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UID:489@ukfiet.org
DTSTART:20230313T110000Z
DTEND:20230313T123000Z
DTSTAMP:20230223T105558Z
URL:https://www.ukfiet.org/events/political-academic-freedom-in-commonweal
 th-africa-in-the-year-of-the-youth/
SUMMARY:Political & Academic Freedom in Commonwealth Africa in the Year of 
 the Youth
DESCRIPTION:This year's Annual Commonwealth Day Lecture will be held on Mon
 day\, 13th March 2023 from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm in Committee Room 1\, Hous
 e of Lords\, Palace of Westminster London SW1A 0AA\nOur keynote speaker is
  Professor Stephen Chan OBE.\nIf you have not yet booked your place at thi
 s year's Commonwealth Day Lecture\, please RESERVE your place now on Ev
 entbrite HERE.\nCommonwealth Africa now reflects the diversity of Africa 
 as a whole. Former Francophonic and Lusophonic colonies are now members al
 ongside the Anglophonic ones. Within these countries are thousands of lang
 uages and cultures. But all cohere in a drive for education and an urge to
  make free choices. These converge.\nAll universities were closed\, ostens
 ibly to prevent violence\, during the period of Nigeria's elections in the
  last part of February. Even so\, Nigerian academics are not a persecuted 
 minority as they often are elsewhere\, where informed criticism makes prof
 essors - and students - vulnerable to persecution and abuse. Academic free
 dom and political freedom coincide.\nIn Europe\, academic freedom was the 
 very first civil liberty. It remains a key civil liberty in Africa today. 
 And free expression in higher education helps form the next generation of 
 leaders. But this next generation is frequently resisted by gerontocratic 
 and technophobic existing leaders with vested economic interests in retain
 ing power.\nA clash of generations\, a clash of views on freedom of expres
 sion. Academic freedom helps future leaders to support free expression in 
 society at large. The education of young women leads to changes in views o
 f gender roles. What goes on in universities today shapes the future of co
 untries tomorrow.\nProfessor Stephen Chan has held honorary professorship
 s in several African universities. The citation for his OBE was for 'Servi
 ces to Higher Education and Africa'.\nA former member of the Commonwealth 
 Secretariat\, he has published 37 academic books\, many of them in-depth s
 tudies of African Commonwealth countries. He was Foundation Dean of Law &a
 mp\; Social Sciences at SOAS University of London\, where he continues as 
 a Professor of World Politics.\nHe has held named Chairs in Palestine and 
 the Central European University in Budapest\, witnessing at first hand the
  symmetry between academic freedom and political freedom.\nDownload flyer
  HERE\nThis Lecture will be oversubscribed\, so early booking is essentia
 l as the number of places is very limited.\nTo avoid disappointment\, plea
 se RESERVE your place now on Eventbrite HERE\, or email us on secretar
 iat@cecomm.org.uk
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CATEGORIES:Lecture
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