Breakfast with Garry Kasparov

Time: Monday, October 13, 2008

By Hugh Jorgensen

In his opening remarks on the first working day of the Forum 2000 conference, Garry Kasparov spoke to the virtues of courage and action in the face of fundamentalist certainty, reflecting the conference theme of “Openness and Fundamentalism in the 21st Century.” Raising a number of historical examples such as Galileo, Copernicus and Christopher Columbus, the former grand chess master cum Russian opposition leader outlined the necessity of challenging fundamentalist beliefs as a means of pushing forward humanity. In particular, he called upon citizens to question government preference for simple certainties when confronted with complex issues as an important method of promoting human rights. Although Kasparov warned of the threat fundamentalism poses to all societies in the 21st century, he emphasized the importance of meetings such as the Forum 2000 as a reminder of “the need for all citizens to decide for themselves“.