The
United Arab Emirates are a major business hub and oil export area. So far it has managed to avoid any major instability but the rulers are all hereditary emirs. Oil revenue has enabled the rulers to provide high salaries. The LSE told Reuters that the cancellation was "in response to restrictions imposed on the intellectual content of the event that threatened academic freedom."
Visiting university lecturer, Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, was detained at the airport in Dubai and denied entry.
Coates is co-director of the Kuwait programme at LSE. The conference called 'The Middle East: Transition in the Arab World' was co-sponsored by the LSE and the American University of Sharjah. Ulrichsen was to speak on the international implications of protests in the UAE's and US Gulf ally, Bahrain. This is too hot a topic to handle apparently.
Ulrichsen has written critical material about the manner in which the Bahrain government has dealt with the protests. UAE authorities had instructed the conference organizers to cut out any discussion of Bahrain from the program. The AUS (American University of Sharjah) one of the leading universities in the area confirmed the conference cancellation. In a
statement the AUS said::
"The decision made by LSE cited restrictions on the intellectual content of the event that threatened academic freedom as the reason for the cancellation. AUS is unaware of any other information relating to the last minute cancellation."
The UAE has shown little if any tolerance for dissent over the last year. The main target of repression has been members of the Muslim Brotherhood whom they accuse of plotting to overthrow the government. In March of last year, the government closed down offices of two western pro-democracy groups and a US polling center. It also refused to renew a permit for a local think-tank.
The London School of Economics
receives funds from the Emirates Foundation which in turn is funded by the UAE government. The LSE received a great deal of criticism for accepting funds from Libyan sources within the Gadaffi family.
