Talks
FULLY BOOKED Insight with Gene Sharp: From Dictatorship to Democracy
The past year has seen people take to the streets across the Middle East and North Africa to demand an end to tyranny and oppression, with their actions leading to unprecedented regime change across the region.
Less known is that the tactics used by many of these protestors come from the writings of an 83-year-old political scientist, Dr Gene Sharp. The 198 “non-violent weapons” listed in his book From Dictatorship to Democracy have now been circulated amongst dissidents around the world.
We are thrilled to announce that Dr Gene Sharp will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with Ruaridh Arrow, journalist, filmmaker and director of the award winning documentary How to Start a Revolution to discuss his work and the uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa.
Insight with Wadah Khanfar former director general of Al Jazeera
Former Director General, Wadah Khanfar, will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow to discuss the rise of Al Jazeera, the role he played in its development and where it can go from here.
FULLY BOOKED Insight with Wadah Khanfar former director general of Al Jazeera
Former Director General, Wadah Khanfar, will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow to discuss the rise of Al Jazeera, the role he played in its development and where it can go from here.
Egypt: After a year of military rule, what next?
Tuesday 25 January 2011 has become enshrined in Egypt’s history as the ‘day of rage’ when people took to the streets against the tyranny and oppression of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime. As we approach the one-year anniversary of that day we will be joined by a panel of Egyptians to discuss the hopes of that day and the challenges that lie ahead.
FULLY BOOKED Egypt: After a year of military rule, what next?
Tuesday 25 January 2011 has become enshrined in Egypt’s history as the ‘day of rage’ when people took to the streets against the tyranny and oppression of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime. As we approach the one-year anniversary of that day we will be joined by a panel of Egyptians to discuss the hopes of that day and the challenges that lie ahead.
In the Picture: The Family with Jocelyn Bain Hogg
View in iTunes A decade ago, photographer Jocelyn Bain Hogg got under the skin of organised crime for his book The Firm which portrayed the lives of the gangsters, pimps and prostitutes who roam Britain’s shadowy underworld. The VII photographer has revisited the UK’s gangland to complete his recent three-year project The Family looking at a younger, more chaotic generation […]
FULLY BOOKED Democratic Republic of Congo: Presidential elections and blood minerals
The Presidential Elections of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are due to take place at the end of November and current President, Joseph Kabila, is standing again for what could end up being a 15 year presidency. Join us at the Frontline Club to debate the possible outcome of the Presidential election and what it might mean for the country
Kashmir: South Asia’s Palestine?
The former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, is seen by many as South Asia’s Palestinian counterpart. Bordered by Pakistan, India, China and Afghanistan, each country has laid claim to the territory that lies in the foothills of the Himalayas. It has been caught between continuous contestation of borders and autonomy since the partition of British India.
Join us at the Frontline Club with an expert panel to discuss where Kashmir stands in its fight for freedom and the options that lay before it.
Insight with Jonathan Steele: The craft of the foreign correspondent
Jonathan Steele has been covering global events for the Guardian for over forty years. From the civil rights movement in Mississippi and Alabama to his extensive coverage of the past 30 years of Afghan history, his work has won him recognition as one of the greatest foreign correspondents of his generation.
He will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with freelance journalist Tom Finn who is currently based in Sana’a, Yemen to reflect on his 40-year career, which has taken him to Eastern Europe, Washington correspondent and Kabul, Afghanistan throughout the Soviet period until 1992.
POSTPONED The Arab Spring: Have the torturers been stopped?
The brutal torture and murder of Khaled Said by Egyptian police in June 2010 and the Facebook page We Are All Khaled Said served as a catalyst to the uprising that eventually ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February this year.
The message the Egyptian people were sending was that they were no longer prepared to live under a regime that used torture as a weapon against dissent.
A panel of experts will be discussing the importance of resistance to the use of torture by authoritarian regimes in the protests of the Arab Spring.
FULLY BOOKED Russia – A mafia state?
In 2007 Luke Harding arrived in Moscow to take up a new job as a correspondent for The Guardian. Not long after, mysterious agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, broke into his flat. He was followed, bugged, and even summoned to Lefortovo, the FSB’s notorious prison.
Luke Harding will be joined by a panel at the Frontline Club to discuss his experiences as The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent and what they tell us about Russia today.
FULLY BOOKED: Insight with Nawal El Saadawi
The internationally renowned Egyptian writer, novelist and activist Nawal El Saadawi will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with special correspondent and presenter for BBC News, Razia Iqbal on her 80th birthday to discuss her life’s work and the launch of a foundation that will embody the themes, ethos and characteristics that have shaped it.
Abdulnasser Gharem: Saudi Arabia – art and war
As both a conceptual artist and lieutenant colonel in the Saudi army, Abdulnasser Gharem is somewhat of an unusual figure. Described as the “rock star of Saudi contemporary art”, he recently made history when his installation Message/Messenger sold for a record price at auction in Dubai.
Abdulnasser Gharem will be joining us at the Frontline Club to discuss the inspiration behind his work, which is now in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Saudi Arabian Ministry of Culture & Information. He will also reflect on how he reconciles being a soldier and an artist, shedding light on Saudi’s secretive society and culture.
In the Picture – Kate Brooks: A decade on the front line
A youthful Kate Brooks moved to Pakistan after September 11th 2001 to document the conflicts that flared in the region and make a name for herself as a photojournalist. Her new book, In the Light of Darkness, records the major conflicts in the Arab world in the past decade, from the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan, to this year’s Arab Spring. The event will be moderated by freelance journalist Ramita Navai.
Insight with Robert King: The Angola 3 and their fight for justice
Robert King the only free member of the Angola 3 will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with founder and director of Reprieve, Clive Stafford Smith to tell his story and discuss his life’s focus; to campaign against abuses in the criminal justice system and for the freedom of Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox who are now serving their 40th year in solitary confinement.
REACTIVE: The battle for press freedom in Iran
Almost two weeks after their arrest, little has been heard about the fate of the six Iranian filmmakers who are currently being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison with no access to their lawyers.
Accused of collaborating secretly with BBC Persian and illegally supplying content portraying Iran in a negative light, they have been condemned as “a group of terrorists, Bahais, communists and devil worshippers” by Iran’s Minister of Intelligence.
Join us at the Frontline Club for this reactive briefing to discuss the detainment of the filmmakers, the battle for press freedom in Iran and the regime’s relationship with foreign media.
David Carr in conversation with Richard Gizbert: The media machine
Drawing on their experiences working with two very different global media players, David Carr of the New York Times and Richard Gizbert of Al Jazeera English will be discussing the future of the news industry.
From the future of newspapers like the New York Times and whether they can adapt quickly enough to survive to the emergence of new business models offering alternative sources of funding. They will be addressing some of the big questions that are exercising many minds within the media.
A remarkable opportunity to debate the future of the news industry with two of its key players.
Understanding extremism: What are the real dangers?
When reports began coming in of the bombing in Oslo on 22 July the general consensus among experts appeared to be that the attack had all the hallmarks of Islamic extremism.
It was only when news came through of a gunman on Utøya that it began to become clear that something quite different was taking place in Norway.
As we mark the ten year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, we will be examining the extent of our understanding of extremism.
In The Picture: China’s New Energy Pioneers with Toby Smith
Photographer Toby Smith recently spent two months in China producing his latest project China’s New Energy Pioneers. Across 11 provinces, his work took him to coal mines, wind farms and hydro-electric plants as he captured the landscapes and people implementing the Communist Party’s latest Five Year Plan. The plan, announced in March 2011, is significant in its attempts to slow economic growth and address escalating energy and environmental problems. Moderated by Jim Footner of Greenpeace.
FULLY BOOKED Counterinsurgency and the “War on Terror”: Doomed to fail?
As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks we will be bringing together a panel of experts to discuss the “War on Terror” that was launched by the United States government in their wake.
What has been achieved in Afghanistan and Iraq and, ten years on, what could be learnt from the Arab Spring about change in the region? 5 months into a new campaign in Libya, is it time that we reassess our involvement in the Arab world?
Insight with Kamin Mohammadi: Rediscovering Iran
When nine-year-old Kamin Mohammadi fled to London with her family in June 1979 escaping Iran after the revolution that brought down the Shah little was she to know that she would not step foot in the country again for 17 years.
She will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with Pooneh Ghoddoosi from BBC Persian TV to talk about her journey back to her homeland to find the family she left behind, and to rediscover her Iranian identity after 17 years away from the country that she loved.
As an Iranian exile living in Britain, Mohammadi struggled to fit in. She will be joining us at the Frontline Club to talk about her journey back to her homeland to find the family she left behind, and to rediscover her Iranian identity after almost 18 years away from the country that she loved.
Kevin Macdonald in Conversation
Academy Award winning Director Kevin Macdonald will be joining us for a special evening at the Frontline Club. Kevin will be discussing his most recent film Life in a Day, a project using entirely crowd-sourced footage chronicling the world’s experience over the course of twenty-four hours.
We will also take a look at his career to date, from his Oscar-winning documentary One Day in September, about the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics to Touching the Void, one of the most successful documentaries in British history.
FULLY BOOKED Phone hacking – ethics and tabloid journalism
LATER START TIME OF 8.15PM
The closure of the News of the World following further revelations that schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s phone was allegedly hacked by private investigators has failed to draw a line under the growing crisis.
The print media has long defended its freedom from outside regulation. Is there a future for statutory regulation of the press or is it time for the Press Complaints Commission to be scrapped as actor and recent privacy crusader Hugh Grant has claimed?
Join us at the Frontline Club with an expert panel to discuss this ever-deepening scandal, as we consider what ‘hackgate’ might mean for the future of British journalism.
Focus on Sudan: What does independence mean for North and South?
Salva Kir is to lead South Sudan into independence on the 9 July after a landslide referendum earlier this year where 99% of the South voted to secede from the North. But with relations still tense over disputed border regions of Abyei and the surrounding area, what does the future hold for North and South alike?
Insight with Colin Freeman: Life as a Somali pirate hostage
View in iTunes In late 2008, Daily Telegraph correspondent Colin Freeman and Jose Cendon, a Spanish photographer travelled to Somalia to investigate the recent spate of piracy attacks that were terrorising shipping in the Gulf of Aden. Their aim was to track down some of the pirates and secure an exclusive interview. They were […]
On the media: celebrities, super-injunctions and phone hacking
When more details about the News of the World phone hacking scandal were revealed earlier this year, there were calls for greater regulation of the press. At the same time, the use of super-injunctions (or ‘gagging orders’) by celebrities to stop the press revealing details about scandals has also been called in to question.
Focusing on issues of privacy, justice and journalistic ethics, we will be asking whether the current system of law and regulation is – or is not – in need of reform.
Internships: opportunity or cheap labour?
The explosion of the internship in the past 10 years has begun to raise some serious questions about the implications for a generation expected to work wage-free in order to move onto the career ladder.
Ross Perlin, an ex intern himself and the author of Intern Nation will be at the Frontline Club to take part in a panel discussion about internships and his investigation into a trend which, he argues, is destroying “what’s left of the ordered world of training, hard work and fair compensation”.
THIRD PARTY Plunder of the oceans – The rise of pirate fishing, impacts and solutions
The evening will reveal the extent of the problem of pirate fishing, which takes place in both the developed and developing world. Discussion will focus on the many issues surrounding pirate fishing, including its dramatic impact on poorer coastal states, where hundreds of thousands of people rely on fish for food and livelihood. How EU subsidies are still benefitting illegal fishing operations, and how port states are being seen as the frontline in combating this activity. We will be exploring possible solutions and the importance of the role of the media in exposing the impacts of pirate fishing as a crime, comparable to international drugs smuggling.
THIRD PARTY: Revolution uplo@ded
Organised by BBC Arabic.
Followed by a panel discussion
At a secret rendezvous on the Tunisian border, a young man hands over to Libyan rebels a crate of medical supplies. He’s hoping for a precious cargo in return – memory cards and small video tapes that he will upload to the internet and show the world what is happening inside the Libyan capitol, Tripoli. In the revolutions of 2011, these are the new weapons of the internet age.
FULLY BOOKED Insight with Leila Ahmed: A Quiet Revolution
Leila Ahmed was raised in Cairo in the 1940’s, by a generation of women who never dressed in veils and headscarves. To them, they seemed irrelevant to both modern life and Islamic piety. Today, the majority of Muslim women throughout the Islamic world again wear the veil. Why, Ahmed asks, did this change take root so swiftly, and what does this shift mean for women, Islam, and the West.
Leila Ahmed, who is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School, will be joining us at the Club in conversation with Azadeh Moaveni, Iranian-American writer, journalist and author of Lipstick Jihad, to discuss her new book A Quiet Revolution: The Veil’s Resurgence, from the Middle East to America and her surprising discoveries about Muslim women, Islamism and democracy.