Berkeley Students to Hold Event on Milo and the Freedom of Speech

After the riots and damages at Cal-Berkeley and the discussions about free speech at Berkeley, the Students for Liberty and Cal Libertarians will hold an event to discuss free speech and its importance this coming week:

Berkeley, CA— Students For Liberty in cooperation with Cal Libertarians is hosting libertarian personality Dr. Tom Palmer at UC Berkeley to provide an alternative narrative in the free speech dichotomy. Dr. Palmer is the Executive Vice President of the Atlas Network, a global network connecting over 450 free market think tanks in over 90 countries to the ideas and resources needed to advance libertarianism.

The event titled “Milo, Trump, and the Assault on Free Speech” will be hosted on Tuesday, March 14th at 4:30 PM at UC Berkeley Campus in the Moffitt Library Room 101.

“Free speech is the foundation of open societies, which are themselves the foundation for economic and social progress.  Intimidation and violence are threats to more than just this or that speaker, with whom one may agree or disagree — they are threats to all of us,” said Dr. Tom Palmer.

While Milo Yiannopoulos, Donald Trump, and others who fear-monger use divisive tactics, we firmly believe that they have the inalienable right to speak their mind and remain unharmed same as anyone else. Many of their ideas which wrongly seek to curtail individual liberty and further expand the powers of an authoritarian government must be countered not with destructive actions, but with well-reasoned arguments.

Student organizer Alexandra Tran said, “The way to respond to hateful speech is not with violence but with compassionate and accurate speech. When you physically attack others for believing differently than you they do not change their mind. Their beliefs only become stronger. If we want to rid the world of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and fear of people who are different, we must teach others why those beliefs are wrong, rather than seek to shut down the debate.  As Desmond Tutu said, ‘Don’t raise your fist. Improve your argument.’”

Students For Liberty invites others of every political ideology, from progressive to conservative to libertarian, to attend the event. You can RSVP on Facebook.

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