Free Speech Union member Daphna Whitmore talks with Mark White from the US Left-wing free speech organization Plebity.
Mark and Daphna discuss how the Left of the past was at the forefront of defending free speech, why that is no longer the case and why the Left shouldn’t bet their money on tech billionaires like Elon Musk to be their free speech savior.
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One afternoon last June, Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee living in Sweden, stepped in front of the largest Mosque in Sweden and lit several pages from the Quran on fire. Momika had sought and received a permit from the Swedish authorities for his provocative demonstration, and there were police monitoring the event.
The event, apparently involving two people, caused international uproar and condemnation from world leaders, especially in the Middle-East. It may affect Sweden’s prospects for entry into NATO, and both the Pope and Putin felt the need to weigh in.
Panelists: Daniel Ben-Ami, Jacob Mchangama
Moderator: Daphna Whitmore
Description: Jacob Mchangama and Daniel Ben-Ami discuss the limits to free speech with focus on blasphemy, anti-semitism, and islamophobia.
Panelists: Max Blumenthal, Christian Parenti
Description: An exploration of the Covid propaganda from March 2020 to the present day; how the official Covid Narrative is unraveling (or not), the left’s support for authoritarianism, democratic societies’ descent towards authoritarianism, the rapid adoption of digital tech under the guise of public health, inequities created by Covid, capitalism and the wealth disparity, the psychology behind conformity, the conflation of ‘freedom’ and far-right beliefs, the state of health care, and more.
Max Blumenthal is a journalist and editor of the independent site The Grayzone. He is the author of several books and documentaries and is based in Washington, DC.
Christian Parenti is a professor at John Jay College and a journalist. He has written a number of articles about the pandemic, including How the organized Left got Covid wrong, learned to love lockdowns and lost its mind: an autopsy. Christian is author of the book The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America, from Slavery to the War on Terror.