Description
This town hall will explore whether Western media, politics and public rhetoric shape global narratives about justice.
It will examine claims that the West promotes free speech while silencing dissent, using examples like the global war on terror to discuss how potential patterns of narrative control play out on the world stage. Are Western media and politics a force for good or are they just advancing their own interests?
Expert guests, students and recent graduates join us on stage at the Bradford Literature Festival as we delve into these pressing questions.
Please note this event will be filmed and recorded live for Doha Debates, at points this may obstruct your view for a short time.
This event will be filmed live. By attending the event, you grant the Doha Debates, and those acting under its authority, the right to film or photograph your attendance and activities at the event and use such footage or photographs, including your appearance therein, in the programme of the event and to directly or indirectly publicise and promote the program and/or any other programme or event produced by or on behalf of Doha Debates in all media now known or hereafter discovered, worldwide and on the Internet, in perpetuity, without notice, review, approval or compensation.
If you would not like to be filmed during the event please let our team know on arrival and you will be given a yellow lanyard.
About the Host
Doha Debates
Doha Debates engages a vanguard of intellectually curious truth-seekers to constructively debate differences in order to build a better future. We emphasize unity over division, encouraging conversations that bring us together rather than drive us apart.
About the Moderator
Remona Aly
Remona Aly is a journalist and broadcaster. She writes for The Guardian, is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought and a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Something Understood. She is also an editor and podcast host for various platforms.
About the Speakers
Fatima Bhutto
Fatima Bhutto is the author of the novels The Runaways (Viking, 2019), praised as “astute and searing” by Kirkus Reviews, and The Shadow of the Crescent Moon (Penguin Books, 2015), longlisted for Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her most recent nonfiction book is New Kings of the World: Dispatches from Bollywood, Dizi, and K-Pop (Columbia Global Reports, 2019), which argues that the West’s cultural influence is diminishing across the globe.
Her first book is Songs of Blood and Sword: A Daughter’s Memoir (Nation Books, 2010) which deals with her father’s murder and the Bhutto family’s history in Pakistani politics. Bhutto’s journalism and essays have appeared in New Statesman, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, The Nation, Literary Hub and elsewhere.
Steve Clemons
Steve Clemons has served as Editor at Large of The Hill, The Atlantic and Semafor and served in senior editorial roles at National Journal and Quartz. He is also proprietor of the popular political blog The Washington Note and host of The Bottom Line on Al Jazeera English. He is also Contributing Editor at The National Interest. Clemons previously served as Executive Vice President of the Economic Strategy Institute and was the founding Executive Director of the Center for the National Interest.
Konstantin Kisin
Konstantin Kisin is a Sunday Times best-selling author, comedian, satirist, social commentator and host of the wildly successful YouTube show, TRIGGERnometry. Born in the late Soviet Union and raised in Britain, Kisin has appeared on flagship TV shows like BBC Question Time, Real Time with Bill Maher and Tucker Carlson, as well as the Joe Rogan Experience and other popular podcasts.
Kisin is a powerful speaker, known for his engaging, entertaining and thought-provoking talks on a wide range of topics, including the importance of upholding Western values of liberalism, freedom of expression and viewpoint diversity. He has also spoken and written extensively about the war in Ukraine.
His speech at an Oxford Union debate generated over 100 million views around the world and has made him one of the most sought-after cultural commentators in the world.
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