Christopher Hitchens delivers the Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture at UCLA

On March 3, 2010, author and journalist Christopher Hitchens delivered the 2010 Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture at UCLA. The lecture was presented by the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations, the Daniel Pearl Foundation and the Yitzhak Rabin Hillel Center for Jewish Life at UCLA.

A well-known commentator on contemporary thought, politics and culture, Hitchens has written more than a dozen books and corresponded from more than 60 countries. He has contributed regularly to the Atlantic, Slate, Vanity Fair, the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, Washington Post Book World, the Nation, the National Review and the New Left Review, among other media outlets. Honored frequently for his reporting and the literary quality of his prose, Hitchens received a National Magazine Award in 2007 and was a finalist for a 2007 National Book Award. He appears frequently on radio and television broadcasts.

BACKGROUND:
Daniel Pearl was a prominent Wall Street Journal reporter and the paper's South Asia bureau chief when he was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in early 2002. Pearl's father, Judea Pearl, a computer science professor at UCLA, and his family established the Daniel Pearl Foundation to promote and continue Daniel's mission of fostering cross-cultural understanding throughout the world. The lecture series, established at UCLA in 2002, features scholars, journalists and policymakers who have contributed original analyses or constructive approaches to problems of international concern.

Previous presenters of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture have included Anderson Cooper, David Brooks, Ted Koppel, Larry King, Jeff Greenfield, Daniel Schorr and Thomas Friedman. In 2006, a parallel lecture series was established at Stanford University, which has featured Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Philip Zimbardo, Bernard-Henri Lévy and Christiane Amanpour.

Category:

News & Politics

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• chris
• hitchens

[belodeau]

Thank you again Hitch- you give us back our balls with your fearless and unapologetic defense of the human spirit.

on a lighter note: The HITCH drinking game!

1) whenever he whips off his glasses, quickly pour a shot of Johnny Walker.

2) when he immediately puts them back on, slam the shot and exclaim loudly:

"BUILD UP THAT WALL!"

[UppruniTegundanna]

@terratrema Actually, he specifically said "questioning the Holocaust", and went on to say that any actual denial must be motivated by anti-Semitism. What he meant was that, like any complex and chaotic historical event, the precise story of what exactly happened hasn't been resolved in every detail. Since investigation into the tragedy is still ongoing, some historians may question accounts of certain parts of the story with genuine intellectual integrity without necessarily being anti-Semitic.

[mohomoho1]

Hasidic jews in NYC sell diamonds, how religious and ethical is that coming from a conservative religious organization. Doesn't sound right does it. Why has Israel built a wall around their country? Sounds racist to me. The Amish are very religious and are for the most part ethical. It seems that Hitchens only hangs with intellectuals. He has to get out more and hang with the other 99% of the population and not just the 1%.

[Bananayoghurt1000]

Newsflash a Jew defends Jews, fuck you kike loving fuck, rot in your grave

[iLoveSalami]

@glower125

You know nothing of Hitchens if you think he has a racist bias against arabs. Watch this: watch?v=XDBkB_0xdz4

[citizenghosttown]

@DariusDaGreat86

"Only true evil in this world are the Jewish supremacist."

I've never met a "Jewish supremacist" so I'm not sure what that means exactly. But in theory, I agree - that would be an evil attitude to possess.

But the "Only true evil" in this world? That's almost comical. It practically makes Hitchens' case for him.

[DariusDaGreat86]

@johnbenjamin12 - Only true evil in this world are the Jewish supremacist. You sound like one too.

[johnbenjamin12]

Compare these beautiful, eloquent, and most of all true words to the hateful jeers and bigotry of the Mullahs and all the rest of the anti-semites of the world. It illustrates the stark juxtaposition between the beauty of truth and the banality of evil.

Thank you Christopher Hitchens.

[MrHedgehog380]

@JesusChristisMuslim Because he was a great man. He had great intelligence, great morality and never afraid to give his opinion in the face of those who disagreed with him.

Yes he died of cancer, so what? He was a man smart enough to realise that this is the only life we have and we should enjoy it while we can. He never did those things to excess, they did not rule his life. If those things gave him pleasure then who are we to judge - he had every right to do to himself whatever he wished.

[MrHedgehog380]

@glower125 Either you are trolling or it is you yourself who are bigoted and ignorant. Hopefully you will realise how disgusting your comments are but i doubt it.

[DidHeDied]

@glower125 You are clearly dumb and ignorant. Please don't comment again.