Two Leading Intellectuals Will Discuss the State of the World at Museum of Jewish Heritage
French philosopher, essayist, playwright, and filmmaker Bernard-Henri Lévy and former Soviet prisoner of conscience Natan Sharansky—two of the most renowned Jewish voices of the past half-century—will appear on stage together for the first time at the Museum of Jewish Heritage this Sunday, February 12, starting at 3pm.
In a program titled “Freedom and Tyranny,” the speakers will address and debate urgent contemporary questions, including Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and ongoing American engagement with Iran to prevent that nation from developing nuclear weapons.
Mr. Sharansky, who was born in Ukraine and educated in Moscow before spending nine years in solitary confinement in a Siberian prison camp, and then emigrating to Israel, reflected in his 2004 book, “The Case for Democracy,” that “freedom’s skeptics must understand that the democracy that hates you is less dangerous than the dictator who loves you. Indeed, it is the absence of democracy that represents the real threat to peace.”
In words that could be interpreted as a prediction of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he added, “now we can see why non-democratic regimes imperil the security of the world. They stay in power by controlling their populations. This control invariably requires an increasing amount of repression. To justify this repression and maintain internal stability, external enemies must be manufactured.”
Mr. Sharansky, a noted conservative who is also a staunch defender of Israel (where he has served as a member of the legislature, and a deputy prime minister) voiced a rare criticism of his adopted homeland in October, after a visit with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, saying, “I was embarrassed to be the first Israeli public figure to meet with him. Since the outbreak of the war, many world leaders have come to Kyiv to meet with Zelensky in order to strengthen him. No one has come from Israel.”
Mr. Levy (right) is famous for (among other things) repeatedly visiting the front lines of the world’s most violent conflicts to draw attention to “forgotten wars.” Thirty years ago, he led a movement to focus awareness on the siege of Sarajevo, and since then has chronicled conflict in Nigeria, Sudan, Darfur, Libya, and Kurdistan. After a visit to Ukraine in September, he said, “Putin, like all cornered dictators, could well go all-in to avoid the debacle, surrender, and international courts. But it’s the law. In the end, when Goliath is spineless and David valiant, victory will be David’s. And the moment always comes when the machines of war and death seize up. Ukraine is winning the war—and saving Europe along with it.”
General admission tickets to “Freedom and Tyranny” are $75, discounted to $25 for seniors and students, while remote attendance via livestream is complimentary. All profits will be donated to Ukrainian Winter Relief.