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Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI) returns to Carriageworks on 24-25 August 2024.
Offering a haven for exploration and a harbour for the curious, FODI 2024's theme, Sanctuary allows audiences to engage with the ideas behind the headlines of the 24 hour news cycle. In a litany of entrenched ideas, shallow information and self-censorship, we desperately need a space where we can engage with challenging ideas in good faith.
FODI 2024 is an opportunity to hear powerful and provocative speakers from around the world talk on important and rousing topics. And also a space, a sanctuary, where audiences can engage with these ideas in a way that we, unfortunately, can’t in the wild. In FODI's Sanctuary you are safe from hype and safe to listen and to ask questions.
Program announcement and tickets on sale in June. Sign up for the latest updates: https://festivalofdangerousideas.com/
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What is the purpose of democracy when it’s become more challenging than ever to tell the left and right apart?
Journalist and filmmaker, Tariq Ali says Western democracy has failed and we are now seeing the emergence of an extreme centre, which ensures no challenges to this form of neoliberal politics is permitted.
Tariq Ali is a British-Pakistani political commentator and a prolific writer, journalist and filmmaker. He has been a leading figure of the international left since the 1960s. His books include The Duel: Pakistan on the Flightpath of American Power, The Obama Sydrome and The Extreme Centre: A Warning.
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In modern Australia, productivity is all that matters, or so our leaders tell us. However the way we have pursued economic growth in the last 30 years has prevented many people from sharing the rewards. We now create wealth via exclusion.
Writer Denis Glover argues that an economy is not a society. We desperately need to confront the working conditions, jobs and lives we want for ourselves and our families – and to choose a future that is designed to benefit all Australians, not just some.
Dennis Glover is an Australian writer and novelist. The son of factory workers, Dennis grew up in the working class Melbourne suburb of Doveton before studying at Monash University and King’s College Cambridge where he was awarded a PhD in history. He has worked for two decades as an academic, newspaper columnist, policy adviser and speechwriter to Australia’s most senior political, business and community leaders.
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In a time of turmoil, what happens when art and politics collide? From prisons, refugee camps and war zones, artist and journalist Molly Crabapple has documented the astounding courage of people living in the worst possible circumstances.
Crabapple wonders whether art is sharp enough to cut through razor wires. Is it time to move art out of galleries and use it as a real agent for change?
Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer who has been published in the New York Times, The Paris Review, Vanity Far, The Guardian, The New Yorker and Rolling Stone. She became a journalist sketching the frontlines of Occupy Wall Street, before covering, with words and art, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lebanese snipers, Guantanamo Bay, the US-Mexican border, Pennsylvania prisoners, New York cabbies, Greek refugee camps, and the ravages of hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
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We all have assumptions of what citizenship means. However, in recent years we are starting to see the envelop pushed with more common law rights being taken away. From Australia shutting its doors during the pandemic to authoritarian regimes acquiring the habit of turning travellers into political prisoners, where is it becoming too dangerous to go? And if an Australian passport does not protect you, what are you owed by your government?
Kylie Moore-Gilbert is a scholar of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. She was falsely charged with espionage and imprisoned in Iran from September 2018 to November 2020 before being released in a prisoner exchange deal negotiated by the Australian government.
Peter Greste is a journalist, author, media freedom activist and professor at Macquarie University. Before joining academia in 2018, he spent 25 years as a correspondent in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. In 2013, he and two colleagues were arrested in Cairo on terrorism charges. They were convicted and sentenced to seven years in a case regarded as an attack on press freedom. Egypt released Peter after 400 days, and he has since become a press freedom advocate.
Ian Kemish AM served as Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Ambassador to Germany, Head of the Prime Minister’s international division, and Head of the consular service in a diplomatic career that spanned twenty-five years. He is an adjunct professor in history at the University of Queensland, a non-resident fellow with the Lowy Institute, a director of the Australia–Indonesia Centre and an Honorary Fellow of Deakin University.
Dr Sangeetha PIllai is a constitutional lawyer and a Senior Research Associate at the Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney. She is an expert on Australian citizenship law and the scope of government power over citizens and non-citizens. She has published widely on this topic, and is a regular commentator on legal issues relating to citizenship, immigration and refugees in a range of media outlets.
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Drawing truth to power is more dangerous in some parts of the world than others. The combination of satire and anger can make the best political cartoons lethal to politicians, unveiling truths around human rights, leadership and freedom. But where do we draw the line between humour, offence and legality? And for cartoonists trapped between censorship and cancellation, what is there still left to draw?
Badiucao is one of the most popular and prolific political artist from China, and he confronts a variety of social and political issues head on in his work. He uses his art to challenge the censorship and dictatorship in China.
Cathy Wilcox is a cartoonist and illustrator who currently draws editorial cartoons for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Over the years she has illustrated over 20 children’s books and been involved in several theatre productions. She has received several Stanley Awards, three Walkley Awards and has twice been named Political Cartoonist of the Year by the Museum of Australian Democracy.
‘Investigative Humourist’ Dan Ilic is one of Australia’s most prolific comedy voices, known for his work across TV, film, radio and stage. Co-host of the popular podcast and live comedy show A Rational Fear, Dan Ilic and Lewis Hobba brings together industry leaders to use comedy to explore big issues.
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Are the ideals of the Enlightenment – reason, science and humanism – and the progress they can deliver being undermined by a cynical desire to burn it all down? Pre-eminent psychologist Steven Pinker explains why problems are inevitable and not a reason to destroy the institutions of modernity, with all the resulting chaos and carnage. The use of knowledge to enhance human flourishing will never bring about utopia, but it has given greater life, freedom, equality, safety, peace, and enrichment to billions, and promises still more if we rededicate ourselves to that ideal.
Steven Pinker is an experimental psychologist who conducts research in visual cognition, psycholinguistics, and social relations. Currently Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard, he has also taught at Stanford and MIT. He has won numerous prizes for his research, his teaching, and his nine books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and The Sense of Style.
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Australia is facing a child sexual abuse epidemic. Brought to light by The Royal Commission and stories of high-profile survivors, the numbers are shocking, and the online world is even worse. But this is not a crimewave we can arrest our way out of. Criminal justice is not enough, and the revulsion child sexual abuse inspires can paralyse more effective responses. However, there is a window for child sexual abuse prevention, if we are not too scared to seize it. It’s time to engage earlier with people concerned about their sexual thoughts or behaviours towards children, so that fewer children become victims in the first place.
Detective Superintendent Jayne Crossling has been a member of the Australian Federal Police for 32 years. For the past five years she has been responsible for the oversight of teams investigating human trafficking, online child sexual exploitation and cybercrime.
Emma A. Jane is an Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney where she researches the social and ethical impacts of emerging technology. Her book, Diagnosis Normal, explores the complex combination of childhood sexual abuse, mental illness and a late autism diagnosis that led to her being who she is today, as well as exploring the impact each has on so many others in society.
Georgia Naldrett is the Stop It Now! Australia Manager, a program which aims to prevent child sexual abuse by offering anonymous support and advice to individuals concerned about their sexual thoughts or behaviours towards children, as well as affected family members and professionals. She is a psychology graduate with a BSc(hons) in Psychology and a MSc in Forensic Psychology.
Dr Michael Salter is the Scientia Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of New South Wales, where he specialises in the study of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
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Since 2009 the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, or FODI to its fans, has curated thought-provoking topics and new approaches to wicked problems.
We bring bold speakers, artists and experiences together in ways that are unexpected, and yes, sometimes a bit uncomfortable, but we are always unerringly authentic.
We’ve never shied away from truth. So, here’s our dangerous truth: Festival of Dangerous Ideas needs funds to go ahead in 2024.
We’re already talking to partners. We’re applying for grants. We're canvassing speakers and artists. We’re telling everyone who will listen about the 11+ festivals we’ve delivered with thought-leading speakers drawn from across the world, alongside art and activations with impact.
But our festival of international significance is expensive to deliver. We keep ticket prices low so that it’s accessible. Our non-profit, independence is both an asset and a challenge.
For the first time ever, we’re asking FODI fans to help keep us in the game. Your donation will go directly to helping us pay deposits to lock in the best speakers and artists from around the world for 2024.
FODI could not be produced without the generosity of our supporters and donors. Our supporters are brave. They are bold. They think about the future and who want to play a role in shaping it. Is that you?
Donate now at www.festivalofdangerousideas.com
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From musical borrowings and dance moves, to clothing, art and stories, it's time to talk about where to draw the line between legitimate cultural exchange and damaging cultural appropriation. As we see more clearly how power shapes culture, the relationships between artistic freedom and protecting culture is shifting rapidly.
It’s time for a bigger discussion about who owns culture, who’s stealing it, who is entitled to borrow, and how to pay a fair price.
Daniel Browning is an Aboriginal journalist, radio broadcaster, documentary maker, sound artist and writer.
Corrie Chen is an award-winning filmmaker and a highly sought after television director.
Coby Edgar is a Larrakia, Jingili, Anglo, Filipino, queer, cis-woman from Darwin. She is currently the curator of Strategic Projects, First Nations at the Powerhouse Museum and has worked in the arts industry for over a decade.
Luara Ferracioli is Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy at the University of Sydney.
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Stories define who we are, our history and they can be weaponised. Stories can erase an entire culture. History is nothing but a story. Noongar woman and author Claire G. Coleman invites you to consider that Australia has been defined by a story that hasn’t been built on truth. That the stories Australia tells itself about itself are actually dangerous; they disenfranchise and dehumanise people, both the settlers and the First Nations people. Colonisation in Australia is not over. It is a process, not an event, and the aftereffects will continue while there are still people to remember it. Hear from Coleman the full story of the colonisation and future of Australia and arm yourself against lies with weaponised words of truth.
Claire G. Coleman is a Noongar woman whose family have belonged to the south coast of Western Australia since long before history started being recorded. She writes fiction, essays, poetry and art writing while either living in Naarm (Melbourne) or on the road. During an extended circuit of the continent she wrote a novel, Terra Nullius, which won the black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowship and was listed for 8 awards including a shortlisting for The Stella Prize.
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In 1970, Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman famously said that ‘the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits’. And much of western corporate culture has lived by that credo, allowing businesses to ravage the environment and trash the rights of workers.
However in more recent times, corporations have seemingly grown a political and social conscious. Is woke capitalism the next step towards a better world? Or is it a form of dangerous hypocrisy that threatens democracy?
Frances Haugen holds a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Olin College and an MBA from Harvard. She is a specialist in algorithmic product management, having worked on ranking algorithms at Google, Pinterest, Yelp and Facebook.
Scott Hargreaves became Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs in 2022, having joined the staff in 2015. Prior to that he worked in a range of private and public organisations, including periods as a political adviser, corporate affairs manager, as a manager of sustainability for a listed company, and managing small businesses.
Carl Rhodes is Dean and Professor of Organization Studies at the University of Technology Sydney Business School. Carl writes about the ethical and democratic dimensions of business and work.
Sam Mostyn is a businesswoman and sustainability adviser, with a long history of executive and governance roles across business, sport, climate change, the arts, policy, and NFP sectors.
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Our modern society is dependent on extraordinary levels of abuse and violence towards non-human animals. While we may love animals, we continue to interact with them in thoughtless, violent and cruel ways. We destroy their habitats, regulate their slaughter, farm and exploit them, and even in extreme circumstances, sexually abuse them.
Historian Joanna Bourke asks us how we can love and care for animals better?
Please note this session contains themes that may be sensitive to some listeners including depictions of animal abuse and bestiality.
Joanna Bourke is a historian, academic and Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy. She is also the Gresham Professor of Rhetoric (London, 2019-2023). She is the Principal Investigator on a Wellcome Trust-funded project entitled SHaME (Sexual Harms and Medical Encounters). She is the prize-winning author of 14 books, as well as over 100 articles in academic journals.
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Former Facebook product manager, Frances Haugen did not set out to be a whistleblower, but when it became a question of saving lives, she knew it was time to tell the truth. On top of her concerns about mental health and hate speech, finding out that the Facebook platform was being used by human traffickers in Ethiopia tipped the balance.
With almost half the people in the world using Meta’s platforms, and leadership of the company vigorously denying her accusation that it values profits over people, Frances Haugen wants to show us Facebook from the inside, so we can see what it really values.
Frances Haugen is a specialist in algorithmic product management, having worked on ranking algorithms at Google, Pinterest, Yelp and Facebook. She was recruited to Facebook to be the lead Product Manager on the Civic Misinformation team, which dealt with issues related to democracy and misinformation, and later also worked on counter-espionage. During her time at Facebook, Haugen became increasingly alarmed by the choices the company makes prioritising their own profits over public safety and putting people’s lives at risk. As a last resort and at great personal risk, Frances made the courageous decision to blow the whistle on Facebook. Haugen fundamentally believes that the problems we are facing today with social media are solvable.
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As we confront the challenges of the 21st century, we’ve been encouraged to think that we can innovate our way out of anything, or that coding and technology are the answers. But what if the most important tools for our time are human skills like compassion, creativity and collaboration? To protect our own futures, it’s time to stop relying on technology to save us and focus on the things that make us truly human.
Jane Caro is a Walkley Award winning Australian columnist, author, novelist, broadcaster, documentary maker, feminist and social commentator.
Osher Günsberg is a television and radio presenter and journalist.
Yasmin Poole seeks to challenge policymakers to think differently. She is Plan International’s National Ambassador, advocating for young women to be heard in Australian politics.
Kevin Roose is an award-winning technology columnist for The New York Times and examines the intersection of tech, business, culture, and the combined effect they have on society.
Alok Vaid-Menon is an internationally acclaimed writer, comedian, poet, and public speaker whose work explores themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition.
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The last few years have seen courageous sexual assault survivors become heroines and heroes, conquering the forces that have silenced them for so long. While laws are changing and we continue to unravel the culture of shame that has protected perpetrators and punished survivors – how can we evolve the conversation? Can we ever get to the heart of the matter, and think about a world without rape? Or are our efforts doomed to failure as we tinker at the edges of an eternal crime?
Please note this session contains themes that may be sensitive to some listeners including discussions of rape and sexual assault.
Joanna Bourke is a historian, academic and Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy.
Jess Hill is a Walkley-award winning investigative journalist who’s been reporting on domestic abuse for several years.
Saxon Mullins is Director of Advocacy at Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy. In 2018 Saxon appeared on Four Corner’s episode I am that girl where she gave up her anonymity to tell the story of her 2013 sexual assault and the subsequent criminal trials and appeals.
Bronwyn is a Wiradjuri woman who has worked all her life for equality and the recognition of First Nations people and their rights.
Sisonke Msimang is an award-winning writer whose long-form writing on money, power and sex has appeared in the New York Times, Foreign Affairs the Washington Post, Lapham’s Quarterly and a range of other publications.
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Our obsession with true crime is everywhere – from news stories and podcasts to the big screen. However in recent decades, rates of almost all crime around the world have declined dramatically, with the notable exception of sexual assault. Meanwhile the number of people in prison has increased alarmingly.
TV and film critic Wenlei Ma, journalist Kate McClymont, and former Executive Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics Don Weatherburn investigate why the data on crime, the inmate numbers and our obsession with these stories doesn’t add up.
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Australia is professed to be the most successful multicultural society in the world. However, with our treatment of multicultural communities throughout the pandemic, a selective immigration progress and fraught ongoing Indigenous relations – Australia continues to deliver some sharp lessons about race. Why is it that some lives are remembered, commemorated and valued more than others?
Delivered in the wake of the Queen’s passing, author and activist Sisonke Msimang explores the preciousness of white life in the precarious face of Black Lives.Sisonke Msimang is an award-winning writer whose long-form writing on money, power and sex has appeared in the New York Times, Foreign Affairs the Washington Post, Lapham’s Quarterly and a range of other publications. She is also a columnist for The Guardian Australia. Currently a fellow at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER), she has fellowships at Yale University and the Aspen Institute, where her work has focussed on the form and content of women’s stories. She served as the Executive Director of a human rights organisation that provided grant funding and advocacy support to amplify the voices of activists living and working across Southern Africa. Much of that work involved gender justice in conflict and crisis-affected countries, most notably Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe.
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In a world where the internet saturates everything, where does the internet stop and our human selves begin? As we’re nudged and pushed by an endless stream of alerts, notifications and recommendations, our attention and money are pulled in directions that seem to only serve the interests of the platforms.
As we’re inevitably drifting towards automation, NY Times tech columnist and host of the Rabbit Hole podcast Kevin Roose, offers us a digital wellness check up in how we can fight back to preserve our humanity.
This session was presented in partnership with UNSW Sydney.
Kevin Roose is an award-winning technology columnist for The New York Times and the best-selling author of three books, Futureproof, Young Money, and The Unlikely Disciple. His column, The Shift, examines the intersection of tech, business, culture, and the combined effect they have on society. He is the host of Rabbit Hole, a New York Times-produced narrative audio series about what the internet is doing to us, and a regular guest on The Daily, as well as other leading TV and radio shows. He frequently writes and speaks on topics including automation and A.I., social media, disinformation and cybersecurity, and digital wellness.
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From Russia and China to America, Turkey and beyond, illiberal leaders have used corruption, machismo, disinformation, propaganda and violence to stay in power and expand their influence for decades.
With authoritarianism now governing over 60% of the world’s population, are we witnessing a backslide in democracy and a more efficient model of governance emerging?
Join historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat as she examines the authoritarian playbook, how strongmen think and what drives them.Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat is an expert commentator on fascism, authoritarian leaders, and propaganda — and the threats these present to democracies today. Author of the #1 Amazon bestseller Strongmen and over 100 op-eds and essays in CNN, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post, she brings historical perspective to her analyses of current events. Her insight into the authoritarian playbook has made her an expert source for television, radio, podcasts, and online events. Ben-Ghiat is Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University and an advisor to Protect Democracy.
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