Arif Ahmed
The Guardian
What holds, and what fails, under pressure, standards and accountability.
Arif Ahmed is a proponent of free speech and academic freedom, advocating for the protection of diverse viewpoints in the face of potential censorship. This interview highlights his commitment to safeguarding liberal values and fostering open dialogue in educational institutions.
“The great thing, they're all so much smarter and quicker than me that actually they just we have lots of arguments, as you can imagine. They disagree with me about all kinds of things, which is great, which I really like. What's really important, of course, is that they think of themselves, reach their own views about things.”
“I'm very proud of the English tradition. Both England and the United States have very strong traditions of freedom. And one of the things that came over on the Mayflower, I think, was a love of individual liberty. And in our own ways, our two countries have got very strong and proud proud proud proud praditions of that.”
“Well, the definitions of what is lawful and not lawful speech will be a matter for Parliament and not for a regulator or for me. But I will say that, of course, as I've said before, we owe our freedoms and this country has long and proud tradition of religious dissent and religious disagreement and settling issues over religion, just like…”
“This is one of the things, of course, in the history of religion that actually religion and Copernicus and Galileo are obvious examples, but you can look at examples in Islam and other religions as well of suppression of thought and suppression of speech.”
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson — Free Speech Tsar: Arif Ahmed on how to avoid the 'abyss' of political violence
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