Steve Bannon is perhaps the most controversial person in politics right now. After being ousted from the Trump administration, where he crafted the Muslim ban and many other controversial policies, he has been speaking at various events, and now has one in Toronto.
Bannon, the founder of alt-right blog Breitbart, has been invited by writer and political thinker David Frum and the Munk Debates to discuss the rising populism of western politics.
The debate, which will be broadcast across the continent tonight, has drawn a huge public outrage, due to Bannon's extremely far-right views, which are criticized for being racist, xenophobic, anti-semitic, and more.
Several citywide protests have been planned. Activists say this is not a free speech issue, but that views like Bannon's do not deserve a platform because they have the ability to cause serious harm.
There are some people that should not be given the respect of an equal footing. You don’t debate racists on a stage. You marginalize them.
— Omar (@beirutwhat) October 31, 2018
However, organizers are also planning to protest the policies and ideas of David Frum too, as they feel he is flying under the radar due to the more-extreme Bannon.
Its not even a debate. David Frum is no anti-racist or anti-white supremacist either. He's a neocon hawk who made a career selling violent racist imperial policies. He's just as much of a racist white supremacist as Bannon, just less conspicuous.
— P. Josip Badmon. (@i_Prinze) November 2, 2018
"David Frum served as a speech writer for the Bush administration and largely assisted the US government propaganda pushing to invade Iraq in 2003," one protest event reads, "this lead to the death and displacement of millions."
So another racist asshole is gonna face the king of racism globally on a debate. Cant wait. Shameless.
— eos123 (@eos1236) November 1, 2018
The Munk Debates are positioning this conversation as a balanced one between two opposite sides, which many say is problematic. Frum has been critical of the Trump administration, but falls to the right of the political spectrum himself.
Many are calling for the cancellation of the event, but the Munk Debates are obviously not planning on doing that.
Not only are they moving ahead with the debate as planned, they just announced that it will be live streamed on Facebook as well as broadcast live on CPAC TV in Canada and C-SPAN in the United States.
The debate is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. tonight, and is one to watch, mostly for the political climate around it.
by Staff via blogTO
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