James Watson's Greek ANTIFA experience

Documenting a relatively unknown event

Most people know that if you at some point say something the left doesn’t like, your life may became hell. You may get stalked, assaulted, and occasionally killed and so on. In the more mild territory, your lectures may merely get disrupted (hecler’s veto) and perhaps you will get a bruise or two during this (or maybe the local host will). Given that James Watson just died (see Noah Carl’s write-up on Aporia), it may be the right time to call attention to a little known attack on one of his lectures. This happened in Greece in 2011 at the University of Patra:

The co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, James Watson 83, was menaced by protesters yesterday in Greece, while giving a lecture at Patras University. A group of 20 protesters shouting “Racist!” burst into the lecture theatre, and a young man – wearing a hood, naturally – approached Watson brandishing a flag.

Lecturers and students from the audience prevented the protestors from reaching Watson, who was not injured in the attack. The audience booed their exit.

Watson, in Greece to deliver a lecture entitled “Discovering the Double Helix of DNA”, caused a worldwide furore in 2007 when he told British newspaper The Sunday Times that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours, whereas all the testing says not really”.

Eventually, those who tried the attack were given suspended sentences. Apparently, this only happened 3 years later:

02.07.2014 • 20:35

Two men who disrupted a lecture by Nobelist James Watson at the University of Patra in April 2011 were convicted on Wednesday.

One was handed a 13-month jail sentence, suspended for three years, after being found guilty of using an illegal weapon and causing bodily harm. The other received a three-month term, also suspended for three years, for illegal use of violence.

Watson, one of the scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, was delivering a lecture on “Discovering the Double Helix of DNA” when protesters burst into the theater and accused him of being a racist. Watson has made controversial comments in the past regarding genetics. He was not hurt in the incident.

In other words, the punishment for doing this kind of stunt is basically nothing.

You can in fact watch the video of the incident: