Syria Conflict: Developments on the ground and on the international stage

By Dan Tookey The month of Ramadan is usually a time for festivities and celebration but in Syria there is little to rejoice about.  The United Nations has estimated around 93,000 Syrians have died since the civil war began in 2011 and the number of refugees fleeing the country recently exceeded 1.5 million. On Wednesday […]

Ten Years on the Front Line

This year the Frontline Club is ten and to mark the occasion we will be joined by a panel of journalists to look back on ten years on the front line. Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow will be chairing a panel of journalists including the BBC’s Lyse Doucet, Anthony Loyd of The Times, ITV News’ Bill Neely and Afghan journalist Shoaib Sharifi.

With Iran’s new president, cautious optimism

By Jim Treadway The election of cleric Hassan Rouhani to Iran’s presidency last week has Iranians and the world turning their heads to wonder: is the Islamic Republic changing direction? Will Rouhani’s promised pragmatism and reform replace the hardline conservatism of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? An expert panel convened at the Frontline Club  on 26 June, […]

El Gusto: the “people’s music”

By Ratha Lehall On Tuesday 4 June, The Frontline Club hosted a screening of El Gusto. Despite a 6-hour flight delay and a broken ankle, director Safinez Bousbia made it up to the Frontline Club just in time for a lively Q&A. The film follows Bousbia on her journey to reunite a group of around 30 Jewish and Muslim Chaabi musicians, […]

Russia’s surveillance state

by Anna Reitman Cold war politics have never seemed more relevant in the 21st century. Relations between the US and Russia are reaching new lows over geopolitical hot spots while the White House dodges questions about the detainment in Moscow of an alleged CIA recruiting agent. These might seem like old stories, but a decidedly […]

Netanyahu in China, London conference on Somalia, US-South Korean talks, and Pakistan elections – the world next week

By Jasper Wenban-Smith, International Editor, Foresight News A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 6 May The high-profile trial in Germany of Beate Zschäpe, an alleged member of a group called the National Socialist Underground (NSU), is due to open on Monday in Munich. Zschäpe and four […]

Middle East peace, Cyprus crisis, North Korean tensions and John Kerry everywhere – the world next week

By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 8 April US Secretary of State John Kerry continues his visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories on Monday (and Tuesday) where he is holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and […]

Talks between Tehran and Moscow, Obama’s State of the Union, and elections in Ecuador make for another busy international week

By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 11 February Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is due in Moscow for two days of talks with Russian counterparts, likely to include civil nuclear cooperation as well as the upcoming talks on […]

Obama’s inauguration, unrest in the Maghreb, and Europe’s future all on the agenda in another busy week

By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews.

Preview Screening: Complicit + Q&A

Confronting the key moral dilemma of our time, Complicit explores the moral compromises surrounding the use of torture in fighting the ‘War on Terror’. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Niall MacCormick, writer Guy Hibbert and producers Kevin Toolis and Jolyon Symonds moderated by Allan Little

The World Next Year (Part II)

By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A special round up of world events from July – December 2013, from journalist resource ForesightNews.

South Korean elections, Mario Monti press conference and Julian Assange statement feature in the penultimate week of 2012

By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 17 December Monday marks two years since Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation, an act of protest that that inspired millions to challenge the status quo across the Middle East. Two years on, despite regime change in […]

Insight with Jeremy Bowen: The Arab uprisings

By Anna Reitman Coming straight from a day of reporting on the latest unrest between Israel and Gaza, the BBC’s Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen was at the Frontline Club on 14 November to discuss the historic events that have reshaped the Middle East. He reflected on their political context, history and the evolving landscape as documented in […]

New Series Launch: Unreported World – Reporting Social Change

Channel 4 presented its new series of Unreported World to a packed audience at the Frontline Club on October 31, followed by a panel discussion entitled “Reporting Social Change”.

Obama’s reckoning?

By Nigel Wilson It was standing room only as an energetic audience gathered for the Frontline Club’s monthly showpiece First Wednesday. Chaired by the BBC’s ever exuberant Paddy O’Connell, a panel of political experts and commentators tackled the state of play as the US gears up for the Presidential election on 6 November. Following Mitt […]

We Are Legion – The Story of the Hacktivists

We Are Legion tracks the evolution of hacktivism from the ludicrous website 4chan- a mish-mash of memes, revolting images and heated discussions about Manga- through to the formation of Anonymous, which builds its backbone from declaring an international war on Scientology and gains it political purpose from Wikileaks and the battle for free information on the internet. Through interviews with hacktivists, scholars and the victims of hacking, we learn more about what motivates some members of this diverse group of young idealists.

THIRD PARTY EVENT Bahrain: The abandoned revolution

THIRD PARTY EVENT organised by Dr Ala’a Shehabi, Bahrain Watch.

On February 14 2011 just days after Mubarak fell in Egypt, the Bahraini people began a popular uprising that has been unabated. We will be asking why do we hear very little about events in Bahrain in the media? What strategies has the Bahraini regime adopted to win the media battle, as well as the daily battles on the street? We will also be presenting the findings of a research project on the PR companies employed by the regime.

The next chapter in a century-long conflict?

With a new coalition formed in Israel, a prospective reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah and a new leader in Egypt it could be said the century-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict is entering a new chapter.

Across the world, the one-state solution is now openly discussed as a possible outcome. We will be bringing together an expert panel to explain the implications of these political shifts.

FULLY BOOKED The next chapter in a century-long conflict?

With a new coalition formed and then subsequently split in Israel , a prospective reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah and a new leader in Egypt it could be said the century-long Israeli–Palestinian conflict is entering a new chapter.

Across the world, the one-state solution is now openly discussed as a possible outcome. We will be bringing together an expert panel to explain the implications of these political shifts.

In conversation with Samar Yazbek: A woman on the frontline of the Syrian revolution

Report by Ivana Davidovic As the violence in Syria spreads to the capital Damascus and the latest reports confirm the deaths of top government ministers, it is certain that the revolution there is entering a new phase. Many analysts believe that it is not now a question of “if” the Syrian regime collapses from within, […]

Radical: Democracy, Not Islamism

Report by Jim Treadway "We were attacked by hammers, by screwdrivers, by knives, by clubs with nails," Maajid Nawaz said of the attacks he faced as the teenage son of Pakistani immigrants in Essex, South London, in the early 1990s. "These were men in their 20s, with shaved heads…it was a sport for them.  They […]

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.

In conversation with Hamid Dabashi: The Arab Spring – The End of Postcolonialism

Renowned author and academic Hamid Dabashi will be joining us to share his reflections on the Arab Spring that challenge current thinking about ‘the Middle East’ and propose a re-imagining the moral map of the region.

ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 2 to 8 July

A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 2 to Sunday, 8 July from Foresight News By Nicole Hunt Following the Syria Action Group conference in Geneva on Saturday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and head of UN peacekeeping Herve Ladsous are due to address the UN Security Council in Geneva on Monday, where […]

Screening: Goodbye Mubarak

With the presidential elections scheduled at end of May, a possible run-off mid June and the trial verdict of President Hosni Mubarak expected Goodbye Mubarak is a timely examination of the period right before the so-called Arab spring. What were the expectations of the uprising and to what extent have they been met so far?

ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 28 May – 3 June

A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 28 May to Sunday 3 June from Foresight News By Nicole Hunt Foreign Secretary William Hague visits Moscow on Monday for talks with Sergey Lavrov. The meeting, which always has the potential to be a bit awkward when it comes to Syria and bilateral issues, will […]

ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 21 – 27 May

A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 21 to Sunday, 27 May from Foresight News By Nicole Hunt The World Health Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review both open in Geneva on Monday. The WHA, which runs until 26 May, is due to agree on a Draft Global Vaccine […]

Is it time for a global conversation on free speech?

By Helena Williams Social media. Free speech. Democracy. These were the buzzwords of 2011, where international movements like the Arab Spring were said to have been fuelled by the power to communicate with one another without hindrance.  The year of unrest has put the spotlight on the role of the internet and social media in challenging […]

#FCBBCA with Timothy Garton Ash: Is it time for a global conversation on free speech?

As westerners face greater surveillance in the name of security, including threats of increased controls in the wake of the August 2011 riots, we will be joined by Timothy Garton Ash and a respected panel of experts to discuss what the historian and commentator has set out as the first principle of free speech: That all human beings must be free and able to express themselves, and to receive and impart information and ideas, regardless of frontiers.

Is it time to create a new global code that governs freedom of speech? We will be discussing this vital issue and examining what such a code would include.

CANCELLED Screening: Zero Silence

Before any political revolution was in sight in the middle east, filmmakers Javeria Rizvi Kabani, Jonny von Walstrom and Alexandra Sandels visited Egypt, Tunisia, and Lebannon to witness the network revolutions already taking place. Following young activists, journalists, and bloggers we learn that silence is no longer an option among those with access to the new digital tools and networks created in the last few years.