New York City – Cancel culture has taken its toll on many in recent years, but one former musician is fighting the silencing of unpopular voices with a new annual conference.
British banjoy player and guitarist Winston Marshall, who left the band Mumford & Sons in 2021 after daring to like journalist Andy Goh’s book, will be joining the first edition of the festival, which celebrates diversity of opinion. I just finished hosting an anti-establishment dialogue.
“We talk a lot about diversity these days, but we don’t talk a lot about diversity of opinion, the kind of diversity that I like the most,” Marshall said in an interview on FOX News Digital. “I started diving into the world of ideas a few years ago, and one of the things I noticed was that people were dying to talk to other people and discuss their ideas. I thought, “Oh, that’s interesting.”
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British musician Winston Marshall and Australian entrepreneur Desh Amira co-hosted an anti-establishment dialogue in Brooklyn on May 3-4, 2024. (FOX News Photo/Joshua Commins)
“Having a background in music and having done 20 to 25 festivals all over America and around the world, I knew that people actually loved it. People really come together. So I thought I’d take the rock ‘n’ roll thing and apply it to the idea space,” he added.
This past weekend, the anti-establishment dialogue held at Brooklyn’s Duggal Conservatory included Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, prominent atheist and biologist Richard Dawkins, and Somali writer and advocate Ayaan. An impressive list of celebrities participated, including Hirsi Ali, Harvard professor Steven Pinker, and independent journalists. Michael Shellenberger, Li Huang, Alex Berenson.
Also speaking at the festival was veteran editor Uli Berliner, who was forced to resign after speaking out against the liberal groupthink that had taken over NPR’s newsroom.
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Marshall spoke with former NPR editor-in-chief Uli Berliner at the Dissident Dialogue Festival. (Joshua Commins/Fox News Digital)
“We also talk about heterosexuality, thinking freely, thinking differently, thinking for yourself. And I would also add that we are very enthusiastic about all ideas. ” Marshall said. “We are not an anti-woke festival. We want everyone at the table and we very much want all ideas to be challenged and brought to the table.
“That’s my dream for the future. Let’s make it a festival that sparks real discussion from a wide range of people.”
One of the most intense moments in the anti-establishment dialogue came when Free Press reporter Eli Lake and Fifth Column podcast co-host Michael Moynihan confronted former Bernie Sanders press secretary Brianna on the pro-Israel side, calling out Israel’s anti-Israel debate. It was a discussion about the Hamas war. Anti-Israel side Joy Gray and author Joseph (Jake) Klein.
Other topics covered during the panel discussions include transgender medicine, the current state of universities, government censorship, feminism, religion, and Weitism.
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Former Bernie Sanders press secretary Brianna Joy Gray and author Joseph (Jake) Klein sit down with Free Press reporter Eli Lake and podcast co-host Michael Moynihan to talk about the Israel-Hamas war. They clashed in a heated debate. Triggernometry host Konstantin Kishin (center). (FOX News Photo/Joshua Commins)
“It’s a really great atmosphere. It’s a very loving atmosphere. We have atheists, we have theists, we have libertarians, we have Marxists, we have liberals, we have progressives, we have conservatives, we have everyone. And so many more people. We hope that we can attract a lot of people,” Marshall told FOX News Digital.
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Marshall has already teased festival attendees that anti-establishment dialogue will return in 2025. And he wants to platform even more different perspectives.
“We need more diversity of opinion. I think you can never have too much diversity of opinion. Sometimes it’s difficult to bring people with different opinions together. Not everyone likes conflict. But my hope is to foster a culture of dissent without consent, if we can get a little hot and spicy on stage,” Marshall said. “I think that would be better for society.”
