protest

January 18, 2012

Frontline Club panel optimistic about the future of Egypt

By Will Turvill There was an overall feeling of positivity in the Frontline Club last night as the panel, chaired by the Observer‘s foreign affairs editor Peter Beaumont, discussed what the future might hold for the Egyptian people after a year of military rule. Indeed, despite recognising the number of challenges facing the revolutionary movement, each […]


December 17, 2011

#FCBBCA Part 1: Women of the Revolution

 By Helena Williams The uprisings that shook the Middle East this year have been a focus of relentless debate. ‘Revolutionary Arab women’ – activists, bloggers and academics – took to the streets and fought both for their country and their rights, capturing the western media’s attention and begging the question ‘what does the future hold […]


December 17, 2011

#FCBBCA Part 2: Women of the Revolution

by Ivana Davidovic  Maryam Al-Khawaja from the Bahrain Center for Human Rights comes from a family of activists, many of whom have been on the receiving end of the police brutality in the Kingdom. So much so that she joked that “Bahrain should adopt family cells in prisons, so family members could spend some time […]


November 7, 2011

El Problema – The true story of Western Sahara

By Paaras Abbas  “We know that somebody is watching us. We don’t know where.” How many of us have a full realisation of the torture the people of Western Sahara endure on a daily basis? It’s a story that has simply not been heard. It is this fact that made last night’s screening of El […]


September 1, 2011

Optimism is a “duty” if the Egyptian revolution is going to succeed

If you want to take part in further discussion about the revolutions in the Middle East and their impact on Western policy, come along to our FIRST WEDNESDAY SPECIAL: Changing world – conflict, culture and terrorism in the 21st century on Wednesday, 7 September. Video streaming by Ustream There has not yet been a full […]


August 3, 2011 7:00 PM

FULLY BOOKED First Wednesday: Where now for the people of Syria?

Since mid – March when the Arab Spring reached Syria there have been continuous crack downs on protestors by Syrian forces. There are claims more than 1,700 civilians have been killed. The authorities in Syria claim 500 soldiers and police have been killed by armed gangs, which they also blame for most of the civilian deaths.

Join us with Paddy O’Connell of BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House to discuss the situation in Syria and what the future holds for the Syrian people.


May 16, 2011

Analysis and debate at the Frontline Club : making sense of the Middle East

Our discussion on Tuesday looking at Realignment in the Arab World – and what it means for Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel, is the latest in a series of events this year which have sought to explain and analyse events in the Middle East and North Africa since the governments of Tunisia and Egypt were toppled […]


March 31, 2011

Egypt’s digital revolutionaries: It’s not about the technology

The special joint event organised by the Frontline Club and the BBC Arabic Service brought together some of the key players, journalists and experts to discuss what has taken place in Egypt over the last few months. The first half of the evening at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, considered the role of technology […]


March 31, 2011 7:00 PM

FRONTLINE CLUB SPECIAL: Protest, technology and the end of fear

EXTERNAL EVENT AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN

The start of 2011 will be remembered as a period in which the barrier of fear fell across the Middle East and North Africa as people took to the streets demanding freedom from the tyrants who had governed for so long.
No one can predict where these momentous events will lead and what the repercussions will be for years to come.

For this special event held at the The Royal Institution of Great Britain the Frontline Club and BBC Arabic Service will be bringing together some of the key players, journalists and experts to discuss what has taken place so far and to try to gauge what the future might hold.


March 30, 2011 7:00 PM

FULLY BOOKED Insight with Ahdaf Soueif: The spirit of revolution in Egypt

Egyptian author, political and cultural commentator Ahdaf Soueif will be joining us in conversation with BBC presenter Mishal Husain, to discuss her experiences at the heart of the protest in Tahrir Square during those momentous 18 days, looking at the roots of the pro-democracy movement and addressing the question of where her country goes from here.


March 30, 2011

Khalid Abdalla: I’m convinced that revolution stage two will come

British-Egyptian actor and producer Khalid Abdalla flew from London to Egypt soon after it became clear that the protests of 25 January were gathering momentum and was there for the Friday ‘Day of anger’ on 28 January. The Kite Runner star, whose other credits include Green Zone and In the Last Days of the City, […]


March 28, 2011

Louis Lewarne: We were in awe of the Egyptian people that rose up

Independent film maker Louis Lewarne started the collectively written blog occupiedcairo.org during the internet blackout and continued to chronicle events in Egypt. Louis who has been living in Cairo since 2006 and is married to blogger and activist Salma Said, will be taking part in our discussion on Thursday on Protest, technology and the end […]


March 18, 2011

We feared a crackdown when they told us to leave Yemen

  Portia Walker, who is now in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, describes her deportation with three colleagues from Sana’a, Yemen’s capital and how today’s shooting of protesters confirms their fears that it could mark the beginning of a government crackdown.     The Yemen Four: L-R Joshua Maricich, Haley Sweetland Edwards, Oliver Holmes and Portia […]


March 3, 2011

The age of “the inexpert” and the unexpected?

Two blogs in the past seven days from different perspectives on the upheaval in the Middle East, raising the question of whether we are in uncharted territory or if the Western media in particular has been talking to the wrong people: In a post titled Middle East uprisings: no one predicted ‘rebellious cascade‘ Channel 4 […]


February 18, 2011

Protest, social media and the importance of journalism in post-Mubarak Egypt

  The Empire programme on Al Jazeera English looking at "cyber-generated" change examined how the media "missed" the warnings of looming trouble in Tunisia. The programme looks at some of the themes which were covered at the Frontline Club’s discussion: The changing nature of protest: does the mainstream media get it? Following the #sidibouzid hashtag […]


February 16, 2011 7:00 PM

FULLY BOOKED FIRST WEDNESDAY SPECIAL: What now for Egypt and its neighbours in the Middle East?

  View in iTunes Following the tumultuous events in Egypt we are holding a special First Wednesday debate to both take stock and to look at the impact that the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak could have on Egypt and its neighbours in the Middle East. We will be joined by experts on the region […]


February 16, 2011

How Twitter and Facebook are changing protests and journalism

    By Will Spens The recent demonstrations across the Arab world, unrest in Ireland, Greece and France and the student protests in Britain have highlighted what appears to be an unprecedented revolt against power structures around the world. Chaired by Steve Crawshaw, author and international advocacy director for Amnesty International, the discussion focused on […]


February 15, 2011 7:00 PM

FULLY BOOKED The changing nature of protest: does the mainstream media get it?

From regime change in Tunisia, persistent calls for President Mubarak to step down in Egypt, and protests in Jordan and Syria to student demonstrations in Britain and unrest in Ireland, Greece and France – we are witnessing unprecedented revolt against power structures around the world. But are journalists equipped to understand the nature of these protests, what drives them and how they are organised?


February 12, 2011

How the People Lost their Fear of the Pharaoh, but is the Regime Getting Away With Murder?

Hosni Mubarak is gone, ousted by a revolution.  As someone who lived in Egypt and can testify to the brutality of the Mubarak regime, I celebrated with the millions of people who were glad to see the back of him.  These picture galleries from the New York Times and photojournalist Matthew Cassell show powerful images of protesters in their pain during […]


August 10, 2010 7:00 PM

Online Protest: power to the people?

View in iTunes Social media has opened up new ways for people to communicate, organise and campaign. But in what ways are people using social media for political ends? Looking at examples from around the world we will be examining the ways in which new tools are being used and the ways they have been […]


June 18, 2009

Iran and those elections – Live tonight

We’re discussing the aftermath of the June 12 presidential elections in Iran tonight. We start at 7pm GMT/11am PST and as usual, if you can’t make it to the Club in person, do please join us online in what should be a fantastic debate. We’ll be streaming the event on the Frontline Club broadcast channel, […]


June 10, 2009

Splitting heads and hairs, Sri Lankan style

“Thanks to you and others, who was taking pics world can remember the sufferings!”. The words are from an email a stranger sent me recently, and should be heart-warming for an old photojournalist who’s packing up to leave struggling Sri Lanka for a while. But the message is about a war that ended 15 years […]


April 21, 2009

Photographing the G20: A tough day at the office

The furore over police attitudes to protesters and police during the G20 protests in London at the start of this month rages on, with clear sides beginning to emerge in the debate. If the police had hoped the focus on their tactics would abate as the dust settled on the protests, the death of Ian […]


April 20, 2009

Photographing the G20: A tough day at the office

The furore over police attitudes to protesters and police during the G20 protests in London at the start of this month rages on, with clear sides beginning to emerge in the debate. If the police had hoped the focus on their tactics would abate as the dust settled on the protests, the death of Ian […]


January 27, 2009

Policing the press

It’s often observed that London’s police force, along with many others around the country, is no friend to the photographer. Photographers – of all stripes, not just working photojournalists – have been complaining about police harrassment for years, but the noise has got louder in the past 12 months. Well-respected publications such as the British […]