So does Ondrej Liska, Robert Menard, Gary Kasparov, Alyaksandar Milinkevich, Don McKinnon, Irshad Manji, Tomas Etzler, Wladuslaw Bartoszewski, Anastaisa Crickley, Andre Glucksman, and Vaclav Havel!!!
These were some of the people I'm sure you've not really heard of - Vicente Fox, the former President of Mexico, and Gary Kapsarov, a chess Grandmaster and opposition leader in Russia being the possible exceptions - who I was fortunate to hear speak today. They were awesome. Some of you may remember Irshad Manji from a few years back. She wrote a book targeted at her fellow Muslim youth that drew cries of outrage and death threats from the more fundamental Muslim community... she's awesome!! One of the more animated speakers today, and, like everyone else I had the privilege to listen to was incredibly knowledgeable and informative! I will be checking out her book soon - by her request I'll get it at the library - if you're able to read arabic she's had it translated and posted on her website for free so that the Muslims youth who read only arabic would be able to download and disseminate it amongst their peers. She's about spreading and informing and not too interested in the profit aspect - also she's a professor at NYU if you happen to have a kid considering colleges...
This forum held it's 12th conference. It was founded by Vaclav Havel, the last Czechoslovakian President and the first Czech Republic President, he is credited with bringing about the Velvet Revolution and freeing the Czechs from the grips of communism, along with Yohei Sasakawa, a Japanese philanthropist, and Elie Weisel, the author, Holocaust survivor, and activist. There were a number of Holocaust survivors on the panels I attended, and other survivors from nations whose governments either practice or tolerate ethnic cleansing - currently practice or tolerate ethnic cleansing.
It was amazing. Words are insufficient. Journalists, sociologists, ambassadors, religious leaders, spiritual leaders, world leaders, opposition leaders, philosophers, former Presidents and Prime Ministers, and in the audience were the same.... and representatives from the UN, governmental delegates, activists, and, like me, observers.
There were tremendous meals and the opportunity to meet and speak with those you were most interested in talking to. The setting was ideal, the day idyllic - in a gorgeous palace on a lush island in the Vlatva with a surprisingly beautiful blue sky and warm sun. The event was catered to the nines with drinks and snacks and a three course lunch - for free.
The entire thing was free.
It was spectacular. One of the more moving events I've ever attended. I can't wait for next year!
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