On 3/3/23, I co-organized a “forbidden” event in Amsterdam about free speech and free thought in higher education the Great Citizens Institute. You can watch a video summary about this event now on YouTube!
In general, there has been grave concerns about the erosion of these freedoms in the last three years. The filmed event arose from the consternation around the fact that I, a gender studies scholar at the University of Amsterdam, got into a full confrontation with students and staff after critiquing the non-binary gender movement. I decided to use the whistleblower legislation of the university to formally object to the rise of woke and cancel culture at his university.
The free speech event was meant to show that his case does not stand by itself, but that we are confronting a fundamental challenge in higher education. Over 40 students, teachers, concerned citizens and others involved in higher education visited the event to discuss how the rising totalitarian zeitgeist is threatening freedom of speech and thought in colleges and universities.
On March 10th, I looked back with Rico Brouwer on the event to discuss some of the issues that were raised by participants.