Hate speech vs free speech - freedom, responsibility, and public debate

Join us for this timely and fascinating conversation about the way we discuss contentious and important ideas in a public square that is increasingly digital, diverse, and divided.

Kicking off our 11th MIC Night, we'll be in conversation with David Hall, Senior Researcher at The Policy Observatory at AUT and an Associate Investigator at Te Punaha Mātatini. David has written extensively on hate speech following his D.Phil in Politics at Oxford, and is particularly passionate about New Zealand's terms of public engagement since the March 15 terror attacks in Christchurch.

On the night he'll be in conversation with our own Alex Penk, discussing what we mean by hate speech, why free speech matters, the duties we owe each other when we speak and when we decide to limit speech, and what the Government review into hate speech laws should do.

In classic MIC Series style, there will be plenty of time for your questions, so come at 6:30pm to grab a drink and food, and our conversation will start at 7pm.

David Hall is a writer, editor and policy researcher based in Auckland. He has written for various publications, including the New Zealand Listener, Pantograph Punch, The Journal for Urgent Writing, and Auckland Art Gallery's Reading Room Journal. He is currently working on the Christchurch Principles, a project for the 2019 Paris Peace Forum, which proposes a democratic response to dangerous online content. He has a D.Phil in Politics from the University of Oxford and currently holds the role of Senior Researcher at The Policy Observatory, AUT.