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The Tenth Parallel: Africa’s fault line between Christianity and Islam
From Senegal in the West to Somalia in the East runs a fault line, ‘the knife edge where Islam and Christianity meet’. This area of land separates the continent’s 400 million Muslims from its 500 million Christians.
Join us to discuss Africa’s fault line with New York Times bestseller
FULLY BOOKED Russia: Another six years of Vladimir Putin?
Vladimir Putin is back in presidential office for a third term after four years as Russia’s Prime Minister. We will be asking what the people of Russia think of the man who has dominated the country’s politics for more than 12 years and will now be President for a new extended term of six years?
Tens of thousands of Muscovites have taken part in protests to demand free and fair elections. But how deep and how far does the disaffectedness go? Join us to discuss the outcome of the presidential elections in Russia and what they mean for the future of the people of Russia and its development on the world stage.
Nine years on is the UN still failing Darfur?
Since the start of the 2003 conflict in Darfur, questions have been raised about the role played by the United Nations and the viability of its mandate.
Join us at the Frontline Club to discuss the actions of the UN and whether they are still failing Darfur.
FULLY BOOKED First Wednesday: The problems facing Pakistan and its leadership
Political tension are rising in Pakistan following the the Supreme Courts decision to charge Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani with contempt for failing to re-open corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
We will be bringing together a panel of experts to discuss the deepening political crisis in Pakistan and ask what lies ahead.
Reflections: Matt Frei
In association with BBC College of Journalism
Newly-appointed to Channel 4 News as Washington correspondent, Matt Frei, will be in conversation with former BBC executive Vin Ray to look back over nearly two decades at the BBC before his move was announced in May last year.
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.
Rebuilding Libya
On 15 February 2011, inspired by their Tunisian and Egyptian neighbours, the people of Libya took to the streets in Benghazi calling for the end of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s brutal regime.
Join us at the Frontline Club to discuss the task of rebuilding Libya a year after the uprising began. We will be looking at the work of the National Transitional Council (NTC) and the tensions that remain. What are the prospects of a peaceful future?
Italy after Berlusconi: What now for media freedom?
On 12 November the longest-serving post-war Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi resigned after losing his majority and public support.
While no longer Prime Minister, he continues to control one half of the countries terrestrial TV market and his company Media Set is a big player in the print and advertising sectors. Will Berlusconi continue to wield influence and manipulate the government through his party and media ownership?
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 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 On the media: Becoming a freelance foreign correspondent
This event is now fully booked but you will be able to watch it live here and follow the discussion on #fcfreelance.
With uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa setting a relentless pace in this year’s news agenda, media outlets have frequently turned to freelances to cover events in countries where they are without staff bureaus and wire services.
The Frontline Club, in association with the BBC College of Journalism, will be bringing together a panel of freelances who will discuss the practicalities of life as a freelance foreign correspondent from setting up in a country to finding and pitching stories and dealing with the realities of conflict.
FULLY BOOKED First Wednesday: The Leveson Inquiry – what have we learned?
Since the Leveson Inquiry hearings began on 14 November some of the worst of British journalism has been laid bare by the victims of phone hacking, politicians, journalists and editors who have spoken.
As revelations from the phone hacking investigation continue, join us for the first event of 2012 to discuss what has been revealed about the workings of the tabloid press and what the fall out will be for the journalism industry.
A lively public meeting hosted by Paddy O’Connell of BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House.
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 […]
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.
FULLY BOOKED Reflections: Alex Crawford
Alex Crawford‘s coverage from Libya won her widespread praise after she travelled into the conflict with rebel forces. The first journalist to make it into the city of Tripoli after it fell to rebel forces, she coloured her career further with the occasional arrest, detainment, bullet, IED, tear-gassing and mortar shell.
She will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with former BBC executive Vin Ray to take a look back over her career as a foreign correspondent.
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.
FULLY BOOKED First Wednesday: #Occupy – What do they want?
What began in the financial district of New York City in mid September under the name Occupy Wall Street has become a movement that is spreading across the globe. But what do they want and how do they intend to achieve their goals? Are their aims realistic? Can they have any impact?
Join us at the Frontline Club to debate the aims and objectives of the Occupy movement and to discuss whether it can bring about any change.
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.
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.
First Wednesday: Where has war left the people of Afghanistan?
How do the Afghan people view the last ten years since the US-led invasion and how have their lives have been changed?
Is it just another chapter in nearly half a century of conflict and instability? Is civil war avoidable? Is there any hope for the future and what might that future look like?
Another opportunity to join in a lively public meeting, hosted by Paddy O’Connell of BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, bringing together experts and commentators and mixing their views with contributions from our audience.
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.
Reflections: Martin Bell at the Frontline Club
Veteran war correspondent and winner of the Royal Television Society’s Reporter of the Year Award, Martin Bell has reported from over 80 countries and 11 wars in his time as a BBC journalist. Making his name in journalism for his work during the Vietnam war, and later on as an Independent MP for Tatton in 1997 during a landslide win against the Conservatives.
He will be joining former BBC executive Vin Ray to take a look back at his career as a journalist, MP and UNICEF Ambassador.
FIRST WEDNESDAY SPECIAL: Changing world – conflict, culture and terrorism in the 21st century
#fcbbca
EXTERNAL EVENT HELD AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN.
To mark ten years since the terrorists attacks on the United States, the Frontline Club is holding a special event to look at the extent to which 9/11 has defined our world today and will continue to shape our future.
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.
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.
