Battle of Ideas 2016

The Battle of Ideas returns to the Barbican on 22-23 October. Now in its 12th year, the festival in 2016 features even more speakers, debates and attendees than ever before. Over the course of the weekend, nearly 400 speakers will take part in 100 debates with an expected audience of 3,000
Speakers to note:

•Leading experts, journalists and academics are speaking at the State of the Nation 2016 which looks to address the opportunities and challenges provided by the vote to leave the European Union. Is Britain divided? What is the future of free movement? And do we still need political parties? Douglas Carswell MP; Munira Mirza, former deputy mayor of London; David Lammy MP and many more will offer opinions.

•Camille Paglia will be speaking on Saturday 22 October discussing the state of contemporary feminism with Institute of Ideas director, Claire Fox

•Ivan Krastev – chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, will be contributing to a discussion on the New Populism with Nick Cater, executive director, Menzies Research Centre; Ian Dunt, editor, Politics.co.uk, and others

•Jonathan Glancey – architecture journalist and author, will be speaking on Utopia Myopia: The Future of Cities alongside Sir Nicholas Kenyon, managing director, Barbican Centre.

•Peter Tatchell – the human rights campaigner will be contributing to a discussion on youth politics today considering the Brexit vote and Corbynmania. Richard Brooks, vice-president union development, NUS and Brendan O’Neill, editor, spiked will also join the panel entitled: Are the youth revolting?

•Amidst the height of election campaigning, the Battle for America strand will tackle the big issues facing our friends across the pond. What should we make of the Trump phenomenon? How should we assess Obama’s presidency? And what do Ferguson and #blacklivesmatter tell us of race in America?

These are just some of the highlights of this year’s festival. This year’s programme includes KEYNOTE DEBATES such as: The great inequality debate: Are the super-rich heroes or villains? · Who are we? Identity politics dissected · What is the truth about ‘post-factual politics’? · What’s God got to do with it? · Cosmopolitanism and sovereignty: what next for Europe?
As well this, there will be debates throughout the weekend ranging from: Turkey: Is there hope for democracy? · The fall of the technocratic experts · What’s wrong with men’s rights? To: Crumbling Bric: What future for Brazil? · What is gender? · Nihilism and terror: how political is political violence? · Genome editing: should we change the building blocks of life?
There are also themed strands of sessions, including: Gender Wars · Utopias · Battle for Education · The Future Now: Science and Technology · Battle for the Economy · Millennial Dilemmas and many more

We hope to see you there.