IHEID, Wiki
Students from Geneva’s IHEID disinvite Austria’s Hofer
When a small group of students and professors at the Graduate Institute Geneva (IHEID) denied Austrian presidential candidate Norbert Hofer's participation in an immigration debate, they congratulated themselves as being far-sighted.
Published: October 18, 2016, 1:10 pm
The group demanded that Hofer be barred from hosting a debate about migration, saying it should not “give a platform” to his views.
While Hofer is ahead in polls to be elected as Austria’s next president, he might not miss the “platform” of the IHEID campus much.
The debate, scheduled for Thursday evening on the campus, is entitled ‘Can Europe’s politicians solve the migration crisis?’ and is organized in association with The Europaeum, an association of ten European universities.
As well as Hofer, the panel would have included former president of the EU Commission José Manuel Barroso, the former foreign minister of the Czech Republic, Karel, Prince of Schwarzenburg, and Carol Batchelor, representative of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
It is not inconceivable that some the other panelists, all globalists, refused to share the stage with Hofer. At the time of writing the letter, the group expressed “concern” that no-one with “expertise on migration” was present on the panel.
The UNHCR’s Batchelor only confirmed her presence on Monday, after the vitriolic letter was published.
The Austrian is the presidential candidate for the Freedom Party (FPÖ), which is known for its anti-immigration and anti-globalist stance.
He was narrowly defeated in Austria’s presidential vote in May, but the result was annulled after electoral fraud and irregularities in the vote came to light.
Hofer is the favourite in the re-run, due to take place on December 4th, and if he wins, he will be the country’s first rightwing head of state since 1945.
In an open letter to the IHEID, students, alumni and professors pointed out that Hofer is associated with “numerous far-right groups and their causes, including Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and homophobia”.
Inviting him to speak at the institute “gives credence to his opinions and will serve to mainstream and normalize xenophobic and racist views,” it read.
Hofer’s presence at the IHEID would have been “at odds with the very values of our institution,” said the group, calling for it to “set an example and not act as a platform for those responsible for promulgating opinions that have very real negative impacts on the lives of minorities in the European continent”.
Philippe Burrin, director of the IHEID, was less enthusiastic about the group’s outright rejection of freedom of speech. He said the growth of populist parties in Europe and the debate would have been a chance to discuss the questions that arise from their immigration policy.
“To cancel this round table reinforces the idea of a plot led by the establishment. It’s better to listen to Norbert Hofer and contradict him,” he said.
After a publicly-voted referendum in February 2014 to enforce an anti-immigration initiative, Switzerland has seen heated debates since as many are angry about Bern’s slow response.
The Swiss people voted for fixed immigration quotas in the legally-binding 2014 referendum, but the parliament has adopted a “light” interpretation dragging its feet on implementation.
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