Britain is a country which is famous for free speech. We show foreigners our speakers’ corner at Hyde Park, and decorate our capital with blue placques commemorating the residence of foreign revolutionaries who lived and agitated here in the past... Karl Marx, Mazzini, Garibaldi, Ghandi, Lenin, Nehru . . . their names make a long list, and many of them became leaders in their countries when their doctrines took hold of men’s imaginations. Now the tradition is rudely broken. The Foreign Secretary thinks that these two men are more dangerous, less tolerable, than all their fiery predecessors. He has prevented them from having visas .. .
Din Ba Thi Pham Van Choong Who are these men? They and their leader, Professor Nguyen Van Hieu, are the spokesmen of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. They want to come here to take part in teach-ins at Eton, Oxford and Cambridge, amongst other places. They also want to meet and discuss with Lord Russell, who is one of the leading spokesmen in the worldwide opposition to the American war in Vietnam. The Foreign Secretary made a big hit at the teach-in he addressed at Oxford. He impressed people as being fair-minded and reasonable. One of the things he said, which contributed to this impression, was that it was essential for the British people “to have access to news, information and comment from all over the world .. . to form their own opinions and to express those opinions freely.” At Oxford with the Foreign Secretary on the platform was a spokesman of the ‘Government’ of South Vietnam, putting the viewpoint of the Americans who installed him. There was no spokesman of the Liberation Front, which has overwhelming support in the country. Why now does Mr. Stewart eat his words? Can he really mean that we should hear all views except those of the opposition? What is he afraid of ? These young men come with no arms, or ill-intent. They merely bring arguments, which have not yet been heard here. Is Mr. Stewart afraid he will have to debate with such arguments? What has he to hide ? Is any embarrassment to the Foreign Secretary worth more than the most sacred British