Rutger Bregman
| Rutger Bregman link Website (Historian, author) | |
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| File:Rutger Bregman (2024).jpg | |
| Born | Rutger Christiaan Bregman 26 April 1988 Renesse, Netherlands |
| Alma mater | Utrecht University, UCLA |
| Children | 2 |
Dutch historian who castigated US President Donald Trump and was censored by the BBC | |
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Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian and author.
Author
Bregman has published four books, most notably "Utopia for Realists", which has been translated into thirty-two languages. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Guardian and by the BBC. He has been described by The Guardian as the "Dutch wunderkind of new ideas" and by TED talks as "one of Europe's most prominent young thinkers".
World Economic Forum
In January 2019, Bregman took part in a panel debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he criticised the event for its focus on philanthropy rather than tax avoidance and the need for fair taxation:
- "This is my first time at Davos and and I find it quite bewildering to be honest. I mean 1,500 private jets flown in here to hear Sir David Attenborough speak about how we're wrecking the planet. And I hear people talking the language of participation and justice and equality and transparency but then almost no one raises the real issue of tax avoidance right and of the rich just not paying their fair share.
- "It feels like I'm at a fire-fighters conference and no one's allowed to speak about water. There was only one panel – one panel hidden away in the media center – that was actually about tax avoidance. I was one of the 15 participants so something needs to change here.
- "I mean 10 years ago the World Economic Forum asked the question what must industry do to prevent a broad social backlash? The answer is very simple just stop talking about philanthropy and start talking about Taxes.
- "Just two days ago there was a billionaire in here what's his name Michael Dell and he asked the question: 'Name me one country where a top marginal tax rate of 70% has actually worked.' Well you know I'm a historian and the United States that's where it has actually worked. In the 1950s during Republican President Eisenhower's term, the top marginal tax rate in the US was ninety-one percent. For people like Michael Dell the top rate of tax was more than 70 percent.
- "I mean this is not rocket science. We can talk for a very long time about all these stupid philanthropy schemes we can invite De Bono once more. Come on, we gotta be talking about taxes, taxes, taxes! All the rest is bullshit, in my opinion."[1]
2025 Reith Lectures
“Immorality and Unseriousness. These are the two defining traits of today’s leaders. Today it’s not the most capable who rise but the least scrupulous…”[2]
Entitled the "Moral Revolution", Rutger Bregman's 2025 Reith Lectures on the BBC explored the moral decay and un-seriousness of today's elites, drawing historical parallels to past eras of corruption that preceded transformative movements especially the 19th Century campaign to abolish slavery. In his series, he argued that small, committed groups can spark moral revolutions, emphasising the importance of perseverance and long-term vision.
Bregman advocated for a new "realist utopia" in the face of rapid technological change, promoting ideas like Universal Basic Income, fairer taxation and responsible tech regulation. Finally, he zoomed out to reflect on humanity’s strange historical trajectory, warning of the existential risks posed by unchecked A.I. and urging privileged individuals to take on an active role in shaping a better future.[3]
Censored by the BBC
On 25 November 2025, The Guardian reported:
The BBC has been accused of cowardice by a writer it selected to give its flagship annual lecture, after it removed his remarks about alleged corruption by Donald Trump.
With the corporation already threatened with a multibillion-dollar lawsuit by the US president, Rutger Bregman, a Dutch author and historian, said the BBC had removed a “key line” from his address when it was broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
Bregman’s claim that Trump was “the most openly corrupt president in American history” was removed from the first of his Reith Lectures, the BBC’s prestigious annual address. The corporation has already received complaints about the decision.
“The BBC has decided to censor my first Reith lecture,” he said. “They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as ‘the most openly corrupt president in American history’.
“This sentence was taken out of a lecture they commissioned, reviewed through the full editorial process, and recorded four weeks ago in front of 500 people in the BBC Radio Theatre. I was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC.”
The BBC is under pressure from the White House after Trump threatened to sue it for up to $5bn (£3.8bn) over an edit of one of his speeches by an edition of Panorama. A row over the edit ultimately led to the resignations of its director general, Tim Davie, and the BBC News chief, Deborah Turness.
The BBC has apologised for the edit, which spliced two parts of Trump’s speech on the day of the Capitol riots in January 2021. However, it is arguing that it did not defame the US president and is not seeking to settle the case with him.
Bregman said he was told a week ago that the claim was being examined by US lawyers, before being told on Monday it would be edited out. The BBC confirmed it removed the comment after seeking legal advice. The lecture is broadcast in the US on the BBC’s World Service.
Davie faced immediate calls to run the full version of the speech.
“At a moment when the defence of free speech and democratic norms is more important than ever, we need the BBC to demonstrate that it will not be cowed by the White House’s bullyboy tactics and tantrums,” wrote Anna Sabine, the Liberal Democrats’ culture spokesperson, in a letter to the outgoing director general. “I am therefore asking you to broadcast Mr Bregman’s speech in full.”
Bregman, who has previously said the US could be on the verge of an “authoritarian breakthrough”, said the edit of his speech had been made “against my wishes” and left him “genuinely dismayed”.
“Not because people can’t disagree with my words, but because self-censorship driven by fear (Trump threatening to sue the BBC) should concern all of us,” he said. “It’s especially ironic because the lecture is exactly about the ‘paralysing cowardice’ of today’s elites.
“About universities, corporations and media networks bending the knee to authoritarianism. I share this with respect for the many excellent journalists at the BBC. And with the hope that transparency helps strengthen, not weaken, our democratic culture.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “All of our programmes are required to comply with the BBC’s editorial guidelines, and we made the decision to remove one sentence from the lecture on legal advice.”
Approached by The Guardian, Bregman said: “I’m really sad about it. The whole team behind the Reith Lectures was incredible.
“And it was such an honour to deliver them, especially because the first Reith Lectures in 1948 were delivered by my intellectual hero Bertrand Russell, who was a huge advocate of free speech.
“I still hope lots of people will listen to the lectures. Because it seems to me that the message, about the cowardice of today’s elites, is more relevant than ever.”
Bregman, who sprung to prominence in 2019 with a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in which he challenged attenders over tax avoidance, had been invited to give a series of lectures entitled "Moral Revolution". They were recorded in London, Liverpool, Edinburgh and the US last month.
He later challenged the BBC over its explanation for cutting the corruption remark. “The edit was made at the last minute, after editorial approval and four weeks after the live recording,” he said. “A standard editorial edit doesn’t require days of high-level legal review or the involvement of many people at top level.
“The truth is that the sentence wasn’t inaccurate – it was removed because of legal fears. And that’s exactly the concern my lecture raises: when institutions start censoring themselves out of fear of those in power.”[4]