If you’re a leftist who believes in free speech you aren’t homeless
Free speech is a fundamental value of the left.
FEATURED ARTICLES
Dov and Willy talking – perspectives from the left on political violence, history, colonialism, imperialism, racism, antisemitism, social media and the importance of critical thinking and debate
Dov Osheroff and Willy Maley: perespectives from the left on political violence, history, colonialism, imperialism, racism, antisemitism, social media and the importance of critical thinking and debate
Participants:
Willy Maley
Dov Osheroff
Moderator:
Mark White
Preview next week’s Free Speech and the Left conference
View this 5 minute preview of next week’s Free Speech and the Left conference
Our panelists discuss censorship, cancel culture, identity politics, the relevance of today’s left and other issues during the upcoming Free Speech and the Left conference.
The online event will take place June 17 to 24 and feature authors, academics, journalists and activists from a dozen countries. The conference will consist of pre-recorded presentations, panel discussions and livestream segments.
Participants include Nadine Strossen, Richard Wolff, Freddie deBoer, Noam Chomsky, Jill Stein, Susan Neiman, Tara Henley, Paul Jay, Jacob Mchangama, Norman Finkelstein, Wayne Hsiung, Katherine Corcoran, Ioan Grillo, Matthew Hoh, Lawrence Wilkerson and others…
Co-hosted by Plebity, India & Global Left, Redline, and acTVism Munich, the conference will be broadcast on Plebity’s YouTube channel.
The full list of panels and conference schedule can be found here: https://www.plebity.org/conference-2023-free-speech-and-the-left/.
Noam Chomsky on What Defines the Left and on the Principle of Free Speech
Panelists: Noam Chomsky
Moderator: Mark White
Description: Noam Chomsky offers his thoughts on what defines the left and on the enduring principle of free speech. Noam Chomsky is a longtime scholar, author, teacher, intellectual, activist and social critic.
Noam Chomsky is a longtime scholar, author, teacher, intellectual, activist and social critic.
recent ARTICLES
A Conversation with Feminist Lawyer Kara Dansky
Kara Dansky is an attorney, public speaker, writer, and consultant who currently serves on the steering committee of the U.S. chapter of the Women's Human Rights Campaign (WHRC). She also serves as the Chair of the Committee on Law and Legislation for WHRC globally. Kara has a background in criminal justice law and policy, and formerly served on the board of the Women's Liberation Front.
She joins me in this episode to talk about the push to redefine sex in the law to include the nebulous concept of gender identity, the current court cases where women's sex-based rights hang in the balance, and how she sees the gender identity ideology movement as a continuation in a long history of male abuse and silencing of women.
Is the World Going Plant-Based? It’s Complicated.
Every day we learn more about our home planet’s fascinating cohabitants: we know that mother pigs sing to their piglets while nursing; we know that chickens form complex social hierarchies; we know that dolphins have the longest memories in the animal kingdom; we know that birds can sing a wide range of complex songs, each with its own specific meaning; we know that when a goose’s mate dies, its partner will remove themselves from the flock and mourn for life.
High School Track Stars File Lawsuit to Save Girl’s Sports
I'm joined by Alanna Smith, a high school track athlete from Connecticut, along with her mom Cheryl Radachowsky, and Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Christiana Holcomb.
Alanna is one of four athletes, the others being Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, and Ashley Nicoletti, who have filed a lawsuit that would block male athletes who identify as transgender from competing in girl’s sports in Connecticut.
The four girls have been consistently deprived of honors and opportunities to compete at elite levels due to a policy in their state that allows males who self-identify as female to compete in girls’ athletic events.
Identity Crisis Bonus Episode: The Mob Comes After Jesse Singal
We discuss what's currently happening with Jesse Singal and why we think it matters.
Identity Crisis Episode 10: How To Question Everything Without Going Crazy
In this episode, we follow up last week's chat about logical fallacies with a conversation about how we've questioned our own assumptions and ideologies and what we've learned from it.
“Identity Politics is Being Pushed Because it Disrupts Class Analysis” -Hamza Watani
Hamza Watani joins me for an in depth conversation on the nature of identity politics to disrupt conversations around class. We also talk about the super straight movement, gender identity ideology, the wave of anti-woman bullying going on right now and much more.
Identity Crisis Episode 9: Logical Fallacies
In this episode we talk about some logical/argumentative fallacies and how they might pertain to the gender debate and identity politics in general.
“Whenever Women Gain Rights, There’s Always a Backlash Against It. ” -Aja
Aja sits down with me to chat about some recent events in the gender critical world, why she speaks out on this topic, the nature of truth-telling, and whether a cultural shift may be approaching.
We also talk about her first time hearing the word TERF—when lesbian group Get The L Out protested London pride in 2018. After witnessing the event, she began to do some research, and learned that gender identity ideology was demanding that lesbians view transwomen as women. She also tells her firsthand story of a notorious incident, a women's Labour party meeting near Grenfell Tower where transgender activists in masks set off smoke bombs and harassed the women attending the meeting.
On the Loss of Ritual
Whether subconscious or not, most of us seek out rituals or initiations in whichever way we can. In The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell writes, “Young people just grab this stuff. Mythology teaches you what’s behind literature and the arts, it teaches you about your own life. It’s a great, exciting, life-nourishing subject.” Kids are naturally drawn to mythology, but they seek myths out in different ways – in the 80s and 90s, kids found them in film and television, now they are found primarily through their digital devices.
Much of our rituals today do not support personal growth or transformation, instead they serve to confuse and disorient. And in the absence of myths altogether, personal transformation isn’t possible. According to Campbell, “The absence of myth is the absence of psychological transformation.”