For 36 years ago my parents fled Iran for Germany in search of Freedom the fall of the Berlin wall and the people overcome with joy and excitement is still a defining memory of our new home for me it was an incredibly beautiful moment all those people some of them for
The first time in their lives truly felt free today Freedom at least in wealthy countries is something we almost take for granted we can choose how we want to live for most people around the world that’s just a dream and it’s under threat now in the West
Too my name is Pega feradon and I’m an actor in this film I’m going on a journey to ask what does freedom mean in the 21st Century Over three centuries ago the Age of Enlightenment began bringing with it progress reason and human rights today these achievements are at risk do we need a new Enlightenment for the 21st Century It’s Monday morning on set in Hamburg for 3 years I’ve played a police investigator in a crime series I used to be a kind of go-to person for anything foreign and exotic but now that the film industry has caught on that Germany is the country of immigrants I can
Practically pick and choose my roles on Bitter during the French Revolution one woman defied convention and chose her own destiny she came from humble beginnings born Marie gooz she was the daughter of a butcher and a washer woman in 1765 at the age of 17 she was married to a restaurant her who died soon
Afterward some said it was the noble blood of the man rumored to be her true father that brought her to Paris where she took the name Al deou although uneducated Alum was beautiful spirited and intelligent which brought her access to the salons and to people of influence
She became a fixture in high society and she began to pen writings that held up a mirror to the fashionable libertine pre-revolutionary Elite swept up by the spirit of the Revolution she became a social reformer and an activist for women’s rights it’s odd that I don’t know thing about
Ol more than 200 years ago she insisted women could enjoy every freedom at a time when that was taboo did her life and her ideas end up shaping my own life my own path if you look at the time of Enlightenment and some of the key
Thought leaders you know when I look at that as a woman and as a woman of color I’m surprised when I see men and more men and more men large majority of the people in this world are not free so I’m very very skeptical about that notion of
Freedom especially as propagated by the West each and every human being has a dignity that cannot be taken away is a fundamental idea of the Enlightenment on the eve of the French Revolution the people were calling for Freedom equality and fraternity this was more than a bread Riot their demands
Would go on to fundamentally reshape Society alom D attended meetings of the jacoba club and became a political activist in a pamphlet addressed to Queen Marie Antoinette she bemoaned the traditional role of women in another pamphlet she encouraged the king to abdicate outspoken and opinionated she became more vehement as the revolution
Progressed it was this refusal to be silent that unfortunately helped seal her fate I’m going to Lebanon where my Journey Begins our world is in upheaval just like it was during the French Revolution and like this small country in the Middle East Lebanon was once a flourishing place which some called the Switzerland of the Middle East Beirut was a financial Hub elegant and Cosmopolitan then came the the Civil War today there are power outages almost every day food prices are soaring and most people live in Desperate Poverty and as if that weren’t enough a warehouse in the harbor holding ammonium nitrate exploded leaving much of the city in Ruins Lebanon has one of the most inequal distributions of wealth in the world its Society is being torn apart something has to [Applause] change excuse me excuse me do you speak
English no no English no oh [Applause] little bit we are your nightmare we are your nightmare theing nightmare okay who nightmare the government’s night the government’s and [Applause] the in the French Revolution people demanded Liberty equality and Brotherhood because those ideas are intertwined if you demand Freedom you’re
Also demanding fairness but in a country like Lebanon where do you even begin the term Justice like the term freedom is hard to define justice should guide all public action the goal must be to achieve social harmony with at least a minimum level of contentment for
All I think we really need to marry a liberal and a Social Democratic conception of Freedom none of those freedoms are worth anything if you don’t have the material means to realize them in a place like this where the state is so weak you need strong individuals to push for change like
Jumana Hadad she was the first person to publish an erotic magazine in the Arab world and has received countless death Threats she also founded the Freedom Center in Beirut hello Hi how are you jumna is a journalist author and TV host room this is where the main meetings she’s also one of the most influential women in the Arab world we have the chairs here and this is my
Nest this is my Nest wow yeah and this is Wonder Woman because my two sons think I look like her so they keep sending me stuff so what does your shirt it say here it says our Revolution is is feminist it’s something that you have to
Wake up every day and fight for actually I could do nothing without this Freedom the freedom to think the way I want to think the freedom to write whatever I want to write and obviously the freedom to be the person I want to be I have to
Say in Lebanon we’re lucky with the weather and it’s also a beautiful area yes it is do you feel safe in this area do you feel safe in the C you know when you’re um when they want to hurt you no area is safe we you have to know that my
First crazy project was this magazine I used to do called Jad and it’s an erotic Magazine with arts and culture about the body in Arabic published by a woman in Lebanon and that’s when all the um threats really horrible threats started to uh to arrive and that that’s that was
Like a turning point in my life because I thought I’m not going to let myself be intimidated and I’m going to just ignore it and keep moving forward and do you know what I learned you start to become intimidating when you do this because they think how come she’s not scared
What’s her secret and I have no secret this is it and I’ve been lucky so Far bye despite the threats J to speak out write and publish feminist Texts the storming of the bastile also mobilized the women of France they joined the revolution butam de wanted rights not just a voice women she insisted should have the right to vote hold public office own property and be financially independent but when the new National Assembly issued the Declaration
Of the right of man and citizen women received no mention or lamp’s patience was at an end in sharp and forceful language she turned the 17 articles of the Declaration of the rights of man to the Declaration of the rights of woman and the female citizen she then sent it
To the National Assembly and to Queen Marie Antoinette article one woman is Born Free and remains equal to man in Rights Article 10 woman has the right to mount the scaffold so she should have the right equally to mount the pulit 2 years later this sentence would prove
Prophetic deja’s Fight For Freedom is still relevant today we’re still fighting for equal pay for equal work for equal respect for women as part of Society in Beirut jumana Hadad organized the first feminism Festival in the protected space of the there was plenty to talk about when I suggested a public forum on the topic of why we need to speak with men about the feminist struggle many people opposed it at first women’s freedom and the legal
Rights that they are owed that’s not only about the feminist struggle it’s about the Dignity of women men and all people you call yourself an angry atheist Arab feminist yeah what does this mean it means a lot of trouble how come this became such a path in your life
Were you treated differently as a girl I grew up in a very conservative family but ever since I was little um one thing saved me from the environment uh where I grew up which was the Civil War the conservative family uh the patriarchal society the Catholic
School and that was really tough um what saved me were my readings books books saved my life they changed me I knew that there was something else out there and that I deserved it what do you think why is the female body so mystified so tabooed I think because it’s a source of
Power of unlimit mited power it’s um it’s a body that gives life and this is a big issue why is that body such such an obsession in my culture why should I be ashamed of it or hide it or protect it from the male Intruder and save it
For my husband sex is one of the most Google words in Arabic we all know that but then again if you want to talk about this topic you’re considered uh at best bold and courageous and at worst a how are women depicted in the media jumana invited the association of
Lebanese women in journalism to her Festival I often wonder if the way that we approach feminist topics helps bring about Change in the media all we ever see are the same traditional roles for women and for men the mother who tends to everyone’s needs who you never see in the workforce in politics or outside taking part in the struggle for Freedom we only see the women who get up
Chew their sunflower seeds and gossip about other People you have a tattoo on your wrist which is another taboo I have like seven tattoos but I I cannot show all of them to you sure this this is the word freedom in in Arabic so um I got this a long time ago Freedom has been has
Always been like The Guiding Light for me this is the one thing that I cannot be um tolerant with who decides whether you are free or not you only you that’s you up to you to decide many people are not free but they do not realize that you need awareness
Are born with a huge uh you know bag our name our nationality our religion even the political views of our parents and so many other things and many people live their lives without deciding whether this that they have inherited works for them or not Yeah self-d determination is the key to freedom and for people like jumana it’s not something that just happens but something that requires a conscious decision anyone who makes that decision over and over again probably has more freedom than the powerful and privileged to because they never had to fight for their Freedom tonight in Beirut I ended up at a concert by the rapper gafar once again the topic is politics and the abuse of power in Lebanon art is the safety valve that’s probably keeping Society from Exploding I think the purpose of art is the truth the artist is not a servant um of a political party or an ideology or a religion and a free a free person is often very alarming to people who want to control people after settling in Paris Al discovered the Arts she associated
With actors and writers and began to write plays one early play was never performed due to the opposition of B marhe another was accepted but then boycotted by the actors of The Comedy Franz 1784 in zamorea alarm took on the inhumanity of slavery the oppression of women and the evils of racism and
Colonialism in 17 89 a revised version was finally performed on stage and was greeted with Venom and outrage replying to one of her detractors Al said there are thousands of men like you but it takes centuries to produce a woman like me shortly after I returned from Lebanon
My travels came to an abrupt end one country after another went into lockdown the Corona virus shut down the entire world what an irony for a film about Freedom freed Freedom freed freed something I never would have imagined became our new reality within just a few weeks basic rights like the
Freedom of movement were severely Curtailed to many people our democracies seemed weak and helpless some felt that governments were doing too little to protect our citizens and were too slow and chaotic in their response others felt they were being robbed of their civil Liberties the pandemic showed us how fragile our freedoms and Liberties can be so do we need to take a leaf out of the book of Enlightenment and explore New Alternatives take a leap into the unknown How often should I water them every other day please don’t knock over the flower pots so I only water these no I’ll get the other ones from the balcony the orchids are all labeled please don’t forget or they’ll die so this is where our family’s money ends up right there
We should not still have the blend face in Liberal democracy and that doesn’t mean we should switch the face to some some sort of China model we should not be satisfied with what we have there might be something Better Tong dong B has taught at New York University and was a fellow at Harvard he studies ethical questions in public life and right now he’s a professor of philosophy in Shanghai I grew up believing that democracy was the best of all possible worlds I wish I could have spoken with
Tong dong B in person about his concept of social Utopia a confusion alternative to the liberal Democratic order but because of the pandemic I had to join in by video Call the common lesson for a lot of people of of Enlightenment is self-governance uh and and that would be wonderful but uh uh if lot of people just are not able to govern themselves well then maybe we should take some of their Authority away from them and give
Them uh give the uh the power to those who are more responsible and more competent that’s a fundamental confusion belief and I I want to have a a society where people are are more or less equal economically but to achieve that you need to reintroduce some form of political inequality we still preserve
Some form of equality opportunity uh but then through equal opportunities we we select the soal the best and brightest and give them more power uh in the political decision making uh process their higher status can only be justified if the poorer people can benefit from their governing has the world become too
Complex can our liberal democracies respond adequately to enormous challenges like climate change or the coid 19 pandemic is tonang bai correct that his confusion hybrid system is better suited to dealing with such challenges challenges that involve science and complex social and economic conditions is it possible that experts
Might have better solutions to such problems just like the Futures that Enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century imagined in their wrting Tong Dong’s neocon fusionism remains in the realm of pure Theory which he enjoys debating with his students so what do you think about freedom and Enlightenment how do they relate to each
Other on a basic level the enlightenment can be understood as the acknowledgement of human autonomy or a relatively radical form of self- knowledge when I began my studies I thought I wanted Freedom later I realized it wasn’t that easy if you do whatever you want you might break the
Law and deprive others of doing what they want if I hit you are you allowed to hit me too there have to be limits there are two kinds of Freedom active Freedom or the freedom to do something and passive Freedom or freedom from usually we mean the freedom to do
Your own thing but in politics we tend to mean freedom from something being free of something we don’t want I didn’t expect such a freeth thinking and philosophical discussion in China being a critical thinker can be dangerous thousands of journalists artists and human rights activists have been imprisoned because they’re a thorn
In the eye of the regime model the Chinese model can’t be regarded as an Enlightenment model because it radically constrains and prohibits self-determination autonomy and individual freedom I think whenever in repressive societies people have a chance to say what they want what they want are Liberty and reason you know um and what
They don’t want is tyranny and unreason you know so so it may be that in spite of all the faults the Enlightenment and all its arrogance if you like and its own bigotries you know that underneath that there are these values which are very important and are something very
Close to Universal for Al de the first years of the Revolution were intoxicating France had gained a constitution an assembly and freedom after the fishwives marched on the palace calling out a versai feasts while Paris starves and forcing the king to return to Paris she remained committed
To rep Republican ideals but when Louis the 16th was put on trial and revolutionary fervor tipped over into arrests and Terror she was dismayed scaffolds and executioners are these then the results of the Revolution that should have served as a model for The Universe She opposed the Zabar’s reign
Of terror openly attacked robas pier and morat and called for a referendum on the form of the new government France she insisted should decide that wish to be a republic a federation or constitutional monarchy in 1793 when she went to the porn San Michelle to begin posting her
Latest pamphlet she was arrested she was brought before the Revolutionary tribunal and sentenced to death when it comes to the second half of the second decade of the 21st century I’m not particularly content this uh the last few years have seen the the rise of authoritarian popul ISM and nationalism
In in many parts of the world and in many ways uh that is a counter Enlightenment movement polish Society is very divided one side supports the current government the Constitution and the courts mean nothing to them the other side places a great importance on freedom law Justice and the distribution of
Powers in the 1990s when I was a child it seemed like democracy and freedom went hand inand if only but now the liberal Western world seems like it’s falling apart right before our eyes I’m on my way to Poland a place where we are watching a country undo its hard one
Freedoms bit by bit Poland was the first country in the former Eastern block that back in the 1980s fought for co-determination and freedom nearly 10 million people were part of the solidar no labor movement they demanded Independence freedom of the press and hiring on the basis of competence rather than Party
Loyalty The solid movement fought for better living conditions for the workers and also fought for independence of the courts fought to allow people to join independent labor unions the word Freedom was on all their banners we have the solidarity movement to thank for the fact that the call for
Bread and freedom became a reality What followed was the collapse of socialism free elections entry into the EU economic Revival liberalism had won across the board and now 30 years later a nationalist conservative government is turning back the clock reinstating the church tradition and traditional gender roles even the separation of powers one
Of the pillars of democracy is being called into question how is it possible that the liberal democracy that the polls fought so hard for no longer appeals to half the country’s population the the enlightenment makes a bet the bet is it is possible that human beings don’t know how to define themselves it
Is possible that if you give them a lot of freedom they will be disoriented they will be uh lost but we should take that bet with human beings because living with freedom gives us much more dignity than not maybe Poland is losing this bet Freedom
Demands a lot of us it asks us to constantly question our values and Norms queer people who don’t conform to traditional ideas of the family and the Sexes are an easy target including for the Catholic Church which has chosen to join forces with the national and conservative peace
Government the church in Poland is all too happy to whip up controversy dear Bishop dear president the blood of the victims of violence against queers is on your hands we just want to be free to love to be ourselves that’s all Monica Tish and her organization Lambda shetsen are fighting for the
Rights of lgpt qia plus people they go to all the pride events in Poland to help support the country’s queer community Monica faces up to 11 years in prison for her political activism and opposition to Poland’s anti-abortion law it was our first Pride first Pride for
The city in our history shocking to feel and see the power of hatred that we meet every day how much we are hated and how brutal and aggressive this hate can Be are curtailed it happens slowly step by step it starts when certain people are marginalized and excluded in 2020 local authorities in Poland set up LGBT free zones with the aim of excluding people what starts with words ends with Deeds this place is called solidarity Square after the movement which led to
The end of totalitarian system in Poland in 80s the place where tragic events of December 1970 started when workers protested against government and 16 people lost their lives and this is also the place where we um organize most of our demonstrations and protests and also where we started and finished our first
Bride during the time of suan the Pope yeah from Paul II who was a Polish man yeah said that freedom is not given it must be taken in a fight must be fful oh that’s right without Freedom uh there is no value when uh Law And Justice party peace party came to
Power uh I realized that it’s no longer time for fun yeah it’s time for to defend human rights and it’s very ironic uh from the history uh that we are repeating the same mistakes after only 30 years this kachinski guy and a lot of his followers were part of this change in
80s uh they were part of solidarity movement my father now is a member of Law and Justice Party but why is that that the former solidarity uh people shifted to the other side well I can tell from the example of my parents I think they were really believing that they fight for Freedom uh but uh for them Freedom was that uh for example the Catholics are
Not uh let’s say Class B citizens maybe they wanted the change but not that profound change the liberal project which was in essence correct in its aims was enacted very quickly and radically we’ve placed too great an emphasis on the economic dimension of liberalism that ended up leading to a
Massive crisis and a recession in addition a large part of our society feels that it’s being ignored that it’s not respected that their dignity is under so an Enlightenment of the 21st century has to take into account two things one is the power of capitalism um and it’s its uh Sinister
Ability to turn even good things and and turn us of course into Commodities and secondly uh the unleashing of technological power that uh in various ways has the power to harm us and harm the Earth the anxiety many in Poland feel also has to do with the capitalist
Juggernaut that followed the collapse of the Eastern block these two things capitalism and technological progress are fueling each other worldwide from Silicon Valley to Beijing digitalization is transforming our society and life at a breathtaking Pace algorithms make life comfortable and convenient for consumers While others pay the price in Beijing Jang is struggling to keep up with the demands of the algorithm used by his employer a food delivery Service if you want to make a lot of deliveries quickly you need to know where the restaurants are and know the best routes and you need to know if you’re allowed to access the apartment building I work about 10 hours a day in the busy season
I get 60 to 70 orders a day now in the off season it’s about 50 at peak times when I have to deliver 11 or 13 orders at once I have only an hour to make all those deliveries I believe that what capitalism has brought us has nothing to
Do with freedom but with desire when you want something that creates greed and now you’re no longer content that’s not Freedom digital capitalism likes to adopt the mantle of Freedom our freedom to make the optimal Choice among millions of products it wants to diagnose and predict our wants and
Desires suji Yan is a software developer he and his wife cat goo founded the dimensions startup in Shanghai it’s a David versus Goliath operation their main competition are Tech Giants such as Facebook tensent and Amazon which seek to transform us and our data into Commodities P pirate pyramid this is the
Capitalist social pyramid of the Cyber age at the very top you have the we are the 1% down here are the people who are exploited by subcontractors or the monopolistic capitalists the Amazon couriers and Couriers for the various restaurants including even the programmer who is now sitting among them
With the receding hairline who’s over 35 it’s the same all over the world in China and the United States digital capitalism is just more advanced there’s no Freedom here when you look at this picture you start to think about how this situation could be changed how can we improve the well-being of all
Classes what could we do to ensure these people can enjoy the freedom that they Deserve suji and his wife cat are members of The open- Source movement which Advocates the free exchange of software and information they’ve designed an application that aims to force companies to comply with local labor laws the anti- 996 movement they helped co-found wants to improve work conditions in the tech Industry 996 is a particular work schedule it means that you work from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. 6 days a week that’s 12 * 6 hours per week it’s horrific last year in 2019 a programmer made an anonymous online post saying he was in the ICU the Intensive Care
Unit he said he was dying our labor laws prohibit working more than 11 hours a day but there are all sorts of ways to circumvent those rules for example you might get more money to agree to longer hours and in fact most Chinese internet companies operate like this
Capitalism created for us an iron cage cap ISM makes us for example much more disciplined than ever before and this discipline uh for example in the workplace is um um is a way for us to limit and constrain our Freedom what do you think I think freedom is a right a human right a right we humans are born with like a feeling that dignity and freedom are your Birthright if you have the right to self-defense to the protection of private property and to personal freedom
Then you also have those rights in the digital world if you can’t protect your data on your Facebook account and protect your digital currency your cards and Assets in your games then you won’t be able to protect your own soul and sense of Freedom either Need in the 21st century Freedom can involve everything from the vastness of the digital realm to our most simple wants and needs so where do we set our priorities and what price are we prepared to pay I’m in Paris the city where ol lived and
Fought she was a woman ahead of her time prepared to risk her life for the ideals of freedom and equality so why is it that history seems to have forgotten her why does she get hardly a mention in the textbooks we read at school why is there no monument at her grave
Historians believe that she was buried somewhere in the catacombs of Paris in the 1970s a historian a woman rediscovered ol de and her writings in The Archives of the bibliotech naal alom de was not afraid to expose the wrongdoings of the powerful for that she was sentenced to death from prison
She managed to smuggle out two last texts for Prin in including one that condemned robis pier and his followers for a LP Justice and freedom were incompatible with the terror that sought to suppress descent on November 3rd 1793 when she was just 45 years old Al D was
Led past the crowd at the plasa Concord and mounted the scaffold a report on the verdict stated she wanted to be a Statesman and the law has punished this conspirator for forgetting the virtues that suit her sex shortly before her execution she wrote undaunted and armed with the weapons of Integrity I demand
You to account for the Tyranny that you exercise I die an innocent woman what does freedom mean in the 21st century that was my question when I set out on this journey and the answer is more sobering than I had hoped our world and the freedoms that we are
Defending and fighting for have grown more complex nobody said freedom is easy freedom is very hard freedom is something you have to learn and it comes with responsibility absence of fear is one element of Freedom um and the second element of Freedom would be the capacity to have
Your talents and your tastes and your inclinations flourish all of us have at least the basic material opportunities to um develop our capacities for flourishing um none of us will be entirely Free sometimes freedom is invisible until it’s under threat in that sense ol was a free woman like the many other people today who fight for freedom as jumana Hadad said whether I’m free or not is up to me that idea may well be the essence of the Enlightenment and it remains every
Bit is true Today
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