish or sectarian
I have no plans to marry an
Ape or Rastafarian.

This rhyme was taught by "historian" David Irving to his baby daughter whenever
he took her out for a walk and they encountered any "half-breed" children. The
source for this information is Irving's own personal diary from 1994.

In a defamation trial in 2000, which Irving instigated against historian
Deborah Lipstadt and her publisher for calling him a Holocaust denier and a
liar, he was asked if he thought this "ditty" was racist. He said "I don't
think so."

In that trial, in the British High Court, Lipstadt and Penguin Books presented
evidence against Irving which was gathered over the preceding four years. This
included a 700 page report prepared by a Cambridge professor of modern history
who had gone through Irving's writings and speeches analysing his research
methods. His conclusion was damning:

"Penetrating beneath the confident surface of his prose quickly revealed a mass
of distortion and manipulation...A similar knotted web of distortions,
suppressions and manipulations become evident in every single instance which we
examined…I was not prepared for the sheer depths of duplicity which I
encountered in Irving's treatment of the historical sources, nor for the way in
which this dishonesty permeated his entire written and spoken output."

The judge's final verdict wasn't a surprise. Among other things he said that
Irving was "a right-wing pro-Nazi polemicist," and his "falsification of the
historical record was deliberate."

This trial, three years ago, put beyond any doubt that David Irving is a
racist, an anti-semite and a liar. It cannot be reasonably argued that any view
he expresses on the Holocaust is worthy of taking seriously.

However, the Melbourne Underground Film Festival is making that argument to
justify screening a video about the Holocaust by Irving, made in 1993. Festival
director Richard Wolstencroft has asserted that: "Maybe this is something
Jewish historians can look at and think 'Maybe more work needs to be put into
the actual scientific proof of the existence of gas chambers'. MUFF's
organisers will appear in the media attempting to strike a pose as champions of
free speech. Whatever their motivations for wanting to screen this video, this
is not an issue of freedom of expression for what they call "unpopular speech."

The Jewish Community Council of Victoria has appealed to have this screening
banned. Not because they are afraid of any uncomfortable truths in what Irving
says, but because Irving is a proven liar and wishes to incite hatred towards
Jews. I think we all know - and believe - what that can lead to.

I'm not the only one with this opinion. Here is a quote from Australia's
leading film critic, Adrian Martin, from The Age on Wednesday:

"...Of course, the familiar MUFF way of defending this program is to make
noises about the necessity of free speech in a politically correct world. But
this shows an astonishing ignorance about the extensive debates in the public
sphere about Irving, Faurisson and their ilk, which have discredited their
odious claims, not to mention an unspeakable insensitivity to those concerned
sections of our community who have contributed to those debates..."


Visit:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/irving  for a series of articles on the
Lipstadt trial and a link to the full judgement by Justice Charles Gray.

Visit the Australian Jewish News at:  http://www.ajn.com.au  for the debate
within Melbourne's Jewish community about whether the screening should be
banned or countered with criticism.

The MUFF website is at:  http://www.muff.com.au

Please distribute this email to everyone you believe would be interested. I
like to think that is EVERYONE.


Yours sincerely,
Shane Lyons.