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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240312T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240312T193000
DTSTAMP:20260410T175804
CREATED:20240125T152057Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240228T150037Z
UID:740-1710266400-1710271800@livingfreedom.org.uk
SUMMARY:From hate speech to misinformation: why social media is not the problem
DESCRIPTION:Room 5052\, Arts Building\, Trinity College\, University of Dublin \nLiving Freedom ‘University Salons’ are for all students (and academics) keen to explore and debate ideas. A short talk is followed by plenty of time for questions and discussion. \nThe event is free but please register via Eventbrite. \n——————— \nTOPIC\nFrom Hate Speech to Misinformation: Why Social Media is Not the Problem \nAdvances in digital technology and social media mean each of us can now share more information and opinions more widely than ever before. But many worry that new digital culture fuels hate speech\, online harms\, fake news and identity driven polarisation. Speaking after recent Dublin riots\, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said that ‘people have been radicalized through social media over the Internet’. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has vowed to ‘modernize laws against hatred’ claiming legislation is ‘not up to date for the social media age’. \nSome question the extent to which new digital technologies are really the problem. After all\, just over a decade ago\, social media was celebrated for the power to share ideas and drive positive political change\, for example the Arab Spring or the re-election of President Obama. A recent report found that majorities in most countries surveyed believe that social media is good for democracy. But on the downside\, the same report revealed European democracies and America are now least likely to evaluate social media positively. \nTo what extent are the technologies celebrated for transforming our communications also responsible for our descent into echo chambers\, toxic filter bubbles and demonising those with whom we disagree? Does social media threaten productive exchanges of ideas and our potential to develop a shared worldview and even a shared reality? Irish Green Party Senator Pauline O’Reilly admits that hate speech legislators ‘are restricting freedom’ but asserts they are ‘doing it for the common good.’ Is she right to assert that such legislative action is required? Or should we instead look elsewhere for both the root of the problem and the solutions to social strife in an age of digital culture? \n——————— \nSPEAKER: TIMANDRA HARKNESS\njournalist\, writer and broadcaster; author\, Technology is Not the Problem (2024)\nTimandra Harkness is author of Technology is Not the Problem (forthcoming\, Harper Collins) and Big Data: does size matter?  She is a regular on BBC Radio\, writing and presenting BBC Radio 4’s FutureProofing and other series including How To Disagree. Her BBC documentaries include Divided Nation and What Has Sat-Nav Done To Our Brains and she has written for publications including the Telegraph\, Guardian\, The Sunday Times\, Men’s Health and Significance (the journal of the Royal Statistical Society). \nCHAIR: ALASTAIR DONALD\nconvenor\, Living Freedom; author\, The Scottish Question \n——————— \nORGANISED BY \n\nThis event is organised by Living Freedom and Dublin Universities branch of Academics for Academic Freedom (AFAF). \nSUPPORTED BY\nLiving Freedom University Salons are supported by the Ian Mactaggart Programme\, established to foster a culture of open debate\, independent thinking and free expression among young people in the UK\, especially students. It is administered by the Free Speech Union.
URL:https://livingfreedom.org.uk/event/from-hate-speech-to-misinformation-why-social-media-is-not-the-problem
LOCATION:Trinity College\, University of Dublin\, College Green\, Dublin
CATEGORIES:University Salon
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://livingfreedom.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/LF-Trinity-Dublin.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240319T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240319T193000
DTSTAMP:20260410T175804
CREATED:20240131T143056Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240316T151228Z
UID:806-1710871200-1710876600@livingfreedom.org.uk
SUMMARY:What can we learn from... the radical universalism of CLR James?
DESCRIPTION:Room CLM.2.05\, 2nd Floor\, Clement House\, London School of Economics \nTHIS EVENT IS FREE OF CHARGE\, BUT PLEASE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE. \nAs a Marxist revolutionary and Pan-Africanist\, critic of European colonialism and respecter of Western civilisation\, classicist and lover of popular culture\, CLR James confounds many contemporary expectations. Today\, when praise for ‘Western culture’ is often dismissed as ‘Eurocentrism’ and identity silos trump a sense of our shared humanity\, is a universalist outlook and an emphasis on what we have in common worth defending? Looking back at his life and work\, what can we learn from a man once labelled ’the black Plato’? \nSPEAKERS \nCERI DINGLE\ndirector\, WORLDwrite; co-director Every Cook Can Govern\, the award winning film on CLR James \nCeri Dingle is director of WORLDwrite\, a youth education charity that campaigns for change using film and video through its online Citizen TV channel\, WORLDbytes. WORLDwrite’s free TV and film training facility for young people has assisted over 3\,000 young people to produce over 1\,000 challenging programmes in the past 10 years. \nCeri directed the film Sylvia Pankhurst: Everything is Possible and co-directed Every Cook Can Govern on the life and works of CLR James. She is currently working with young volunteers to produce a film on the history of solidarity in the UK and new volunteers are most welcome to join the crew. \nRALPH LEONARD\nwriter; author\, Letter on Liberty:  Unshackling Intimacy\nRalph is a British-Nigerian writer and commentator on international politics\, culture and sex. He is the author of the Letters on Liberty pamphlet Unshackling Intimacy\, writes for UnHerd\, Areo and the Telegraph\, and is a regular guest on the Zer0 Books podcast. He also writes on religion\, human rights and international affairs. As an ardent secularist and leftist\, Ralph believes it is crucial to uphold the legacy of the Enlightenment\, and the project for the universal emancipation of humanity. \nSUPPORTED BY\nLiving Freedom University Salons are supported by the Ian Mactaggart Programme\, established to foster a culture of open debate\, independent thinking and free expression among young people in the UK\, especially students. It is administered by the Free Speech Union.
URL:https://livingfreedom.org.uk/event/what-can-we-learn-from-the-radical-universalism-of-clr-james
LOCATION:‘Beaver’s Retreat\, George IV Pub\, London School of Economics\, 28 Portugal Street\, London\, WC2A 2HE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:University Salon
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://livingfreedom.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/clr-james-london-march-2024.png
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240320T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240320T200000
DTSTAMP:20260410T175804
CREATED:20240130T181124Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240313T125817Z
UID:788-1710959400-1710964800@livingfreedom.org.uk
SUMMARY:Utopia and freedom
DESCRIPTION:Bateman Lecture Theatre\, University of Exeter Building One\, Rennes Drive\, Exeter\, EX4 4PU \nTHIS EVENT IS FREE TO ATTEND BUT PLEASE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE. \nLiving Freedom ‘University Salons’ are for all students (and academics) keen to explore and debate ideas. A short talk is followed by plenty of time for questions and discussion. \n——————— \nTOPIC\nUtopia and Freedom \nSince the publication of Thomas More’s Utopia at the dawn of modernity\, utopian thinking has helped us imagine how society might be radically\, wholly different. Transformative historical events such as the English Civil War and the Industrial Revolution often inspired imagined worlds to come. \nThe issue of freedom in utopias is far from straight-forward. More’s Utopia imagined religious toleration but also slavery as punishment for law breakers. Later utopians anticipated transformations in work\, leisure or mobility but also rule by master elites and elimination of weak and feeble folk. By the twentieth century\, utopia found itself tarnished by association with totalitarian ideologies. In the time since\, dystopias have come to the fore\, anticipating environmental emergencies\, AI apocalypses or a tyrannical patriarchy. \nOscar Wilde argued that ‘a map of the world that does not include utopia is not worth even glancing at’. ‘Progress’\, he declared\, ‘is the realisation of utopias’. Today\, some disparage the technocratic and technological utopianism of the likes of ‘progressives’ or ‘transhumanists’. Others argue that utopian dreaming is required as a stimulus to any worthwhile practical reforms. In our times of political malaise and disenchantment with the future\, could a revival of utopian imagination help us out the doldrums? To what extent are utopias – or dystopias – a useful means to think about and shape the future? \n——————— \nSPEAKER\nAlastair Donald; convenor of Living Freedom; co-editor\, The Lure of the City: from slums to suburbs \nAlastair organises the Ideas Matter initiative Living Freedom and is associate director of the Academy of Ideas where he co-convenes the Battle of Ideas Festival. He is author of The Scottish Question\, and co-editor of The Lure of the City: from slums to suburbs (2011) and The Future of Community: reports of a death greatly exaggerated (2008). He co-founded mantownhuman which published Manifesto: towards a new humanism in architecture (2008)\, as featured in Penguin Classics 100 Artists’ Manifestos. \nCHAIR\nFelice Basbøll project assistant\, Ideas Matter \n——————— \nBACKGROUND READING\nUtopias: news from nowhere can help us here and now\, The Guardian\, 30 November 2023\nCoronavirus lockdown: Dystopian and horror virus book sales spike\, from The Handmaid’s Tale to Brave New World\, Rhiannon Williams\, iNews\, 31 March 2020\nFree love or genocide? The trouble with Utopias\, Tobias Jones\, The Guardian\, 24 January 2016 \n——————— \nORGANISED BY\nLiving Freedom\, Exeter Speak Easy and Committee for Academic Freedom. \n \nSUPPORTED BY\nLiving Freedom University Salons are supported by the Ian Mactaggart Programme\, established to foster a culture of open debate\, independent thinking and free expression among young people in the UK\, especially students. It is administered by the Free Speech Union.
URL:https://livingfreedom.org.uk/event/utopia-and-freedom
LOCATION:Bateman Lecture Theatre\, University of Exeter\, Building One\, Rennes Drive\, Exeter\, EX4 4PU\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:University Salon
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://livingfreedom.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Exeter-Utopia-and-Freedom-no-time.jpg
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240325T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240325T193000
DTSTAMP:20260410T175804
CREATED:20240226T155358Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240323T095034Z
UID:882-1711389600-1711395000@livingfreedom.org.uk
SUMMARY:Religious freedom: toleration or discrimination?
DESCRIPTION:Violet Laidlaw Room\, School of Social and Political Science\, University of Edinburgh\, Chrystal Macmillan Building\, 15a George Square\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LD \nLiving Freedom ‘University Salons’ are for all students (and academics) keen to explore and debate ideas. A short talk is followed by plenty of time for questions and discussion. \nTHIS EVENT IS FREE OF CHARGE BUT PLEASE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE. \n——————— \nTOPIC\nReligious Freedom: Toleration or Discrimination? \nQuestions related to expression of religious beliefs are throwing up many tricky questions related to freedom and equality. In the UK\, Christian street preachers have been arrested\, a Muslim pupil is taking a school to court over a prayer ban and there are worries that protection zones around abortion clinics turn silent prayer into a thought crime. In Finland\, a prominent MP who publicly quoted biblical scripture is being prosecuted for hate speech and there are concerns that Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order Act will also threaten freedom of conscience and religious expression. \nHowever\, many worry that it is religious practice that impinges on our freedoms and rights. Religious conservatives in America have made it easier for hospitals and medics to object to providing birth control and abortions on the grounds of conscience. A Supreme Court ruling in Alabama that embryos used for IVF are legally children may create restrictions on fertility treatment. After outrage over Qur’an burnings in European countries such as Denmark\, bans on desecration of religious texts create worries about the return of blasphemy laws. \nIn pluralistic societies\, how do we reconcile the right of faith communities to exercise their beliefs with our established wider freedoms? Are street preaching or prayers in school rights we should all enjoy? Should holy books be protected by law? Is firing a midwife who refuses to perform abortions an act of justice or discrimination? Or both? Where practical conflicts arise\, for example\, with anti-discrimination equality laws or medical service provision\, how should we respond? \nUltimately\, have we gone too far in protecting the faithful or too far in neglecting them? \n——————— \nSPEAKER\nDolan Cummings novelist and essayist; author\, Taking Conscience Seriously and The Pictish Princess: ..and other stories from before there was a Scotland; substack\, L’esprit de l’escalier \nCHAIR\nAlastair Donald convenor\, Living Freedom \n——————— \nBACKGROUND READING \n\nEnd The Use Of Religion To Discriminate\, ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)\nScotland’s new ‘hate speech’ rules are a modern blasphemy law\, Melanie McDonagh\, The Spectator\, 2 May 2020\nWhy Sweden tolerates Quran burning\, Lars Tragardh\, UnHerd\, 1 September 2023\nThis ban on Muslims praying in school is a dystopian\, sinister vision of Britishness\, Nadeine Asbali\, The Guardian\, 19 January 2024\nIs free speech under threat? Heather Tomlinson\, Premier Christianity\, 31 January 2024\nPoliticians have the right to strong religious views. But not to be shielded from scrutiny\, Kenan Malik\, The Observer\, 26 February 2023\n\n——————— \nORGANISED BY\nLiving Freedom and Edinburgh Academics for Academic Freedom \n \nSUPPORTED BY\nLiving Freedom University Salons are supported by the Ian Mactaggart Programme\, established to foster a culture of open debate\, independent thinking and free expression among young people in the UK\, especially students. It is administered by the Free Speech Union. \n \nImage: adapted from Michael Coglan\, Creative Commons
URL:https://livingfreedom.org.uk/event/religious-freedom-toleration-or-discrimination
LOCATION:Violet Laidlaw Room\, School of Social and Political Science\, University of Edinburgh
CATEGORIES:University Salon
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://livingfreedom.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Religious-freedom-toleration-or-discrimination-25032024-UPDATED.png
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