Sir, – Fionola Meredith (Opinion, December 5th) misunderstands the protest action taken by members of Belfast Feminist Network (BFN) regarding a disagreement with fellow NI Human Rights Festival organisers over the inclusion of an event that promotes anti-abortion laws.
As one of those she criticises for “flouncing off in a huff” I have to correct some inaccuracies. I, and other BFN activists am committed to continuing to work with the NI Human Rights Festival and we are retaining our position on the board of the NI Human Rights Consortium. At a festival event we are hosting today we will be exploring the human rights standards surrounding abortion access and the criminalisation of women. Her suggestion that we should have put our arguments forward as part of the offensively-named Both Lives Matter event is inaccurate as we were not invited to participate in that event. It was a one-sided lecture with a Q&A that required questions be submitted in advance.
As we did not think this event should have been accepted into the festival programme, Ms Meredith accuses us of “no-platforming” the anti-choice campaign group. This phrase has become synonymous with liberal elitists who wish to belittle social justice activists. Her criticism is based on the false assumption that public debate is always a level playing field. This ignores the context of power which underpins all discussion of abortion access in Ireland, North and South.
Since the purpose of the human rights framework is to protect people whose rights have been violated, I feel in this case the subject area is fundamentally incompatible with the purpose of the festival. – Yours, etc,
KELLIE TURTLE
Belfast.