News
A Q&A with Julian Assange (part I): on the Arab Spring, phone hacking, and WikiLeaks’ ethics
Yesterday WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize gold medal for Peace with Justice at the Frontline Club. You can read our report of events here. After Assange gave his acceptance speech, there was time for a question and answer session. He spoke in depth in reponse to many questions, giving insight […]
Julian Assange Sydney Peace Prize: full audio
Yesterday at Frontine, WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize gold medal for Peace with Justice. You can read our report of events here. Below you can find the audio of each of the speeches. Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees, director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, gives his introduction: Former SBS World News […]
Julian Assange receives Sydney Peace Prize at Frontline
WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize gold medal for Peace with Justice at the Frontline Club this afternoon. Assange is now one of just four people to have been given the award. Nelson Mandela, the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso and a Japanese Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda are the only others […]
What’s on in May at the Frontline Club
After the long break during which we experienced problems with the website, we thought now is a good time to remind you about the events that we have coming up during the month of May. As awareness of the crisis afflicting the world’s oceans grows, in part as a result of campaigns such as The Fish Fight fronted […]
MRTV: Thousands of Mexicans march against drug violence, demand justice for dead
May 8th 2011 – Thousands of protesters marched to Mexico City’s Zocalo Sunday demanding an end to the violence generated by President Felipe Calderon’s ‘war’ against drug cartels.
Bin Laden death sets up end game for the Taliban
If Pakistan has become such a dangerous place, as the joke doing the rounds of the streetside cafes goes, that even Osama bin Laden isn’t safe there, then the leaders of the Taliban waging war in Afghanistan had better start looking over their shoulders. Conjecture about the involvement of Pakistani authorities in the operation that […]
Is Silvio losing his grip?
Caught with his polls down, and, many believe, his pants down, the Italian prime minister – due in court in April on sex charges – faces ever-louder howls of outrage and calls to quit. His control of the media and populist touch have seen him through similar crises before, but can he escape this time? […]
Insects: new broadsheet photoessay
By Jean-Jacques Gonfier, from the Spring 2011 issue of the Frontline broadsheet (subscribe here) … Open publication
Osama bin Laden’s death: What difference will it make?
Watch the full event here. By Patrick Smith On the day after al Qaeda’s “leader” Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in a daring raid on a nondescript compound outside Jalalabad, BBC Urdu sent out reporters into four cities across Afghanistan and Pakistan. Not to ask questions, but to observe. To sit at […]
My favourite time – Asparagus is out
Three years ago we planted two acres of asparagus in our farm. Last year we didn’t get much crop but this year its amazing. I have never seen so much asparagus in my life. We started the deliveries to London this week and there is asparagus all over the menu. Come and try the new […]
Media coverage of Osama bin Laden’s death on Storify
I’ve been collecting some interesting articles and tweets on media coverage of the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on Sunday evening. Rather than a usual ’round up’ style blog post, I thought I’d experiment with Storify to bring some of the strands together. I was impressed; it’s very easy to use and update. […]
Fukushima: in the shadow of the Semipalatinsk mushroom cloud
As Japan struggles to contain the Fukushima nuclear crisis, comparisons are being made with the Chernobyl disaster, which happened on 26 April, 1986, when an explosion and fire at the Ukrainian power station released enormous quantities of radioactive material across Russia and Europe. Deaths due to the contamination have been put close to a million. […]
Insight with Zarghuna Kargar: The women of Afghanistan
Watch event here. By Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi Women would be the biggest losers if Afghanistan’s peace plan includes a deal with fundamentalist elements of the Taliban, according to Rachel Reid, who hosted Frontline’s talk with Afghan journalist Zarghuna Kargar. Reid sais she had lost hope that peace in Afghanistan would include progress for women. Reid, […]
Elections in Nigeria: what do they tell us about democracy in West Africa?
Despite outbreaks of violence, British Secretary William Hague on Monday hailed Goodluck Jonathan’s victory in Nigeria’s presidential elections as a "significant step forward" "not just for Nigeria but also for democracy throughout Africa. Violence broke out in areas in the mainly Muslim north-eastern states as results of what has been hailed as a fair election came in […]
This week at the Frontline Club – and the last two events of April
Tonight we will be joined by Zarghuna Kargar, the founder and presenter of the ground-breaking BBC World Service Trust radio show Afghan Woman’s Hour, who will be sharing the stories of the women she collected in her new book Dear Zari. Tomorrow night is our final event before the Easter break. In the wake of post-election violence in Ivory Coast and more […]
Ivory Coast: a watershed for African democracy?
Now that defiant former leader, Laurent Gbagbo is in custody and Alassane Ouattara has been installed as the duly-elected president of Ivory coast what are the lessons that can be learned if an election is disputed in the future in Africa? There has been a considerable amount of discussion about the implications of events in […]
Have our leaders learned nothing from the war in Afghanistan?
Conversation among decision makers who gather in London’s private dining rooms has turned from Afghanistan to Libya. Over rare beef and fine wine, they voice concern that Western governments have again embarked on a rushed military adventure, in a far away place, on a vague premise, with no clearly defined goal, and no apparent […]
This week on Frontlne blogs: from whistleblowers to Midan Tahrir
For a round up of the special Frontline Club/ New Statesman whistleblowers event on Saturday 9 April, take a look at Ryan Gallagher’s posts: Whistleblowers make the world a safer place debate Report: Whistleblowers make the world a safer place debate Report: Whistleblowers make the world a safer place debate (II) You can listen to […]
Why the revolution should leave Midan Tahrir, for a moment at least
Davide Morandini on the opposition’s decision to suspend demonstrations, and cancel today’s protests calling for the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) to step down. There is not much to do in Midan Tahrir for the revolution, now less than ever. This is what most of the Egyptian opposition forces seem to realise in these dramatic days […]
Can Arab state-owned media recover from crisis of credibility?
Does state media have a role to play in the Arab world in the wake of revolutions in the region? A panel of experts and a packed audience discussed this at last night’s event, which was chaired by author and broadcaster Tom Fenton and in association with the BBC College of Journalism. You can listen […]
In the Picture: On your doorstep, photography and poverty
Diana Smythe, deputy editor of the British Journal of Photography, was last night joined by Save the Children’s Chris Wellings, and photographers Liz Hingley and Gideon Mendel to discuss the depiction of poverty within their work. By Sophia Spring.
Report: Whistleblowers make the world a safer place debate (II)
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange makes his case at Kensington Town Hall. Photo by Sophia Spring. You can view the full event here. This is part II of our report on the special debate, “whistleblowers make the world a safer place,” organised by the Frontline Club in collaboration with New Statesman magazine. Part I can be […]
Whistle blowers: what people have been saying about the debate
You can view the full event here. Discussion about the Frontline Club/New Statesman debate on Saturday has continued in blogs and on Twitter, under #fcnsdebate. The New Statesman‘s two-part coverage of the event plus video of all the speakers, photo library and live blog is here. Video of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaking, not […]
Report: Whistleblowers make the world a safer place debate
Download this episode View in iTunes Watch the event here. Sir David Richmond makes his case against whistleblowing at Kensington Town Hall. Photo by Sophia Spring. More than 850 people crammed in to Kensington Town Hall on Saturday evening for our special debate in collaboration with New Statesman magazine, “this house believes whistleblowers make the […]
Mexican journalists get survival tips for covering drug-related violence
Mexico’s people desperately need quality journalism if they’re to understand what’s going on in this huge terrain. It’s my guess that as general elections approach in 2012, the suppression of reporters is only going to get worse.
Can the West be trusted to support democracy in the Middle East and North Africa?
What can Western powers do to aid genuine democracy in the Middle East and North Africa and can they be trusted, given the way that authoritarian regimes have been propped up in pursuit of ‘stability’ in the past? These were two themes that emerged from April’s First Wednesday discussion last night, which focused on the way […]
Eight modern-day whistleblowers (part II)
Mordechai Vanunu talks to the press after winning his freedom in 2004. Credit: Getty Images Concluding our run-down of some of the most prominent whistleblowers in recent memory….. Clive Ponting A former senior civil servant at the Ministry of Defence, Clive Ponting leaked information about the sinking of Argentine warship General Belgrano in 1984. […]
The week ahead at the Frontline Club
For tonight’s First Wednesday we have brought together a panel of experts to discuss the changing nature of foreign policy and diplomacy in the Middle East and North Africa in light of the shifting alignments in the region. The panel for Saturday’s fully booked debate in partnership with the New Statesman has been announced. Next […]
Violence in Ivory Coast – what does it mean for Africa’s future?
Events are moving fast in Ivory Coast, with a ceasefire reportedly being negotiated and suggestions that the besieged incumbent Laurent Gbagbo who has stubbornly refused to cede the presidency to Alassane Ouattara may now be considering surrender. At our event on 20 April we will be discussing what message the events in Ivory Coast will […]
