Insight

Wednesday 6 April 2016, 7:00 PM

Insight with Molly Crabapple: Drawing Blood

Acclaimed journalist and artist Molly Crabapple has drawn and reported on stories from Guantanamo Bay, Syria, the West Bank, Iraqi Kurdistan and across the United States. With her powerful illustrations she has pushed the boundaries of visual reportage – and established an important place for art in hard news. On the release of her memoir Drawing Blood, she will be joining us to reflect on recent work and to share her personal insight into the use of art as a tool for better understanding and documenting current events.


Tuesday 17 November 2015, 7:00 PM

Insight with Gulwali Passarlay: An Afghan Refugee Boy’s Journey of Escape to a New Life in Britain

Gulwali Passarlay was only 12 years old when he left his home and family in Afghanistan. He would be shot at, imprisoned and almost drown before he reached his new home in Britain. We welcome Gulwali Passarlay to the Frontline Club to share his story as documented in his memoir The Lightless Sky, and to offer his personal insight into the current refugee crisis.


Tuesday 28 April 2015, 7:00 PM

Insight with Christina Lamb: Farewell Kabul

For over two decades, Christina Lamb has reported from Afghanistan, with unparalleled access to all key decision makers. She has developed an extensive understanding of the country, the people and the conflict. She will be joining us in conversation with BBC Radio 4 Today programme presenter, Sarah Montague, to give her personal account of the longest war fought by the United States in its history, and by Britain since the Hundred Years War.


Tuesday 7 April 2015, 7:00 PM

Insight with Srdja Popovic: Blueprint for Revolution

In 2000, Srdja Popovic was one of the leaders of the Serbian nonviolent resistance group Otpor! that helped topple Slobodan Milošević. Then in 2003 he decided to use his experience to help pro-democracy activists around the world, teaching them how to bring down a dictator. He will be joining us in conversation with Steve Crawshaw, director of the office of the secretary general at Amnesty International and co-author of Small Acts of Resistance, to share his story and the ingenious ways in which non-violent resistance has achieved its means around the world, from Occupy Wall Street to Tahrir Square, and from Nelson Mandela to Harvey Milk.


Wednesday 21 May 2014, 7:00 PM

Insight with Ramita Navai: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran

The politics of Iran is frequently analysed and debated on the international stage but rarely do we glimpse what everyday life is like in Tehran. In her new book City of Lies, Ramita Navai returns to the city where she was born to explore the lives of its residents. She will be joining us in conversation with the BBC’s Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen, to talk about her exploration of modern day Tehran and what life in the city signals about how the country will develop.


Wednesday 4 December 2013, 7:00 PM

Insight with Jineth Bedoya Lima: Journalism, Kidnap and Colombia’s Peace Process

Colombia is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Despite the constant threat, Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima continues to work tirelessly to investigate armed conflict, drug trafficking, organised crime and issues around women and violence. We are honoured to welcome her to the Frontline Club, she will be talking to Ed Vulliamy, a writer for The Guardian and Observer, about her prolific career as a journalist in Colombia, the work she does on conflict-related sexual violence and the ongoing peace process.


Tuesday 5 November 2013, 7:00 PM

Insight with Kathy Eldon: Dying to Tell the Story

Dan Eldon was a 22-year-old photojournalist working in Mogadishu, Somalia, when he was killed in 1993. His mother, Kathy Eldon, heart broken by her son’s death, turned her mind to how she could transform the horror of what happened to him into a positive force for good. She will be joining us to talk about her journey, how she travelled to Somalia to try and understand why her son had been killed and how his life inspired her and her daughter, Amy Eldon Turteltaub, to start the Creative Visions Foundation, to support creative activists who use media and the arts to create social impact.


Monday 12 August 2013, 7:00 PM

Egypt Crisis: Yosri Fouda in conversation with Jeremy Bowen

As political instability continues in Egypt, renowned Arab journalist Yosri Fouda will be joining the BBC’s Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen in conversation, to give some insight into how this situation will develop.


Tuesday 15 October 2013, 7:00 PM

Insight with Paul Danahar: The New Middle East

Nearly three years after the start of the revolution in Tunisia, which was followed by uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa, many are beginning to examine what has changed in the region. One of those that has had a front row seat of this recent history is the BBC’s Middle East Bureau Chief, Paul Danahar. He will be joining us in conversation with BBC Arabic’s Samir Farah, to share his insight and analysis of events and what he feels the future holds for the region and it’s relationship with the West.


Tuesday 2 July 2013, 7:00 PM

Gino Strada in conversation with Giles Duley: Reflections of a War Surgeon

Since Italian NGO Emergency was established in 1994 it has provided free, high quality health care to more than 5,200,000 victims of war, landmines and poverty. It is with great pleasure that we welcome its founder Gino Strada to the Frontline Club, he will be talking to photographer Giles Duley about his life and work as a war surgeon and founder of Emergency.


Thursday 6 June 2013, 7:00 PM

In conversation with Paul Conroy – Under the Wire: Marie Colvin’s Final Assignment

Paul Conroy will be joining us in conversation with international editor at Channel 4 News, Lindsey Hilsum, to talk about Under The Wire. Offering a testimony of war reportage, and a personal account of the final assignment he embarked on with Marie Colvin, one of the foremost journalists of our generation.


Tuesday 11 June 2013, 7:00 PM

Insight with Wendy Law-Yone: A Daughter’s Memoir of Burma

Ed Law-Yone, was founder of The Nation newspaper and a major player within the political elite in Burma until the military coup of 1962. He was imprisoned and eventually became an exile in the US where he died in 1980. He did not live to see the Burma he dreamed of but he entrusted his daughter, Wendy Law-Yone, to tell his remarkable story. She will be joining us in conversation with the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall to talk about the unique portrait of Burma she discovered in his manuscripts.


November 14, 2012 7:00 PM

FULLY BOOKED Insight with Jeremy Bowen: The Arab Uprisings

BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen reflects on the past two years of game-changing moments in the history of the Middle East.


September 25, 2012

Insight Tarun J. Tejpal: The Story of My Assassins

Named one of India’s most influential people by The Guardian, Businessweek and Asiaweek, Tarun J. Tejpal is an acclaimed journalist, publisher, novelist and founder of Tehelka, a news organisation that has become renowned globally for its aggressive public interest journalism. He will be joining us in conversation with Shahzeb Jillani, South Asia Editor at BBC World Service News to talk about his work and the media landscape in India today.


August 31, 2012 7:00 PM

Insight with Lydia Cacho: Slavery Inc.

The international sex trade criss-crosses the globe using a sinister network, in a ground-breaking new work of investigative reporting internationally renowned Mexican journalist and campaigner Lydia Cacho follows the trail of the traffickers and their victims from Mexico to Turkey, Thailand to Iraq, Georgia to the UK.

Lydia Cacho will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with executive director of Article 19, Dr Agnès Callamard to talk about her expansive investigation into this world and the work she does reporting on domestic violence, child prostitution, organised crime and political corruption, whilst teaching workshops on how to help victims of trafficking.


July 11, 2012 7:00 PM

Insight with Maajid Nawaz: My Journey from Islamist Extremism to a Democratic Awakening

Having journeyed into and out of Islamic extremism Maajid Nawaz remains a Muslim but is a leading critic of his former Islamist ideological dogma. He will be joining us to discuss this journey and the work he now does educating young people about democracy, undoing everything he had once been prepared to die for.


June 8, 2012 7:00 PM

FULLY BOOKED Insight with Nick Fraser – Why Documentaries Matter

Editor of BBC Storyville Nick Fraser will be discussing the evolution of documentary, its defining nature and the future for this form of storytelling.


May 9, 2012 7:00 PM

Alan Cowell in conversation with Charles Glass – The Paris Correspondent

Join us at the Frontline Club for an evening with long time New York Times correspondent Alan Cowell who went from having the distinction of being the last correspondent to date to file by carrier pigeon to heading the New York Times web-based breaking news operation in Paris. It is this tradition that is documented in his new novel The Paris Correspondent and that he will be discussing with broadcaster, journalist and writer Charles Glass.


April 26, 2012 7:00 PM

FULLY BOOKED In conversation with Lindsey Hilsum: Libya in the Time of Revolution

Channel 4 News’ international editor Lindsey Hilsum will be joining us in conversation with BBC Arabic presenter Rasha Qandeel to discuss Libya and her new book charting the country’s history from the beginnings of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime to the dictator’s squalid end.


April 18, 2012 7:00 PM

FULLY BOOKED Insight with Ahmed Rashid – Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan

As we approach the one year anniversary of the death of Osama Bin Laden, Ahmed Rashid will be joining senior BBC presenter and special correspondent Lyse Doucet to discuss the future for Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States.


February 17, 2012 7:00 PM

Insight with Fawzia Koofi: Running for president of Afghanistan

Fawzia Koofi has lived a life defined by struggle, the 19th of 23 children born, as a baby she was left in the sun to die because she was a girl. Now a Member of Parliament, she continues her struggle to improve women’s and children’s rights and plans to run for President of Afghanistan in 2014, despite death threats and assassination attempts.

Join us at the Frontline Club with Fawzia Koofi and the co-author of the book that tells her story The Favored Daughter: One Woman’s Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future, Nadene Ghouri, award-winning journalist and BBC correspondent.


January 30, 2012 7:00 PM

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.


January 18, 2012

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.


November 8, 2011 7:00 PM

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.


October 21, 2011 7:00 PM

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.


October 4, 2011 7:00 PM

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.


August 17, 2011 7:00 PM

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.


July 5, 2011 7:00 PM

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 […]


May 25, 2011 7:00 PM

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.


April 19, 2011 7:00 PM

Insight with Zarghuna Kargar: The women of Afghanistan

Zarghuna Kargar will be at the Frontline Club in conversation with Afghanistan researcher for Human Rights Watch, Rachel Reid to discuss the stories of the hidden lives of women of Afghanistan that she heard while working on the popular radio show, Afghan Woman’s Hour.