Concerning afalse letter—Editor apologises

The publication of a letter attributed to Patrick Mulrennan, Which I Did not Write, in the issue of Salient Vol 40 no. 5 is a serious matte.

I have [unclear: sooken] to the editor of Salient about the letter, and he said that he had full knowledge that I had not written it. Furthermore, he said that he published the letter deliberately as a way of informing students that Bruce Robinson would continue to present his side of the debate in Salient about the slogans used by the antiapartheid movement.

He claimed that my objection to the letter's publication was trivial. It occurs to me that if thinks that the matter is trivial, why didn't he bother to get my consent before publiching it?

However, I regard the case as far from trivial. The letter is a case of deliberate fraud, and as such is a direct infringement of the rights of students. It is not just the rights of one student that are under fire here, but the rights of all students. The old principle applies here as in so many other instances—an attack on one is an attack on all. If this instance goes unchallenged, then the way is opened for more widespread and even more damaging cases of fraud.

The publication of the letter is an act of intimidation towards a student club. Why is it an act of intimidation?

Because it seeks to take the control of public statements by, in this case, members of the Young Socialists, out of their own hands. The letter is a "test case" to see whether students will allow the editor of Salient to publish what he knows to be manufactured letters, and to restrict students' access to the pages of Salient in other ways.

The false letter results from and contributes to an atmosphere on campus where the Young Socialists face obstacles to their operating as any student club should be able to. Other instances of this atmosphere of intimidation arc: the ripping down of still-current leaflets that we post on noticeboards; the abrogation of our speaking rights at SRCs; the personal abuse that is regularly directed at members of the Young Socialists.

Again, this harrassment affects all students it sets a precedent for harrassment of any individual or group holding views that are counter to the "norm," and it substitutes personal abuse for political debate. Students have been quick to attack this among Parliamentary politicians—for example, the campaign of vilification against Colin Moyle—and we should make sure that it does not gain a hold on campus.

I consider that this forged letter is a very serious matter. It raises the whole question of whether Salient should be a democratic forum, open to all students, as I believe it must be, or the preserve of any particular ideology.

The guaranteeing of the rights of all students to a fair hearing in the pages of Salient in no way inhibits the editor from expressing her or his own views.

I believe that this infringement of democratic rights requires that an apology be published in Salient. Such an incident should never occur again.