Andrew Bolt, are you up to the challenge?

Mechanical engineer, author and social justice activistYassmin Abdel-Magied has provoked the right-wing columnist:"If Andrew Bolt cares so much about freedom of speech as much as he reckons, he should have defended me.

"Where were all the defenders of freedom of speech in my case?"

Ms Abdel-Magied whodescribes herself the most "publicly hated Muslim in Australia" -made the comments after months of intense criticism following a Facebook post on Anzac Day, in which she suggested Australiansshould also rememberthe suffering on Manus Island, Nauru, and in Syria and Palestine.

Her post was criticised by Bolt, aconservative commentator.

Ms Abdel-Magied said the experience taught her that freedom of speech was not shared equally by all Australians.

"The conversation is not on my terms, it's not on the terms of any marginalised group," Ms Abdel-Magied said.

Since her Anzac Day Facebook post, which she deleted, the woman who was named the 2015 Queensland Young Australian of the Year, became the victim of daily death threats, intense criticism from conservative Australian politicians, and her ABC show Australia Wide was axed.

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Last month, the severed head of a pig encased in a bag with a swastika was dumped at the gate of her old school in Brisbane.

Speakingon Monday evening at an Age subscriber event at Deakin Edge, hosted in partnership with the MelbourneWriters Festival, Ms Abdel-Magiedsaid the campaign waged against her has left her with a bitter view of Australia: "I don't think I can hand on heart say that we are a country that isn't racist. People themselves may not be racist, but structurally, I don't think I can say that anymore."

Ms Abdel-Magied made the commentson a panel convened by Age news director Michelle Griffin, which included Pakistani/Australian writer and comedian Sami Shah, libertarian author and commentator Chris Berg, and author and documentary maker John Safran.

The panel discussed free speech,equality and extremism in Australia.

Chris Bergsaid he was concerned thatAustralianswereshutting down views that did not reflect their own, and warned this behaviour could lead to extremism.

"I'm concerned about a segment of the population that is embracing and seeking the bubble ... I've seen some data on this, that people who are using the technological capacity they have now, to grow into a narrower ideological frame.

"They identify a smaller community on the internet, and they choose to exclude information that violates the beliefs of that [community].

"You might be a far-right radical in country Victoria, now you are a far-right radical who can communicate with far-right radicals in Melbourne or Germany or wherever they may be."

White nationalists, Aussie ISIS supporters and some "inflammatory Jewish people" have become friends of Mr Safran, who said he spent 18 months "hanging out with people on the fringe of the fringes" to research his new book, Depends What You Mean By Extremist.

Mr Safran said Islamophobia was beingco-opted by radical far-right and white nationalists who were looking for an "acceptable" platform to peddle fringe views, which included a desire to"upend the entire system of Western liberalism".

"They saw this opening, they saw there was this anti-Islamic sentiment that was acceptable ... they saw that you can get away with talking about that stuff without being taken off to the loony bin."

In response, Ms Griffin suggested: "Isn't that even more morally appalling than actually believing it?"

Mr Safran: "Oh yeah it was pretty annoying, but it was good for the book."

Sami Shah, said he too found asurprising opportunity to boost sales of hisnew book, The Islamic Republic of Australia.It wasPauline Hanson.

The One Nation leaderposting a photo of the book cover on her Facebook page andasked: "How do you feel about Dymocks book range?"

Mr Shah said: "She's very charitable ... when she insults your book, the book sales go up."

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Yassmin Abdel-Magied: where were my free-speech defenders? - The Age