You may have noticed an absence of coverage in Daily Info of a rather large event taking place in Oxford. Beyond a listing in our What’s On Section, the Oxford Literary Festival won’t be featured in our newsletter, blog or social media channels. And we at Daily Info thought it appropriate to explain why we won’t be including the Festival in any of these.
The Literary Festival is a huge fixture on the Oxford scene, inviting over a 100 speakers to talk on a range of subjects. The imprint it leaves on the cultural scene is indelible and we had planned to cover the festival extensively, with preview features and reviews. That is until they announced a late addition to their line up.
Daily Info attempts to be a rigidly apolitical organisation. We don’t accept ads from party political organisations and rarely intervene in the local political discourse that takes place. The Literary Festival does of course have the right to invite whichever speakers they would like. And here at Daily Info we believe in robust debates and spaces for differing point-of-views to be expressed. But inviting Jordan Peterson to be the closing speaker of the festival in the Sheldonian Theatre feels a step too far for us.
Jordan Peterson's speech is suffering no shortage of freedom, and he has used this to express views that we feel are harmful and dangerous. Indeed his presence poses a threat to several members of our team. Added to this is the volatile climate bubbling away in Oxford, one that recently saw several far-right figures attend a rally in the centre of the city about local travel. For us this is a poorly chosen guest at the best of times, and a profoundly troubling one right now.
It is regretful we can’t cover the festival. We are proud to cover all aspects of life in the wonderful city we call home. But the well-being and safety of our community is more important to us. We hope to cover the festival in other years but in 2023 we will sit this one out.