Club Online Zoom Event : Protecting Free Speech Amid Global Reckoning on Race

The reckoning over racism that has swept the globe and spawned the Black Live Matters movement has reignited a debate over free speech. In her book, Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All, Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, addresses issues including cancel culture, cultural appropriation and how to address hate speech, and why we need to do more to amplify lesser-heard voices. Drawing on her work at PEN America, she says the aim of the book is to set out principles for furthering diversity without resorting to curbs on free speech – an issue that resonates in Hong Kong today. Join us for a discussion with Nossel as she argues that the drive to realise a more equal and inclusive society must be reconciled with robust protections for free speech.

Suzanne Nossel is Chief Executive Officer of PEN America. She served as the Chief Operating Officer of Human Rights Watch and as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. She served in the Obama Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, leading U.S. engagement in the U.N. and multilateral institutions on human right issues; and in the Clinton administration as Deputy to the U.S. Ambassador for U.N. Management and Reform. She is a featured columnist for Foreign Policy magazine and has published op-eds in The New York Times, Washington Post, and LA Times, as well as scholarly articles in Foreign Affairs, and Democracy.