Penny Lecture | On Liberty by Shami Chakrabarti

On 11 September 2001, our world changed. The West's response to 9/11 has morphed into a period of exception. Governments have decided that the rule of law and human rights are often too costly. In this Penny Lecture, Shami Chakrabarti, Director of leading Human Rights organisation Liberty, explores why our fundamental rights and freedoms are indispensable. She shows, too, the unprecedented pressures those rights are under today. Drawing on her own work in high-profile campaigns, from privacy laws to anti-terror legislation, Chakrabarti shows the threats to our democratic institutions and why our rights are paramount in upholding democracy.

Shami Chakrabarti has been Director of Liberty (The National Council for Civil Liberties) since September 2003. Since becoming Liberty’s Director she has written, spoken and broadcast widely on the importance of the post-WW2 human rights framework as an essential component of democratic society. Shami’s new book ‘On Liberty’ will be released in October 2014.

This talk forms part of the Morley College Penny Lecture series. Penny Lectures began in 1882 at the Old Vic Theatre in Waterloo. Topics were chosen to encourage new thinking and ideas and provided illustrated lectures at affordable prices…a penny! The lectures were a huge success and quickly led to the establishment of ‘Morley Memorial College’ for Working Men and Women. Now celebrating our 125 year anniversary, we have revived the Penny Lecture series for a new generation of adults to learn from and be inspired by.