Silence is an insidious, corrosive evil. It diminishes our capacity to be human, and makes us vulnerable to outside forces. It makes us complicit in other’s narratives, and removes our power to think for ourselves. When someone is silenced, or a population is afraid to speak, it is not just their story that ends. Culture, communities and societies are brought to an intellectual standstill.

The alternative, of course, is the free exchange of ideas. The courage to speak up, the courage to listen, and the courage to be challenged. This is how we take the best ideas, and manifest them in communities and individuals that have the capacity to learn and teach one another. But these ideals need public spaces for discourse.