The Power of Ideas: The Battle for the Hearts and Minds of Iran

The power of ideas is the power to question and to change. Knowing this, repressive regimes, ideologues and fanatics worldwide use every means at their disposal—including intimidation, imprisonment and death—to silence ideas and control what people know and think. Join us for a close-up look at how one organization—Scholars at Risk—is working to defend the power of ideas on one of most prominent contemporary intellectual battlegrounds: the Islamic Republic of Iran. One of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations and once the center of global science and learning, Iran today is marked by internal tensions and external confrontations. What Iran’s future will look like is hotly contested, with the regime’s supporters battling Iranian academics, writers, artists, activists and dissident politicians and clerics for the hearts and minds of the Iranian people. Three distinguished Iranian intellectuals, each of whom has suffered threats for questioning the regime, will discuss how the power of ideas is shaping the future of Iran.