Corner SE10: Mahdi Ahmadi | چطور مهدی احمدی فرهنگ گفتگو در ایران را تغییر داد؟ پشت‌صحنه‌ی رسانه آزاد

Description:

Mahdi Ahmadi, founder of the Azad Fekr School and the face of the media platform Rasaneh Azad, has played a pivotal role in redefining public discourse in Iran. With a background that began in physics and later shifted to philosophy, he developed a rigorous analytical mindset that shaped how he designs dialogues, selects topics, and confronts social and political issues. Over the years he has built a space where transparency, critique, and direct engagement with differing ideas are core principles. Rather than one‑sided monologues, he introduced the concept of a ‘dialogue lesson’ where experts present their views clearly before collaboratively unpacking complex layers of a topic. Motivated by the economic and social changes of the 1990s, the rise of public interest in debate, and the spread of digital media, he launched Rasaneh Azad as a free, public platform that has become a key reference for critical analysis and diverse voices in Persian‑speaking communities. Ahmadi’s work as a dialogue designer—choosing guests, assessing their relationship to the issue, analyzing intellectual networks, and balancing tension and cooperation—has earned him recognition as a key architect of serious Iranian dialogue.