Dominique Strauss-Kahn at Cambridge

Cambridge Women’s Campaign spearheaded a protest against former IMF chief, invited to speak on financial crisis.

Strange are the ways of Cambridge, the birthplace of English satire. “This house supports rape culture”, read a poster on the wall of the premises of Cambridge Union Society on March 9. This prestigious society had invited the disgraced former boss of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK), to speak on the global financial crisis and the French presidential elections. Nothing is known about what he said on the subject but the Union thought he was “exceptionally well qualified to speak on it”.

There seemed to be more excitement outside the venue than inside it. “Say it once, say it again, no excuse for violent men” was one of the many slogans being raised by the fully-charged protestors. DSK had to enter through the venue’s backdoor an hour-and-a-half in advance and speak while standing close to the planned exit which was from the adjoining Pizza Express outlet, situated on the ground floor of the infamous, all-male Pitt Club. Security was tight, almost airport-like, with four people being arrested. In addition, the press was not allowed in.

The protest was spearheaded by the Cambridge Women’s Campaign. According to the organisation, the invitation amounted to legitimising sexual violence and there was nothing in DSK’s record to recommend him. In May 2011, he was jailed for assaulting Diallo, a chambermaid at a posh hotel in New York. While the criminal charges were dropped after his lawyers managed to distract attention from the main case, a civil suit still continues. Diallo’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, was also in town to give a special address, describing the Union’s invitation “an affront to all victims of sexual crimes”. Diallo herself sent a message saying that the protestors had given her “further motivation to see justice is done”. French writer Tristane Banon, who had filed a complaint against DSK for attempted rape in 2003, said in her message that the protest “allowed me to believe a little more in humanity”.

A week before the event, the Union had rejected a petition signed by around 700 students to take back the invitation accorded to DSK. It maintained that DSK had been invited before he had quit the IMF over allegations of sexual abuse and defended his right to free speech. The president of the Union denied courting unnecessary controversy by declaring: “We feel Mr Strauss-Kahn is one of the most prominent international headline-makers of 2012, and so we believe he will give a pertinent and interesting speech”. According to the Union, it neither endorses nor disapproves of the views of the speakers. Their ideology, background or personal history plays no role in their selection. Those selected have only to be “interesting people whom our members would want to hear speak and whom they would like a chance to challenge and question”.

However, when a member got the chance to challenge and question DSK on the Diallo affair, security personnel jumped at him and would have thrown him out physically, had DSK not stopped the security and ventured to reply: “Diallo was lying. That’s it”. About the protesting students outside he had this to say: “That’s their freedom. They can do what they want. I think they are wrong.”

An interesting take on the matter was presented by a writer in his blog: “If giving controversial guests a free ride is a new Cambridge Union policy, please let me know when you invite Silvio Berlusconi, because I’m keen to hear his lecture on anti-aging techniques.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2012.