The 2025 Massey Lecture: silence is not an option

In Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World, Alex Neve looks into why we should be fighting to preserve universal human rights. 'In a world permeated with crises many of which come right to our front door, that surely must mean going further, even when it takes us beyond our comfort zone.'

Alex Neve, author of Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World, part of the CBC Massey Lectures series. 'I challenge myself to try not to be one more angry voice joining the multitude of other angry voices …look for where common ground offers space to open dialogue and build understanding,' he writes.Handout photograph

Feature

BY JIM CRESKEY

December 8, 2025

The people at House of Anansi Press, CBC’s Ideas, and Massey College at the University of Toronto have been working together since 1961 to orchestrate the annual Massey Lectures. The lectures include a book, a cross-country reading tour, and a radio show. The first Massey ...

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