“Cancelling Cancel Culture” is a gathering of significant voices from countries on both sides of the Atlantic, including Laurence Fox, Professor Frank Furedi and Douglas Murray from the U.K., Dr. James Lindsay, Rod Dreher, Charles Cooke and Dave Rubin from the U.S., Eric Tegnér and Eric Zemmour from France, Professor Ryszard Legutko from Poland, Professor Josette Baer from Switzerland and pop star Ákos of Hungary.

All over the Western world, speakers who hold unpopular views that is, views unpopular with the Left are being told that they cannot speak.  Sometimes they are dismissed by the companies for which they work.  Sometimes their articles are accepted by newspapers but then returned because some journalists on the paper object.  Sometimes they are physically attacked and injured.  There’s been a reluctance to accept that these things are happening, but they are.

That’s why we’ve brought together this group of distinguished academics, journalists, and artists from several countries to discuss this disturbing new trend.

In Part Seven, we feature Professor Frank Furedi,  British-Hungarian sociologist, and social commentator. He is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent in Canterbury. He is also the 'Senior Research Fellow', at the XXIst Century Institute. His book Invitation To Terror; Expanding the Empire of the Unknown (2007) explores the way in which the threat of terrorism has become amplified through the ascendancy of precautionary thinking. Frank has also written extensively about issues to do with education and cultural life. His book, Wasted: Why Education Is Not Educating (2009) deals with the influence of the erosion of adult authority on schooling. On Tolerance (2011) offers a restatement of the importance of this concept for an open society. Authority: A Sociological History (2013) examines how the modern world has become far more comfortable with questioning authority than with affirming it. Frank Füredi is committed to promoting the ideals of a humanist education and his writings on higher education are devoted to affirming the value of the liberal arts. His latest book is titled Democracy Under Siege: Don't Let Them Lock It Down!

Joining the discussion are:
Ryszard Legutko,  academic, philosopher, politician, and author, Professor Legutko is the Professor of Philosophy at Jagellonian University in Krakow, Poland where he specializes in ancient philosophy and political theory. He is currently a Member of the European Parliament from Poland and is Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformist parliamentary group.  He has held several elected as well as appointed offices including a Member of the Polish Senate where he served as  Deputy Speaker, former  Education Minister, and former Secretary of State in the Chancellery of President Kaczyński. He is the author of numerous commentaries and books including Plato’s Critique of Democracy (1990), Toleration (1997), A Treatise on Liberty (2007),  An Essay on the Polish Soul (2008), Socrates (2013), The Demon in Democracy-Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies (2016) which led one critic to refer to him as a “political prophet”. His latest book is The Cunning of Freedom: Saving the Self in an Age of False Idols; Encounter Books 2021. He is the former editor of Solidarity’s official journal of philosophy, one of several editors of former Samizdat quarterly ARKA, during the Soviet era, and has the distinction of being sued under  Human Rights statutes by youths supported by the Helsinki Foundation, for calling them “unruly brats” after they demanded the removal of the crucifixes from the school buildings. He lost his case in Poland's Supreme Court.
John O’Sullivan, CBE  is President of the Danube Institute, editor-at-large of National Review, and editor of Australia's Quadrant, and executive editor of The Pipeline. He is the co-founder of the International Reagan Thatcher Society. He has served in the past as associate editor of the London Times, editorial and op-ed editor for Canada's National Post, editor of National Review, and special adviser to Margaret Thatcher. He is the author of “The President, the Pope and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World”.

This is a production of the Danube Institute and introduced by Danube Institute president, John O’Sullivan.