Mustafa Akyol Speaks on “Trump, Populism, and Muslims”

The Wellesley College Freedom Project kicks off its spring programming with a lecture and discussion with Freedom Project Senior Visiting Fellow Mustafa Akyol entitled “Trump, Populism, and Muslims.” The event will take place in the Diana Chapman Walsh Alumnae Hall Ballroom tonight, February 7, at 4:30 pm.

Akyol will address such questions as whether President Trump’s recent executive order regarding travelers from seven majority Muslim nations makes America more or less safe, and why many Muslim groups are protesting the order while some Muslim governments remain silent. He will also explore the concept of “populism,” with which Trump is frequently identified: What does the term mean, and what can we learn from leaders previously named as populists?

Akyol is a Turkish journalist, author, and speaker whose opinion columns appear regularly in the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News and the Middle East’s Al-Monitor.com. He has been a regular contributing writer for the International New York Times since 2013. Akyol has published six books in Turkish; his last book, Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty, was published in four languages, long-listed for the Lionel Gelber Prize, and praised by the Financial Times as “a forthright and elegant Muslim defense of freedom.”

This event is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served. Guests are also invited to attend The Freedom Project’s “Identity Is Not Politics” talk on February 15, and Censorship Awareness Week events, beginning March 6.