Grey Zone: The Debate Democracies Cannot Afford to Lose

Join iconic Australian journalist, university professor and the real-life hero of the film The Correspondent Peter Greste, as he explores how silencing debate in the fight against extremism may threaten democracy itself.

Across the globe, the room for free thought and open debate is shrinking. Journalists are jailed in record numbers. Writers are muted by accusations of antisemitism and de-platformed. In the name of security and social cohesion governments extend their powers to restrict dissent.

It was an extremist group who first gave the fragile arena of debate and disagreement a name: ‘the grey zone’. They feared it as the true enemy of their ideology. Yet today, in trying to contain extremism, democratic governments themselves are eroding that very space—unwittingly serving the extremists’ agenda.

Peter Greste says:

The greatest threat to democracy is not extremism itself, but the way democracies choose to fight it. What if, by silencing rather than debating, even the most pernicious ideas, we are already doing the extremists’ work for them?

Presented by the Perth chapter of PEN International, a non-profit organisation fighting for human rights and responsible freedom of speech, with State Library of Western Australia, Indo-Pacific Research Centre at Murdoch University and Boffins Books.