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Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Authoritarianism, Islamist Objectives, and the Battle for Free Speech in the West — Transcript

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0:01[Music]
0:09hello everyone and thank you for joining
0:11us today for an event on the future of
0:14free speech with Aon Hy Ali my name is
0:18Hannah no and I will be your host today
0:21I just want to quickly start off by
0:22introducing myself I am a second-year
0:25medical student at the University of
0:26Central Florida College of Medicine and
0:28I am also a critical thinking fellow at
0:31the ion Hy Ali Foundation as a fellow I
0:34am able to start a conversation on my
0:36college campus to advance both freedom
0:38and human rights in the US and around
0:40the world through an emphasis on
0:43nurturing critical thinking now the ion
0:46Hy Ali Foundation is a nonprofit that
0:48works to protect women from honor
0:50violence Force marriage and genital
0:52mutilation with an overall emphasis on
0:54Liberty for all now this includes
0:57working to ensure that free speech is
0:59upheld in the face of opposition
1:01censorship and intimidation now this
1:04brings us to today's topic freedom of
1:06speech is the foundation of our
1:08Democratic Society it is what allows us
1:11to challenge Norms delve into nuance and
1:14Foster intellectual gr however today we
1:18see many individuals unwilling to engage
1:21with differing opinions in the face of
1:23political
1:24correctness in the words of John Stewart
1:27Mill The Peculiar evil of silencing the
1:30expression of an opinion is robbing the
1:32human race if the opinion is right they
1:35are deprived of the opportunity of
1:36exchanging error for truth if wrong they
1:39lose what is almost as great a benefit
1:42the clearer perception and livelier
1:45impression of Truth produced by its
1:47collision with
1:50error and I would like to repeat that
1:52last part produced by its collision with
1:55air freedom of speech is not just about
1:58legal rights it is also also about a
2:00culture of shared values and Norms that
2:04uphold our free
2:06Society it is about the exchange of
2:09diverse viewpoints that allows us to
2:11grow as both individuals and as a
2:14society in today's conversation we will
2:17explore the attack on freedom of speech
2:20the path forward and how we can work
2:22towards a future where a free speech
2:24culture is both celebrated and cherished
2:27as an essential element of our
2:30Democratic
2:31principles now today we are joined by
2:34the phenomenal aan hir Ali our speaker
2:38story began in Somalia in 1969 where as
2:41a young girl she was subjected to female
2:43genital mutilation upon being forced by
2:46her father to marry a distant cousin she
2:49fled to the Netherlands where she worked
2:50her way up from humble beginnings to
2:52serving as an elected member of the
2:54Dutch Parliament her unique experiences
2:57allows her to speak on a number of
2:59issues related to the fun fundamentalist
3:01Islam and the treatment of women this
3:03led to death threats following the
3:05murder of Theo van go of all people ion
3:10understands the necess the necessity of
3:12speaking truth to power and bringing
3:14forth Nuance in the face of narratives
3:17she's a woman that does not back down
3:19when she sees a problem and as a public
3:21intellectual with a powerful voice she
3:23is a well known she's well known as a
3:25defender of of the freedom of speech
3:28both in US support in First Amendment
3:30rights and abroad advocating for Freer
3:33dialogue in close societies ladies and
3:35Gentlemen please welcome a here
3:40Ali Anna thank you very much and I must
3:43say I met you not only as a fellow of uh
3:49critical thinking here at the AHA
3:50Foundation but but as a warrior for free
3:53speech and I admire your courage and
3:55thank you once again for undertaking
3:58this um um so I will uh just give you
4:02five minutes to start you off and I'll
4:05start with the big picture which is the
4:08threat to free speech today in general
4:12in the world we live in a globalized
4:16world and I see three major threats to
4:21the protections of free speech um here
4:25in the west and in the frustration of
4:29Western efforts to export the idea of
4:33free
4:34speech the first major threat is the
4:37rise of authoritarian states of which
4:40China is a huge example China has become
4:43this surveillance State and because of
4:46Technology invested in the west invented
4:49in the west but of course exported
4:51elsewhere it has given um governments
4:56like the Chinese government but also
4:58like Russia um and other authoritarian
5:01governments across the world think about
5:02the Middle East South Asia Latin
5:05America um it has given these
5:08authoritarian governments um
5:11just this incredible amount of power to
5:15suppress speech to spy on individuals to
5:18get them into the fold um and to engage
5:21in all sorts of repressive measures that
5:23they did in the past but are so much
5:26easier to do on a mass level these days
5:30the second Global threat is um the rise
5:35and spread of various forms of islamist
5:40ideology across the world now in the
5:43past islamism was Advanced by
5:46governments uh think about the
5:48government of Iran but also think about
5:50the government of Saudi Arabia it seems
5:53to me as if now Saudi Arabia is not
5:55really in the business of advancing
5:58islamism at least not since the Trump
6:02administration's intervention and I
6:05think since their understanding that
6:07they can't simply rely on oil for the
6:09rest of their
6:11lives but nonetheless islamism whether
6:15it's promoted by a government or it's
6:17not promoted by a government is on the
6:19rise and it has
6:21spread and it hasn't only spread in the
6:24original countries Muslim majority
6:26countries but it has spread to Europe
6:28and it has spread to to America and it
6:30is and has been for at least three
6:33decades in my view uh a major threat to
6:37the freedom of speech and then finally
6:40we have this revolution which I call the
6:42woke Revolution which is
6:45underway um in the West in America It's
6:49Made In The West and it has spread from
6:54out of the universities and University
6:56campuses into almost every other
6:58Institution that you can think of and
7:01it's bottom up it is not going to the
7:05government I mean it has eventually come
7:07to but the threat of free speech posed
7:11by the woke is not top down it's not
7:14coming from the government it's not the
7:15government that's silencing us but it's
7:18groups of activists who are seeking the
7:22help first of the administrative
7:24University and then the administrative
7:26government and the administrative agent
7:29IES um of Corporations you know any kind
7:32of Institutions to allow only one kind
7:36of opinion so if you take these three
7:39forces together prise of the
7:41authoritarian state which is
7:44global spread of islamism the W
7:47Revolution and you put them together you
7:49see very serious threat to free speech
7:52and I hope we have the chance today to
7:54discuss
7:58that thank you ion for that uh just
8:01really quickly I'm going to explain the
8:03format of the remainder of the webinar I
8:06will be asking ion a series of questions
8:09and if we have time left at the end uh
8:11the audience will be allowed to ask ion
8:14a question and to do that just go ahead
8:15and use the Q&A function in Zoom all
8:19right so ion I'm really glad you
8:21mentioned Iran I think originally I
8:24wanted to ask you about the woman life
8:26Freedom Movement in Iran and how there
8:30was a moment where we saw people in the
8:32west willing to engage in a conversation
8:35willing to see how the hijab can be
8:38oppressive originally I wanted to ask
8:40you if you thought that this trend would
8:42continue if you thought there'd be less
8:44backlash and more Nuance for criticism
8:46of Islamic
8:48ideology however after October 7th I
8:51think everything has changed I thought
8:55the needle had moved so that
8:56fundamentalist Islam would be more
8:58subject to criticism
8:59but the outpouring anti-Semitism and
9:02sympathy towards Hamas seems to indicate
9:04that Islam remains a hands-off subject
9:07today where do we stand on Islam in
9:09terms of the culture of free speech and
9:11broadly where do we stand with free
9:13speech in the Israel Palestine
9:16discussion so that's a very very broad
9:19question but it does go to the heart of
9:21the matter there is the threat to free
9:25speech that is buried in islamist that's
9:29inherent in islamist ideology on the one
9:32hand that seeks to suppress all our
9:35opinions that are not advancing the
9:38islamist agenda so that's one part of
9:41the story the other part of the story is
9:43how does the world respond to it and in
9:45particular the West because it's here in
9:48the west that freedom of speech is
9:50enshrined in laws and protected and we
9:53can see and have seen that islamism is a
9:56threat to uh freedom of speech the way
10:00we are responding just precisely as you
10:03described it the way we responded to the
10:067th of October atrocities that were
10:10committed by Hamas uh in Israel the
10:13killing of small babies of grandmothers
10:16the raping of women um just the sheer
10:19cruelty and brutality of not just
10:23killing people but torturing them and
10:25taking pleasure in the pain um the way
10:28we respond to this reminds me of 9/11
10:332001 when I thought when you're too
10:36young to know this but I was I think
10:39just 30 31 years old and I thought this
10:42is the turning point now everybody sees
10:46the ideology of radical Islam for what
10:48it is we're not going to protect it
10:51we're going to fight it and again on the
10:537th of October I thought it's very clear
10:56now uh the Hamas Charter makes it very
11:02clear what their intentions are we're
11:04not going to make excuses for them we're
11:06going to fight them and I'm disappointed
11:09just like you and
11:10horrified at the response which is more
11:14appeasement more
11:16accommodation um and I think part of why
11:20our response to the 7th of October makes
11:23me more uneasy than the way we responded
11:26to 9911 20 2001 is because of the W
11:29Revolution because the
11:33islamist and I think the most active of
11:37these islamist movements is the Muslim
11:39Brotherhood Hamas is a branch it's a
11:42militant branch of the Muslim
11:44Brotherhood um I think what in the last
11:48few decades they did is to infiltrate
11:53our
11:53institutions civil rights organizations
11:56like the
11:57ACLU um every sort of every kind of
12:01meaning making institution that we have
12:03an institution of form of information
12:05and
12:06knowledge and they've been able to ride
12:09on the backs of the woke and to pretend
12:12that they have a common agenda in
12:15bringing down because the W say they
12:17want to bring down the structures of
12:19Oppression and they want to liberate us
12:22from the oppressor and I think these Pro
12:25Palestinian pramas islamist um
12:29organizations have piggybacked on that
12:33and we've unfortunately ignored that and
12:36we're now reaping the fruits of this
12:38because we are seeing what we would
12:41think of as the most privileged students
12:45kids going to ivy league universities
12:47who are supposed to learn how to think
12:50not what to think come out and make
12:54excuses and even celebrate on American
12:57campuses the horrors that happened on
13:01the 7th of October 20 2023 it's
13:08mindboggling so many things stuck out
13:11from those comments I the first thing
13:13that comes to mind is how islamists have
13:15used islamophobe term
13:17islamophobia and uh of course I I view
13:20this term as a total conflation of
13:24anti-muslim bigotry and criticism of an
13:27ideology and it's kind of this this
13:30thing that as you said you the woke
13:32revolution has taken and run with um a
13:36huge example of something like queers
13:38for Palestine yeah amazing isn't it I
13:43you know I saw something on social media
13:45that said chickens for KFC yeah it's I
13:50and especially as ex-muslims I you can
13:53understand of like expressing your
13:55perspective expressing your um your
13:57experiences and just not being listened
13:59to and I myself as a gay ex-muslim
14:03Express this and still people are not
14:06always willing to hear this perspective
14:08that doesn't line up with a narrative um
14:12and one thing that um really sticks out
14:15to me and I'd like to hear more from you
14:17about it is kind of compassion breeding
14:21cruelty it's like you see a lot of these
14:23individuals they may be well-intentioned
14:24but they're so far down this line of a
14:28paradigm
14:30that this is how Society defines a good
14:32person I believe I'm a good person so I
14:35believe this
14:38yeah
14:40I where where are students heading if if
14:43this is all that's their Paradigm what
14:46they're thinking in their
14:48heads um I think they're heading towards
14:52where the marxists of Iran were left
14:56after they collaborated with the
14:59islamists and Ayah Kini in
15:031979 uh and his followers they took
15:07control of the government of Iran and
15:11most people don't remember this but the
15:14atheist marxists who supported and who
15:17were brothers in the struggle against
15:19the
15:20Sha were put in prison uh they were
15:23killed they were exiled and they were
15:26completely deprived of power and I think
15:29all of these people who are under the
15:31illusion that today by marching along
15:35with those with home they think they
15:37share an
15:39agenda as soon as the islamists have
15:42what they want they turn on the useful
15:44idiots so for the students who are
15:48secular and who may be more you know
15:51excited about protecting the climate or
15:55lgbtq rights or who just hate
15:59the countries that they were born in and
16:00the Constitutions and the people who
16:03want to scapegoat Jews um and this is
16:06again something that hearts and Minds on
16:09American campuses are filled with this
16:12idea of the white oppressor and very
16:15often that white oppressor is presented
16:18as the Jew the state of Israel so all of
16:21these people who are befuddled you know
16:25by and
16:27Confused um
16:29on campus I think they're going to have
16:32a very rude awakening when they discover
16:34that they have in fact nothing in common
16:37with the islamists the islamists have a
16:40very clear
16:42agenda and they have rules and we've
16:44seen every time remember the rise of
16:46al-Qaeda the rise of Isis I just
16:48mentioned the rise of
16:51uhi the Shia version of islamism um
16:55every time they get power and they get
16:57what they want the fasting that they do
16:59is they get rid of those who as
17:02prescribed in their agenda are
17:05considered to be infidels and
17:08unbelievers sinners as you know as an
17:11ex-muslim to be gay is to be a sinner
17:14and it's a sin that deserves the death
17:16penalty so that's exactly what they do
17:19they throw them from tall towers tall
17:21buildings they behead uh people who one
17:25day were marching with them and the next
17:26day they've been declared infidel
17:29and they have a special hatred for Jews
17:32and Jewish people and the state of
17:34Israel and so all of these kids on
17:37American campuses and by the way on
17:39European streets as well who think that
17:42they're Marching
17:44for the people who are trapped in Gaza
17:47um the women and the children um and the
17:50victims of this war that was started by
17:52Hamas and that's started by Hamas over
17:54and over again I think that they don't
17:58understand what the islamist agenda is
18:00and I hope that they wake up before they
18:03are met with the same fate as those
18:06people who went along with Isis and
18:09thought that they were working towards
18:13Utopia yeah that that really makes me
18:16think
18:17about how Free Speech has kind of
18:20shifted it's it's like free speech
18:22didn't really matter before when you see
18:26organizations like the foundation for
18:28IND ual rights and expression that like
18:31fire for sure fire has been talking
18:34about this this chill and free speech
18:36and has been defending students rights
18:37for so long but now free speech didn't
18:40matter until now until it actually they
18:43were put into the position um but at the
18:46same time I'd also like to touch on
18:51how in Florida specifically you see
18:54deanes
18:57um putting out an order to derecognize
19:00students for justice in Palestine um and
19:04fire has publicly um said that this is
19:06unconstitutional and is a threat to free
19:09speech um because there was no
19:12indication for the Chancellor's letter
19:15that any action from Florida students
19:17for justice in Palestine groups went
19:19beyond expression of a fully PR fully
19:22protected by the First Amendment so I
19:24guess what I'm go where I'm going there
19:26with is you kind of see it on both ends
19:29and I and I'd love to hear more from you
19:30about this of kind of bringing in an
19:33authoritarian aspect of like the
19:35censorship um but also the importance of
19:39being able to have conversations on
19:41something like this
19:43topic I think that if political leaders
19:46like DeSantis but I think Hillary
19:48Clinton was also out uh and President
19:51Biden and um a few other people if they
19:55condemn the slogans and the um
20:00outrageous and criminal behavior and you
20:05know there were people who are Marching
20:08with the emblems of the paragliders that
20:10went uh and uh that Hamas people used to
20:15get
20:17into the kots to slaughter people I
20:21think to condemn that kind of expression
20:24as a political leader is in fact an
20:26obligation I think they should do it and
20:28I think desus is right in saying this is
20:31terrible and we condemn this but I don't
20:34think that I I didn't take him to mean
20:37he's actually going to write laws to ban
20:42that kind of sloganeering he cannot in
20:45America we have the First Amendment no
20:48elected political leader unless he has
20:502third of the majority unless there is
20:53an amendment to the First Amendment they
20:56cannot ban uh that kind of speech so we
21:00live in a society we live in an open
21:02Society where speech that we find
21:05offensive and I find some of these
21:07slogan earing that's going in wholly
21:10offensive but still it's protected
21:12speech and I think what you're seeing
21:15now is the people who want to take away
21:18free speech play that game they think
21:22it's a game and they say I can go and
21:25say death to the Jews kill the Jews and
21:29they can sing karar you know what that
21:32means and from The River To The Sea
21:34basically they're calling out for
21:36genocide they can do that and now
21:38they're claiming that they're exercising
21:39their freedom of
21:41speech yeah
21:43it's when things go full circle um
21:47that's really fascinating to me and I'm
21:50really appreciative of
21:52organization some of these kids the
21:54other day they were complaining about
21:56microaggressions and they were claiming
21:58that speech is violence and they're out
22:02there now in large numbers agitating for
22:07the genocide of the Jews and the
22:10obliteration of the state of Israel I
22:13don't know what exactly is going on on
22:15these campuses but something has to
22:17change I think it it really points to
22:21the importance of principles and uh
22:24again with with the organization fire
22:26how they have stood firm on this for I
22:28think believe over 20 years now um
22:31despite consistently calling a cons
22:33consistently being called a conservative
22:35organization they have been fighting for
22:38free speech for any side um at least we
22:42have organizations like this that are
22:44willing to stand for free speech even if
22:47indeed that speech is
22:49important um Ian I I also want to touch
22:53on another element of your your past uh
22:56you grew up uh in Somalia in Kenya in
23:00Saudi Arabia Ethiopia quite a few places
23:04and I I was just wondering would your
23:06past experience of living in these
23:09tribal societies where do you think
23:11Americans are headed if this
23:13polarization continues to rise in in
23:17other words how do you see these current
23:19cultural patterns that we have for
23:21instance on us uh America uh on us
23:24college campuses with with your past
23:27experience
23:29I see the tribalism that you are
23:31describing and growing up and living in
23:34various tribal societies I can tell you
23:37life is short it's brutal it's violent
23:41women are oppressed it's not fun not to
23:44have a free speech or not to have any
23:46kinds of freedoms um it is not fun to
23:50have the poverty of
23:52imagination uh it was very hard in you
23:55know Muslim majority countries to invent
23:58anything because sooner or later someone
24:00will come shouting Haram it's forbidden
24:03what you're doing so you can't you
24:05really ask a society can't Advance if
24:07you don't have the freedom to think and
24:10to be creative and to exercise your
24:13critical thinking faculties is America
24:16headed towards tribalism you know on the
24:20days that I feel pessimistic when you
24:22get this bad news and the headlines one
24:25after the other you think I get
24:27depressed and I think yeah it looks like
24:30we're headed for a bad place but then I
24:32see the reaction for instance to ccel
24:35culture when our mainstream media goes
24:38crazy then what I find is the rise of
24:42substack and people using the internet
24:46to express what they feel get together
24:48share their frustrations
24:51peacefully um you have been uh to my
24:55class at uatx the University of cost in
24:58Texas it's only in America that we think
25:01okay so Harvard is gone down this path
25:04uh instead of saying there's no hope
25:06let's close the doors we say why don't
25:08we start another institution that's much
25:11better that safeguards and you don't
25:14like this business you start so as long
25:17as we have our Constitution and we have
25:21the markets and we allow and here's
25:23where free speech is key as long as more
25:28people feel that they can be creative
25:31they can be critical and they can freely
25:33associate and
25:35create then I think America is going to
25:38be fine and the tribalism is not going
25:40to swallow us but I see what everyone
25:43else sees which is we have all the
25:46warning signs of a society that might
25:50crumble if we take all the good things
25:52that we have for granted and one good
25:55example of taking good things for
25:57granted granted is campuses we've taken
26:00our universities for granted we always
26:03all those kids it's you know kids in
26:06college they're annoying they say these
26:10outrageous things that's what college is
26:11for that's the time you can be outrages
26:14and we ignored we completely neglected
26:16what was going on there even though some
26:18of us saw it we were bringing the
26:21warning bells for some time now an
26:24organization like fire has been doing it
26:26for a long time Alan Blom brought the
26:29closing of the American mind ages ago
26:32but we ignored all of those voices we
26:34ignored all of those Cassandras and now
26:36we're waking up to the fact that our
26:39institutions of education and knowledge
26:42are rotten and rotting and I think it is
26:46time that we get together honestly and
26:48stand up to this and stem the
26:52rot and and start a fresh or try and
26:56reform these these institutions and I
26:59hope really that the 7th of October that
27:03that
27:04was the warning that we needed to wake
27:08us up properly and to unify us against
27:12the forces of
27:13authoritarianism and the forces of
27:16religious fanaticism and the forces of
27:19wokeism which is really the Quest for a
27:21naked unchecked
27:25Power I really liked how you touched on
27:28the factor of taking things for granted
27:31because I will admit I have been in this
27:33position I was born and raised in the
27:35United States and my parents are
27:37Moroccan immigrants so I I grew up here
27:40I grew up taking our first amendment for
27:43granted um until I started to reflect on
27:47what my experien are like going to
27:50Morocco and seeing the difference in
27:51life seeing what's acceptable and not
27:53acceptable that is what made me realize
27:56how privileged I am
27:58to have been born and raised here how
28:00much opportunity I have and how
28:02appreciative I am to be here and that's
28:04part of what makes me such an adamant
28:06defender of free speech and uh someone
28:10that comes to mind is Enis caner or I
28:12should say freedom caner now um the
28:14former NBA player who has been such a um
28:19staunch
28:20um what's what's the word uh he has
28:23definitely spoken out against human um
28:26rights violations across the world and
28:28he's lost his job at NBA for it and
28:31there's this there's this story that he
28:32tells of when he came to the United
28:34States of he was in a locker room with
28:38his teammates and his teammates were
28:40making fun of the president and he's
28:42like hey hey guys you can't do that
28:43that's not okay you're gonna get in
28:45trouble and his teammates turn to him
28:47and they're like no dude this is this is
28:50the United States we can say whatever
28:53and I kind of had that reverse
28:55experience of being in in Morocco and uh
28:59saying whatever and then realizing that
29:02um you cannot say whatever about the
29:04king in Morocco that's unacceptable um
29:07and that kind of pushed me towards
29:09understanding the importance of freedom
29:11of speech and I really love that you
29:14touched on substack and University of
29:16Austin uh uatx I know you're a founding
29:20faculty member and I myself am part of
29:22the student Advisory Board um and this
29:25is another thing that I wanted to touch
29:27on because you see substack uatx you see
29:30Barry Weiss's the Free Press
29:34and sorry along with
29:37buyer with buyer and fair and and fair
29:42um and I'm wondering in order to uphold
29:45the principles of freedom of expression
29:48is it possible to reform existing
29:51institutions or is creating new ones The
29:53Only Way
29:55Forward I think both we we need to
29:57create new institutions and show them
30:00uatx has to
30:02succeed and to show that you know we can
30:05do it but I also think that we can
30:08reform existing institutions there just
30:11has to be the collective will to do it
30:14and I think for too long we've been
30:16distracted I was very happy with some of
30:19the donors who um right after these
30:23campus students came out in Harvard and
30:25signed that atrocious paper who said
30:28fine we're not going to you
30:30know give money donate to Harvard
30:34anymore and I think if you
30:36get um leadership like that where the
30:39donors come together and say first of
30:41all what's going on inside these
30:43campuses Let's do an audit of some of
30:46these so-called courses that are being
30:48taught which are really
30:51indoctrination exercises and kids are
30:54being brainwashed into believing in
30:57certain things that we want I think you
31:00you you can achieve something with an
31:02audit like that and then hold uh the
31:07adults The Faculty the administrators um
31:10that we entrust with educating these
31:12young minds um I think it is time to
31:15confront them and ask them what is it
31:18that they're doing on these campuses and
31:20why is this outcome happening because
31:23some of these kids they look like
31:24they're steeped in this stuff and they
31:26they really believe it and they're being
31:28really sincere in the impressionable
31:30ages and there must be adults who have
31:33to answer for that we have to hold these
31:34people responsible so I think that they
31:37can be reformed but there has to be that
31:40Collective will to do it and it has to
31:43be that Collective Unity to do it to see
31:46why not doing so not reforming what's
31:49the alternative not reforming these
31:51institutions is really taking us to
31:54Darkness at a fast
31:56pace
31:58I something that sticks out is the idea
32:01of the collective will to do this and I
32:04think a common thing that I've seen
32:07amongst my peers is that they kind of
32:10agree that something's not right that we
32:13are uh we are regressing in in some
32:17factors when it comes to this woke
32:18Revolution but they're just not willing
32:20to speak up on it um it's I I I can I
32:25can respect their views to their own but
32:28I this is something I consistently see
32:30of I totally agree with you I was 100%
32:33feeling the same way but it's not worth
32:36it because I I need to get this job I
32:38really want to get this job and I'm just
32:40curious um what response do you have to
32:42individuals who Express this Con concern
32:45on the Chill on free free expression but
32:48choose not to speak out due to worries
32:50of
32:52cancel I think because the council
32:54culture is real people lose their job
32:57jobs people lose friendships people get
32:59mocked on social media uh people get
33:03smeared people also get framed uh and
33:06they find themselves you know lots of
33:09litigation against them they don't have
33:11the money they don't have and people
33:13watch those people who are cancelled and
33:15the pain and discomfort they're going
33:16through and they think well I'm just
33:18going to look away and focus on getting
33:20my A's and then I'll go find a job
33:23somewhere in Wall Street or Silicon
33:25Valley and get on with it
33:27and it's understandable all of that's
33:30understandable but I think we're now at
33:32a place where we're really facing real
33:35hardship I don't want to call it a war
33:36yet but we are facing these forces the
33:42authoritarian Force the spread of
33:44radical Islam this work Revolution it's
33:46all coming together and I think now is
33:49the time to stand up because if not now
33:52then
33:53when it it's going to get harder and
33:56harder and as you can see the methods of
33:59silencing and cancelling are becoming
34:01more and more Brazen more and more
34:04brutal and they're becoming more
34:06organized they have more money they have
34:08now got individuals in uh all sorts of
34:12institutions in places of leadership so
34:15the time to speak out collectively and
34:18get there that is
34:22now yeah yeah I can definitely see that
34:25I I understand what they're feeling I I
34:28feel it too um I would will definitely
34:32admit that but to me speaking out
34:35is if if we all if we all did the same
34:38thing we wouldn't progress if we all um
34:41were afraid of speaking out we wouldn't
34:43progress so I I totally see um but also
34:46think about it we inherited all of these
34:49freedoms because there were people who
34:52fought and died for these things people
34:55died to protect to gain protection for
34:58the freedom of speech to gain protection
35:01for women to gain the right to vote
35:05people died for these things people died
35:07to stop child labor you know we there's
35:10so many things that we have now and we
35:13take for granted we haven't fought for
35:15any of it in fact if you compare us to
35:17Prior Generations it's so much easier
35:20for us now then when people were being
35:22sent to the trenches in the first and
35:24second world wars um and Beyond so it's
35:29sometimes I think we have to get
35:31straighten our priorities and know that
35:33maybe you will get that job now and
35:35you'll advance that career but maybe a
35:37decade from now there'll be no you know
35:41no point in a career because I don't
35:45know authoritarianism will advance will
35:48there'll even be more we'll be so
35:49constrained and constricted that you
35:52might think I wish I had done something
35:54when when this was possible
35:58yeah absolutely um when you when you
36:01factor in that there was the people as
36:05you said people died for the rights that
36:07we have today and with the United States
36:10having the most comprehensive Free
36:12Speech Protections in the world um it's
36:16amazing that people are just taking them
36:18for granted and something that I want to
36:21touch on is the emergence of
36:23postmodernism critical theory the mar
36:27repressive tolerance all that whichever
36:29term is preferred um has essentially led
36:31to this Chill on free expression this
36:34Chill on freedom of speech and with the
36:38US cultural hegemony in mind if Free
36:42Speech culture continues to dwindle here
36:45what does this mean for the rest of the
36:49world
36:50yeah I think that it's for the rest of
36:54humanity because Western cult culture
36:57really is a culture of humanity it's the
37:01most Humane culture um not only why
37:05human rights um fast articulated in the
37:10west but the West also went to Great
37:13Lengths to protect those rights not only
37:16for westerners but for everyone else try
37:18to advance it and continue to advance it
37:20and so if that disappears in the west
37:23you can imagine that you know we'll be
37:25going back to time of Darkness with
37:28Advanced
37:30Technologies so it's not um I think a
37:35future without free speech is is a dark
37:39future um and I think we've had a taste
37:42of it on the 7th of October just now
37:45you've seen how barbaric and brutal
37:47those people were and in the acts and
37:50that is a culture that is
37:54not um that's inh Humane that is in my
37:59view not
38:01civilized um you don't have to imagine
38:03it because they've
38:05taken videotapes of what they were doing
38:09and they put it out there on social
38:11media so we don't have to imagine what
38:14the future will look like if people like
38:16that take control we also don't want to
38:19imagine we we don't have to imagine what
38:21the future will look like if China or
38:24China style authoritarian ISM gets hold
38:28because no one barely anyone talks about
38:32wegers all these people who are on
38:35campuses and demonstrating in Washington
38:38and protesting in Europe and by you know
38:42100,000 strong every weekend in the UK
38:45apparently uh those people are not
38:48demonstrating for The
38:49Wiles is 10 million Muslims that are
38:52interned in China denied their rights
38:56women sterilized forced labor people
38:59disappeared and killed none of that do
39:02you see any kind of protests and
39:04Marching for that kind of thing but what
39:06it tells you is if American power
39:12declines and
39:14disappears that's what things will look
39:16like between Hamas
39:18and um the CCP and then for the woke you
39:23know what they have in store for you
39:25because you share a campus with them and
39:27you know that there is this silencing
39:31and at a certain
39:34point these pressures of silencing
39:36people will turn violent we've also seen
39:39the violence manifest itself in
39:42antifa uh type organizations and antifa
39:46protests so it's going to be brutal and
39:50dark um and it's going to be you know a
39:54survival of a fitst very are Union if we
39:57don't stand up for what we have
40:00now yeah absolutely I mean you saw I
40:03mentioned uh NS or Freedom caner earlier
40:07and look what he did he he advocated for
40:10the Wagers and uh the NBA wasn't too
40:13happy about that since they're
40:14monetarily involved with China and at
40:18least as a light of hope I will say that
40:22at my campus I I feel like um my
40:26classmates are at least willing to have
40:28a discussion and I am actively trying to
40:31promote a free speech Culture by a club
40:34that I co-founded with my my classmate
40:36called the medical ethics forum and uh
40:39we have already been able to have great
40:42civil discussions on covid protocols and
40:45even abortion abortion was such a civil
40:48conversation with such diversity of
40:50thought so at least in my environment
40:53I'm starting to see hope and I I I would
40:57really hope that people start as you
40:59said start speaking out and uh having
41:02open conversations and agreeing to
41:04disagree um one thing that I did wanted
41:07to mention that I was absolutely
41:09fascinated by and I would love for you
41:12to comment on was when kamla Harris
41:16announced a forgot the exact terminology
41:19but the
41:20islamophobia um don't remember exactly
41:23how it was worded but
41:28the White House essentially came out
41:29against islamophobia and I I'd like to
41:32I'd like you to comment a little bit on
41:34that so I think what I'm seeing with
41:37within the Democratic party is um when I
41:41came to the United States um you know
41:45the senior people of the democratic
41:47party were people like Hillary Clinton
41:50now you may disagree with some of her
41:52politics you may agree with it but that
41:55was Center left it was sane it was uh as
42:01far as I'm concerned patriotic
42:04pro-american but also pro-israel and it
42:07was
42:08principled and then Along came after
42:122016 Bernie Sanders brought in the
42:15progressives and by the way he wasn't a
42:17Democrat he was an independent who uh
42:20infiltrated the Democratic party the
42:23Democratic party is split in two now is
42:26the so-called Progressive Wing or not
42:28Progressive but really very regressive
42:31and
42:32woke and then there is the older group
42:36uh Kamala haris Biden governor hok of
42:40New York um and they really don't
42:43understand there is a big big void
42:46between these two groups and I think
42:47they're clashing now and the radical
42:51islamist movement many of them of the
42:53Muslim Brotherhood branches the infil
42:56ated the Democratic party and insinuated
42:59themselves into all sorts of places you
43:02know Democratic media Democratic party
43:05Democratic also where Gatherings where
43:07they
43:09come and now I think what we are seeing
43:11is this um people like Amal Harris F
43:15being told you know you've got to say
43:18this um because it fits in with the
43:22identity politics that the Democratic
43:24party has adopted
43:27but then confronted by the reality after
43:31October
43:337 and I think this
43:37confusion inside the party is apparent
43:40in things like this where I don't think
43:42Kamala Harris knows what islamophobia is
43:45I don't think she paid any attention to
43:47it I don't think she knows where it
43:49comes from but I think her gut instinct
43:52is to support Israel because if she's
43:55married to a Jewish man but the it's
43:57also the Democratic party is strongly
43:59pro-israel the older generation and she
44:03belongs with that older generation and
44:05so she comes around now and you know
44:07first says this and then has to unsay it
44:10um but my position now is I don't think
44:13we need any more
44:15polarization right now we need Unity one
44:18of the things that I learned from the
44:207th of October immediately
44:22was israelian were so divided
44:26and so focused on their internal
44:30divisions that they lost sight of the
44:35enemy that wants to obliterate all of
44:37them and I think in America we need to
44:40do the same we need to we need to come
44:43away
44:44from
44:46um these internal issues that divide us
44:49and get together and see the external
44:51enemy and these external forces so I'm
44:53not going to criticize Kamala
44:56Harris you know Biden is our
44:59commanderin-chief
45:00um and right now in this situation of
45:03urgency I think we just have to stand
45:06behind people who are in our government
45:09when they're doing the right thing and
45:11right now they're doing the right
45:14thing yeah I I I just want to be clear
45:17about what I was asking before um what I
45:20was mentioning is how uh uh kamla Harris
45:25announced the country's First National
45:27strategy to counter
45:29islamophobia yeah and
45:32um do you do you think
45:36that I feel like when it comes to us not
45:39trying to head towards being more
45:42polarized yeah I don't necessarily see
45:45that that helps and now at the end of
45:47the day I know that they're trying to
45:50use islamophobia in these terms as
45:51anti-muslim bigotry and that's abhorent
45:54and people should not be judged people
45:56should not be discriminated um against
45:58for their
46:00beliefs but um when you look at the
46:06number of hate crimes of VI actual
46:08physical violence that have been
46:09committed
46:11recently
46:12uh anti-Semitism has has
46:18definitely been blown the the
46:20proportions of anti-Semitism within the
46:22United States compared to anti-muslim
46:24bigotry
46:26um do not even compare um and I kind
46:32of and you can talk more about this I
46:35kind of see as see the national strategy
46:38to counter islamophobia more as
46:40potentially dividing people even more
46:44and uh yeah I think we have to keep
46:47going back to the problems that are
46:48going on on campuses which is people are
46:51not getting educated anti-Semitism is
46:55the oldest hatred Jews are hated for no
46:58other reason than just being Jews
47:01they're blamed for every blight in the
47:03world and you compare that to
47:05islamophobia a word that was
47:08conveniently in invented in the
47:111990s that is uh you know Muslims are
47:15not hated just because they are Muslim
47:18people don't fear Muslims just because
47:20they are Muslim um there is a context
47:24yes because of
47:26some of these events that are going on
47:28individual Muslims meet with
47:32anti-muslim bigotry that's a fact you
47:35see it all the time but it it cannot be
47:39compared to um is absolutely no
47:42equivalence with
47:44anti-Semitism there's been no
47:47anti-muslim Holocaust there hasn't been
47:49genocides like that simply because
47:52people were
47:53Muslim um or uh because of their faith
47:57and we have to
47:58remember
48:00that 1.5 billion people in the world
48:04some people say 1.9 billion people in
48:06the world are Muslim and they're of all
48:09ethnicities and all skin colors and they
48:11live all over the world and that's not
48:14to be compared with the 9 million or so
48:17Jewish people uh and the struggle that
48:20is ongoing to maintain and preserve a
48:25home land for all of those victims of
48:28anti-Semitism over centuries a place to
48:31call home and that that's what they're
48:33been denied I think you can't compare
48:35these things and we are making these
48:38stupid comparisons on the one hand the
48:40woke are doing it on purpose and on the
48:42other hand people are being so gullible
48:45as to be drawn into this because they're
48:46not getting
48:50educated yes absolutely um and that that
48:54kind of reminds me of the NYU students
48:58ripping down posters of the missing the
49:02Israeli hostages and how this wasn't
49:04just limited to NYU this was also I I
49:06believe in Britain um and what it makes
49:10me think of bringing it back to the
49:13topic of
49:15campuses how how can
49:18students actually communicate across
49:20these such intense divisions how how can
49:23we move forward and how can we have more
49:25more nuance and meaningful discussions
49:28on this interpersonal
49:30level you were in my critical thinking
49:32class it's by holding exercises where
49:35you have students on both sides of the
49:38argument and you insist on Rules of
49:41Civility be no violence no verbal abuse
49:45we're just going to argue and exchange
49:47ideas and perspectives and you're going
49:50to have to do these exercises so you can
49:53argue through all the different steps
49:55what if you are in the position of
49:57Israel and there is a demand for a
50:00ceasefire and how complicated it is to
50:02have women and children other civilians
50:05where you know missiles are landing what
50:08the other side says but that's where
50:10they're hiding and that's where they're
50:11throwing the missiles from and as a
50:13student you you engage in these
50:16exercises and as you're engaging in it
50:18you're learning to think not what to
50:21think the point of the exercise is not
50:23to get to a conclusion but the the point
50:25of the exercise is to learn how to think
50:29so that you know how to think in
50:31different situations and how to lead and
50:33another demand would be to read about
50:36the past and what happened and why these
50:39things came about the way they did and
50:41that's not what's happening on campuses
50:43apparently apparently campuses have
50:45become you don't have a professor who
50:47teaches you how to think you have an
50:48activist in front of the class who's
50:50telling you what to think and is's
50:52asking you to advance an agenda and
50:54that's not what Compass is water
50:58for yes absolutely and uh that brings us
51:03to our audience questions I think we
51:05have time for
51:08one uh
51:10so this kind of Falls in line with this
51:13question um of having discussion having
51:16meaningful discussions so Janelle H is
51:20asking as a Jewish woman I'm finding it
51:23very difficult to express my concern for
51:25Jewish people when so many palestin
51:28Palestinians are recklessly losing their
51:29lives I agree that Hamas is the root of
51:32the problem however Israel is complicit
51:34as their occupation continues and
51:36Palestinians cannot live in peace
51:38because of this occupation nor can they
51:40live in peace because of Hamas how does
51:42one respectfully convey their sentiments
51:45in regards to this
51:48War I think the first step is to educate
51:51oneself it's yes a very complicated
51:54matter but a fast as you were reading
51:56this I was thinking but Gaza wasn't
52:00occupied Gaza was under the control of
52:03Hamas and the people of Gaza elected
52:06Hamas to be their government many of
52:07them regretted that and
52:11Hamas has a charter that says they have
52:14absolutely no intention of having Israel
52:18or dividing the state or living in peace
52:21they want the state of Israel gone with
52:24that itude with an enemy like that
52:27because the rational thing to do would
52:30be to have the Israelis and Palestinians
52:32go back to the table and come up with a
52:35two-state solution broken by America
52:38broken by uh members of the
52:41International Community that would be
52:42the rational thing to do but Hamas
52:45sabotages this there was a normalization
52:48of relations between Arab Nations and
52:50Israel
52:52underway Hamas did on this on the 7th of
52:55o October to sabotage that so I think as
52:58long as Hamas is in the picture peace
53:02between the Israelis and the
53:03Palestinians is not going to be in sight
53:06and I agree with Netanyahu and the
53:09Israeli government that the fast order
53:11of the day is to get them out of the way
53:14and once that happens and it's going to
53:16be very painful because they're going to
53:18resist uh but I think once that's done
53:22then it is conceivable to have a
53:25normalization of relations between Arabs
53:27and Jews in general and a two-state
53:30peace solution between the Israelis and
53:32the
53:33Palestinians for that now be Elizabeth F
53:39also asks Aon do you have any friends in
53:42parenthesis as I do who say they are
53:45joining Pro Palestinian rallies or
53:47speaking out for Palestine simply on
53:49behalf of ordinary Palestinians that
53:51they are rallying for Hamas and what it
53:53did and not cheering on on Hamas their
53:56perception of their side is merely as
53:59wanting to protect innocent Palestinian
54:01women and children what do you say to
54:03them I say I remind them I show them the
54:07Hamas chter I read it loudly to them I
54:10say to them put yourself in the shoes of
54:14the people on the other side what would
54:16you do if I live in
54:19California if 3,000 s
54:221,400 um women children old women babies
54:26were beheaded by an entity coming across
54:29from Mexico what would we do um and I
54:32say to my European friends what if your
54:34neighboring country did that or an
54:36entity non-governmental entity within
54:38that neighboring country what would you
54:40do let's think seriously about
54:43this and when I look at the children and
54:47the women and the elderly and male
54:51civilians who are not interested in this
54:53in Gaza I think it's Hamas that has put
54:57them in that position they build their
54:59rockets in schools in hospitals in
55:03Nursery schools in homes shops mosques
55:09that's where they put and that's where
55:11they're launching the missiles from how
55:14do you deal with an enemy that has zero
55:18respect for human life even the human
55:21their own human life the people that
55:24they say that they are fighting for
55:26Hamas is not really fighting for human
55:28beings called Palestinians to have a
55:30state of their own they have this
55:33utopian agenda this religious
55:36fanaticism that they think that the only
55:39thing that we have to do is eradicate
55:42the state of Israel and then we'll go to
55:44heaven that's what they think then it's
55:46not about the people for them and the
55:48people are suffering and So for anybody
55:51who H who thinks of the interests of the
55:54Palestinians and the interests of the
55:57Jewish people and human beings in
55:59general
56:01organizations the mindsets of Hamas has
56:05to be dealt with and it has to be
56:06confronted until that's done there is
56:09going to babies will continue to die on
56:11either
56:12side thank you for that ion I think we
56:14have time for one more question this
56:17one's going to be from Jerome D he says
56:20I what do you think would be the single
56:23most effective way to rest power away
56:25from the woke
56:27movement wake
56:30up wake up and organize and read and
56:34understand go to James Lindsay's website
56:37uh he has sort of an ABC of what is work
56:41for dummies start there once you
56:44understand what they're after which is
56:45naked Power organize organize in your
56:48school boards organizing your
56:50neighborhoods organizing your jobs you
56:53know the organization that you work for
56:55in your sports clubs in your cultural
56:57clubs and stand up to them and you when
57:01you I this is what I hear Hannah most of
57:04the time it's I think when you were
57:05asking me a question you said the same
57:08thing in any given context something
57:11woke is imposed on the rest of us for
57:15instance this ritual of saying that we
57:17are on Stolen land and we go along with
57:20it no one most people will murma
57:22silently and say that's ridiculous but
57:25they won't say anything and I think it's
57:27in those contexts that you stand up and
57:29you say no that's absolutely ridiculous
57:32we're not on Stolen land and you make
57:34your point and you say that's what you
57:36think it's not what we think and you
57:38wasting our time etc etc and I think
57:40that's when you yeah I think I have to
57:42stop
57:44now all right I thank you so much for
57:46joining us today I'm sure everyone
57:49absolutely learned something from you um
57:52and uh thank you everyone for joining us
57:54and helping us uh defend the bed the
57:58Bedrock of our Democratic Society so
58:01thank
58:02[Music]
58:11[Music]
58:13you

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