[Applause]
why do you think the Fulbright
Commission is important is it because it
provides generous grants to allow travel
to the United States to do research or
is it because it looks good on your CV
to have a Fulbright fellowship I know
some of you tonight
are alumni of the Fulbright Scheme so
you really know how an award from
Fulbright can advance your career but
the reason why I like the Fulbright
Commission is because it’s founded on
the principle of academic freedom and
this university also is founded on the
principle of academic freedom but we
often take it for granted we really only
notice academic freedom when it’s being
taken away like last year in Turkey
after the military coup when faculty was
sacked from their jobs and some were
imprisoned or in Russia when a foreign
university was closed down and now in
Hungary tonight I’d like to share some
of the ramifications of letting academic
freedom slip away and I will ask one
small favor something that you can do to
help defend academic freedom even though
it is in a faraway country in two days
time I travel to Budapest
and to some Budapest is a city with
spectacular bridges and historic
buildings and it’s a great place to
visit it has many restaurants and bars
and cafes and nightclubs
it really is a party city I love it and
so do my students but the serious reason
why I’m going there
is that I have worked for 15 years at
the Central European University cu is a
private American University that was
established in 1991 after the breakup of
the Soviet Union the breakup of the
Soviet Union marked the start of a great
reform process known as the transition
this was a transition to democracy in
the former communist countries to the
introduction of the rule of law and the
creation of markets and into this
context the university brought
american-style english-language graduate
education to help train the new
generation of leaders who would guide
this process of transition and then a
decade later the university would also
provide research and analysis for some
of those transition countries in their
quest to become new member states of the
European Union this dual process of
transition and accession has been bumpy
it’s been a process of two steps forward
and one step backwards but since 2010 in
Hungary when a vides the political party
was elected it’s been a case of two
steps backwards the Prime Minister
Viktor Orban is a big fan of Vladimir
Putin he likes to emulate the style of
Vladimir Putin and he wants to introduce
to Hungary what he calls an illiberal
state a near liberal state he’s gone
about this by appointing his friends and
supporters to key political posts in
order to take command of the economy the
is crony capitalism the Hungarian
government has also clamped down very
effectively on the Free Press and in the
past few years the government has also
been harassing foreign funded
nongovernmental organizations just three
months ago the Hungarian government
fast-tracked legislation through the
Parliament that would in effect closed
down the university in the propaganda
campaign since to justify this
legislation political leaders from
Fidesz have said that see EU is just a
front organisation it is a front
organisation for the political interests
and the loonie left-wing ideas of George
Soros the billionaire philanthropist
he’s no saint he has also been
criticized quite extensively for being
an international financial speculator
but he is important to this story
because he founded the university and
endowed it with hundreds of millions of
dollars the fitters representatives also
say that the university is full of
radical ratbag globalist elites people
like bluestocking to me see they say my
feminist colleagues are undermining
traditional family values and that other
researchers looking at European affairs
are in cahoots with the European Union
to undermine Hungarian national
sovereignty by facilitating a flow of
refugees into the country refugees who
might also bring terrorists with them if
you visit see you you will see that it
is a very cosmopolitan place it has
students from over 90
countries including Australian students
so in many senses it’s like Fulbright a
gigantic exchange program you will have
seen in some of the materials that were
distributed tonight that Senator
Fulbright hoped that the mistress that
set my nation’s apart would be reduced
through educational exchange but in the
case of CEU it appears that the
university has aggravated mistrust with
the Hungarian government and this is
because CEUs core values to promote an
open society and to promote tolerance
and transparent political institutions
directly challenges the authoritarianism
of the Hungarian government so why am I
making such a fuss about zu why is it
important
see you has become the global hotspot
for major debates about the future of
the European Union debates about deeper
integration after brexit when Britain
leaves quite possibly another country or
two and debates about mass immigration
into the into Europe immigration that is
causing fears populism and xenophobia
euro and peas think see EU is important
they have said in Parliament that Viktor
Orban wants European money but not our
values they say that the Hungarian
government has transgressed the European
Charter of Fundamental Rights this
Charter says that the Arts and
scientific research will be free of
constraint consequently
they’re very concerned about what the
Hungarian government has done because it
completely undermines European values
and democratic freedoms the people know
this there have been major
demonstrations in Budapest and in some
other cities 20 Nobel Prize winners have
sent letters of support Angela Merkel
the German Chancellor has also indicated
her support for C EU as has Kofi Annan
the former secretary-general of the
United Nations and our very own Gareth
Evans former Foreign Minister of
Australia so you might think that
Hungary is a far away country but at the
moment it’s significant of being on the
front line of a major war of ideas that
is much bigger than about its own
existence seeing you is in a battle to
preserve and protect European values and
democratic freedoms and if you think
about it these are also I hope our
values that we respect as well so in
closing let me remind you of the TEDx
motto the TEDx motto is ideas worth
spreading
sometimes those ideas need to be
defended so I would ask if you have five
minutes to spare on the weekend please
go online look up CEU find the campaign
sign up and stand with the institutions
that live by and thrive on academic
freedom
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
why do you think the Fulbright
Commission is important is it because it
provides generous grants to allow travel
to the United States to do research or
is it because it looks good on your CV
to have a Fulbright fellowship I know
some of you tonight
are alumni of the Fulbright Scheme so
you really know how an award from
Fulbright can advance your career but
the reason why I like the Fulbright
Commission is because it’s founded on
the principle of academic freedom and
this university also is founded on the
principle of academic freedom but we
often take it for granted we really only
notice academic freedom when it’s being
taken away like last year in Turkey
after the military coup when faculty was
sacked from their jobs and some were
imprisoned or in Russia when a foreign
university was closed down and now in
Hungary tonight I’d like to share some
of the ramifications of letting academic
freedom slip away and I will ask one
small favor something that you can do to
help defend academic freedom even though
it is in a faraway country in two days
time I travel to Budapest
and to some Budapest is a city with
spectacular bridges and historic
buildings and it’s a great place to
visit it has many restaurants and bars
and cafes and nightclubs
it really is a party city I love it and
so do my students but the serious reason
why I’m going there
is that I have worked for 15 years at
the Central European University cu is a
private American University that was
established in 1991 after the breakup of
the Soviet Union the breakup of the
Soviet Union marked the start of a great
reform process known as the transition
this was a transition to democracy in
the former communist countries to the
introduction of the rule of law and the
creation of markets and into this
context the university brought
american-style english-language graduate
education to help train the new
generation of leaders who would guide
this process of transition and then a
decade later the university would also
provide research and analysis for some
of those transition countries in their
quest to become new member states of the
European Union this dual process of
transition and accession has been bumpy
it’s been a process of two steps forward
and one step backwards but since 2010 in
Hungary when a vides the political party
was elected it’s been a case of two
steps backwards the Prime Minister
Viktor Orban is a big fan of Vladimir
Putin he likes to emulate the style of
Vladimir Putin and he wants to introduce
to Hungary what he calls an illiberal
state a near liberal state he’s gone
about this by appointing his friends and
supporters to key political posts in
order to take command of the economy the
is crony capitalism the Hungarian
government has also clamped down very
effectively on the Free Press and in the
past few years the government has also
been harassing foreign funded
nongovernmental organizations just three
months ago the Hungarian government
fast-tracked legislation through the
Parliament that would in effect closed
down the university in the propaganda
campaign since to justify this
legislation political leaders from
Fidesz have said that see EU is just a
front organisation it is a front
organisation for the political interests
and the loonie left-wing ideas of George
Soros the billionaire philanthropist
he’s no saint he has also been
criticized quite extensively for being
an international financial speculator
but he is important to this story
because he founded the university and
endowed it with hundreds of millions of
dollars the fitters representatives also
say that the university is full of
radical ratbag globalist elites people
like bluestocking to me see they say my
feminist colleagues are undermining
traditional family values and that other
researchers looking at European affairs
are in cahoots with the European Union
to undermine Hungarian national
sovereignty by facilitating a flow of
refugees into the country refugees who
might also bring terrorists with them if
you visit see you you will see that it
is a very cosmopolitan place it has
students from over 90
countries including Australian students
so in many senses it’s like Fulbright a
gigantic exchange program you will have
seen in some of the materials that were
distributed tonight that Senator
Fulbright hoped that the mistress that
set my nation’s apart would be reduced
through educational exchange but in the
case of CEU it appears that the
university has aggravated mistrust with
the Hungarian government and this is
because CEUs core values to promote an
open society and to promote tolerance
and transparent political institutions
directly challenges the authoritarianism
of the Hungarian government so why am I
making such a fuss about zu why is it
important
see you has become the global hotspot
for major debates about the future of
the European Union debates about deeper
integration after brexit when Britain
leaves quite possibly another country or
two and debates about mass immigration
into the into Europe immigration that is
causing fears populism and xenophobia
euro and peas think see EU is important
they have said in Parliament that Viktor
Orban wants European money but not our
values they say that the Hungarian
government has transgressed the European
Charter of Fundamental Rights this
Charter says that the Arts and
scientific research will be free of
constraint consequently
they’re very concerned about what the
Hungarian government has done because it
completely undermines European values
and democratic freedoms the people know
this there have been major
demonstrations in Budapest and in some
other cities 20 Nobel Prize winners have
sent letters of support Angela Merkel
the German Chancellor has also indicated
her support for C EU as has Kofi Annan
the former secretary-general of the
United Nations and our very own Gareth
Evans former Foreign Minister of
Australia so you might think that
Hungary is a far away country but at the
moment it’s significant of being on the
front line of a major war of ideas that
is much bigger than about its own
existence seeing you is in a battle to
preserve and protect European values and
democratic freedoms and if you think
about it these are also I hope our
values that we respect as well so in
closing let me remind you of the TEDx
motto the TEDx motto is ideas worth
spreading
sometimes those ideas need to be
defended so I would ask if you have five
minutes to spare on the weekend please
go online look up CEU find the campaign
sign up and stand with the institutions
that live by and thrive on academic
freedom
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
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