11 May: "Negotiating Protest?" - A roundtable discussion

CMCS Senior Research Fellow Peter Molnar will be one of the speakers at an interesting roundtable discussion at CEU on Friday, May 11, organized by the Legal Studies Department:

Negotiating Protest?

Date: Friday, May 11, 9:30-15:30
Location: Central European University, Nador u. 9, Monument Building, Room 203

The negotiation of political protest – between protest organizers and state authorities – raises an obvious tension. While such dialogue can potentially be de-escalatory and reduce the need for intervention by the authorities, it might also occur on an unequal footing (where the state has greater ‘bargaining power’) and assembly organizers may feel coerced into ceding the protection of core rights. Negotiating freedom of assembly can thus potentially result in the routinization of political protest whereby demonstrations occur only in ways deemed acceptable by the State.

This roundtable discussion seeks to address several pressing issues. In particular, it will explore how protest is negotiated in practice – including when “hate speech” or incitement to violence is involved – and whether this practice adequately protects rights to assembly and speech.

9:30-9:45 Introductions and Opening Remarks

John Shattuck, President and Rector, CEU

Michael Hamilton, Legal Studies Department

Peter Molnar, Center for Media and Communication Studies

Yevgenia Avetisova, OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

9:45-11:15 Pragmatics and Principles of Negotiating Protest 
Introduced by Mattias Wahlström and Michael Hamilton

11.15-11.30 Coffee break

11:30-13:00 Particular Challenges: Counter-demos, State Neutrality & ‘Hate Speech’ 
Introduced by David Goldberger and Peter Molnar

13:00-14:00 Lunch

14:00-15:30 The Legislative Framework and Possible Guidelines 
Introduced by Yevgenia Avetisova