The Oslo Freedom Forum is the brainchild of activist and social entrepreneur Thor Halvorssen. As the National Review’s Jay Nordlinger recently commented, Halvorssen’s Forum is “that rare thing under the sun: a genuine human rights conference.” Unlike so many other such gatherings, the goal here in Oslo has not been to deploy human rights against free societies. Sure, a few of the speakers have aired grievances – legitimate and otherwise – against the democratic West. But the vast majority of the activists, journalists, and thought leaders I have met focus their efforts where they are needed most: those unhappy corners of the world – like my own native Iran – where birth condemns men and women to living under repressive regimes.
For instance, meet Amir Ahmad Nasr. The Sudanese blogger is an outspoken critic of Omar Bashir’s genocidal dictatorship. For years, Nasr has also been challenging ideological extremism and conspiracism among his fellow Arabs—both in the blogosphere, where he only recently revealed his name and identity, and outside of it. For example, discussing NATO’s humanitarian intervention in Libya on his blog, Sudanese Thinker, Nasr found it
