Why we need to talk, now! How extremists in all camps (religious, secular, ethnic, etc.) have monopolized and hijacked the conversations and are leading us to conflict and disaster. The silent majorities in every group needs to step up to take the bull by its horns. We need to redirect the conversations to love, peace and justice.

Faisal Kutty is a lawyer, professor, writer and public speaker. He is currently an associate professor of law and director of the International LL.M. program at Valparaiso University Law School and serves as an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Toronto. He also serves as counsel to KSM Law, a Toronto-based law firm which he co-founded. Faisal's research and teaching interests include legal reasoning and writing, legal journalism, Islamic law, Islamic finance, religion and law, international law, human rights, comparative law, and national security. He has published numerous academic articles and more than 350 opinion pieces in publications around the world including The Toronto Star, Middle East Eye and Al Jazeera. For the past eight consecutive years he has been included in The Muslim 500: The World's Most Influential Muslims compiled by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre based in Amman, Jordan.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.