We are protesting against the invitation to Professor David Coleman to speak at today's
conference entitled "Segregation or integration - what's going on?" organised by the Centre for Census and Survey Research at Manchester University.

While Coleman likes to present his racist and eugenicist views in an academically respectable form, his membership of the council of anti-immigration campaign Migration Watch and his long-standing connection with the Galton Institute, going back to the days when it called itself the Eugenics Society, are not just a hobby pursued in his spare time. Coleman uses his academic 'respectability' to gain a broader audience for these views, which would otherwise be seen as what they are - those of the far right.

Without Coleman's academic reputation and status his views would be less likely to win access to the Mail and Telegraph. They occur in a context where the whipping up of anti-immigrant sentiment can spill over into physical violence or demands for further restrictions on asylum seekers who already face internment and deprivation of their
human rights. Coleman - "a very distinguished demographer whom we trust" according to the BNP - throws petrol on the flames by his support for Migration Watch and its ridiculous claim that British government policy is to encourage large scale immigration. To give him a polite hearing as an a fellow academic is to bolster and give legitimacy to his claims to 'independence' and 'scholarly objectivity', claims which cannot be justified and conceal his racist and eugenicist views.

WHAT TO DO
If you agree with us that is wrong to have invited Coleman to speak, you can register a
protest by:

Making your views known to the organisers, either in person or by email to  Ludi.Simpson@manchester.ac.uk. Send a copy to the University Vice Chancellor on  president@manchester.ac.uk and to Mark Elliot, head of the Cathie Marsh Centre on
 ccsr@manchester.ac.uk;

and Leaving the conference when Coleman speaks and
joining us for a rally outside the hall.

No One is Illegal -  info@noii.org.uk