Avi Davis

Avi Davis was the Founder and President of the American Freedom Alliance, a Los Angeles based organization created to identify threats to Western civilization and uphold Western values and ideals. He held these positions until his untimely death in December of 2015.

An extraordinarily learned, erudite and intellectually ravenous man, he was driven to share his knowledge, his curiosity, and his passion for Western Civilization, and it was this drive that gave birth to the organization that continues his legacy, the American Freedom Alliance.

Adrian “Avi” Davis was born in Melbourne, Australia, on September 3, 1958. 

From his earlierst adolescence, Avi was a “mover and a shaker.”  He organized events at the local Jewish Community Centre and was a Chairman of the Student Council at Mount Scopus College, where he founght the school establishment to book Australian rock bands in the senior dining hall.

At Monash University, Avi was President of the Jewish Students Society, and went on to become the President of the Australian Union of Jewish Students, in which role he organized his first big conferences.  Known as Confests, they included lectures, workshops and panels and were likely the early templates for his later work with AFA.

Avi graduated with honors from the David Derham School of Law at Monash University in 1981.  He also attended Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and UCLA.  

In Los Angeles, Avi directed the Streisand Center and a Jewish residency program at UCLA.  He was also the Executive Director of the Israel-Christian Nexus before founding the American Freedom Alliance.  The latter became his main endeavour, and he promoted its work tirelessly through essays, articles, numerous radio interviews and world-renowned conferences which gathered the brightest minds of our time from all over the planet.  

As a journalist, Mr. Davis’ political and cultural commentary and travel writing has appeared in opinion pieces, feature articles, letters and book reviews in such periodicals as the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, Jerusalem Post, Washington Times, Melbourne Age, The Daily Telegraph, The Austrailian, Los Angeles Jewish Journal, Jewish Spectator, New York Jewish Week, among many other papers and magazines. He is the former literary editor of the Jewish Spectator. His radio commentary was heard regularly throughout North America and he had been a television commentator on the Middle East for CNN, Fox News and Adelphia Cable. In 2003-04, he studied at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

His daily commentary on a broad range of issues confronting the survival of the West can be found at The Intermediate Zone.    In addition, he hosted a podcast, Western World Radio,  that continues to be on the forefront of great Western intellectual thought. 

As a Senior Fellow and President of the American Freedom Alliance he had coordinated ten major international conferences, each with an astounding array of world-class speakers, probing and relevant issues, and exceptional content:   The Collapse of Europe? (Pepperdine University, June 2007); Identity Crisis: Can European Civilization Survive? (Rome, March 2008) ; How Free is the University? (University of Southern California, June 2008); Is the (Real) News Dead? (Pepperdine University, June 2010); Big Footprint: Is Green the New Tyranny? (UCLA, June 2011) Global Governance vs National Sovereignty (Los Angeles, June 2012), Oslo@20: Costs and Consequences of the Peace Process (Los Angeles, September, 2013);  Europe’s Last Stand? (Los Angeles  June, 2013);  Failing Grades: The Crisis of Competence in Teaching on Our University Campuses (University of Southern California June, 2014) and Magna Carta: The 800 Year Struggle for Human Liberty (Los Angeles, June, 2015).

Avi’s vision regarding AFA can be seen in two videos he’d had made for the organization.

He had also designed the logo, wanting to emphasize how we are an alliance, and how we can defend what we hold dear – Western Civilization – more effectively if we work hand-in-hand.  

After his passing, AFA held its 10th annual Heroes of Conscience Dinner in his honor in May of 2016.  

As is our custom – the custom Avi had begun – we had made this tribute video for the evening.  It was created by Franklin Video Productions and narrated by actor Ed Ames.

You can watch then-Chairman Karen Siegemund’s tribute to him here.

and the rest of the tribute videos from that evening at the link here.  

We also published this in the Tribute Book, and hark to it often: The Light that was Avi.  

Avi was a guiding light, a real force for freedom, and an intellectual titan.  Plus, he was a really good friend, father, and all-around good guy.

He is sorely missed.