The discussion will consider the role of photography after the event, and its value in the process of remembering and re-forming understandings of the effects and aftermath of conflict.
Daniel Alexander’ s When War Is Over is the result of a six year project that investigates the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s ongoing commemoration of the 1.7 million Commonwealth War dead from WWI and WWII. Through archival material, new photographic work and aerial satellite images, the project investigates contemporary ideas of permanence, process, scale and commemoration.
Chloe Dewe Mathews’ Shot at Dawn depicts the sites at which British, French and Belgian troops were executed for cowardice and desertion between 1914 and 1918. The images are accompanied by the names and dates of those executed at these sites, creating a form of memorial for these soldiers.
They will be joined in conversation by Hilary Roberts, research curator of photography at the Imperial War Museum. Her recent publications include The Great War: A Photographic Narrative. She has curated and worked on a number of exhibitions related to photography and conflict, including Shaped By War: Photographs by Don McCullin, Cecil Beaton: Theatre of War, Donavan Wylie: Vision as Power and currently on at the IWM, Lee Miller: A Woman’s War.
Photo: Daniel Alexander, ledgers listing the names of all the WWI Commonwealth War dead
]]>Days after the September 11 attacks, a CIA Predator in Afghanistan executed the world’s first lethal drone strike. The technology used had been nurtured and developed by the agency for almost a decade, with the aim to monitor targets and take lethal action instantly.
Since then, remotely-piloted aircraft have played a critical role in America’s global counterterrorism operations and have been deployed in conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. They are also used in a secret war, a war that the American government insists is legal, in which drones scour the skies of Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia in search of militant and terrorist targets.
The CIA claims that its armed drones are ‘the most precise weapon ever invented,’ but what is the true cost? In a new book, Sudden Justice, investigative journalist Chris Woods explores the secretive history of the United States’ use of armed drones. He will be joining us to explore that history and the key role they play on today’s battlefields and in covert targeted killings.
Chris Woods is a widely-published investigative journalist who specialises in conflict and national security issues. A former senior BBC Panorama producer, he has authored some of the key investigations into covert US drone strikes and their true effects. He was recently awarded the Martha Gellhorn Journalism Prize for his work.
Chaired by Mark Urban, diplomatic and defence editor for BBC Two’s Newsnight. He is the author of several books including Big Boys’ Rules: The SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA, The Tank War and Task Force Black: The explosive true story of the SAS and the secret war in Iraq.
]]>There are 12 billion bullets produced every year – almost two bullets for every person on the planet. Guns kill as many as 500,000 people every year. Tearing lives apart, they impact not only the dead, the wounded, the suicidal and the mourning, but have far-reaching effects on society and communities.
In a hard-hitting exploration, award-winning investigative journalist Iain Overton journeyed to over 25 countries, from South Africa to Iceland, Honduras to Cambodia, to try and understand the true impact of gun crime.
From porn starlets who appear as snipers in XXX films, Zionist anti-terror gun trainers, El Salvadoran gangland killers and South African doctors soaked in the blood of gunshot victims, Overton tells the harrowing and sobering stories of lives directly affected by guns.
Iain Overton will be joining us in conversation with writer and author of The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade, Andrew Feinstein, to discuss what he has learnt about the impact of gun crime, the relationships we have with guns and the place they occupy in every day life.
Iain Overton is Director of Investigations at the London-based charity Action on Armed Violence and an investigative journalist who has worked in over eighty countries around the world. Reporting from the killing zones of Colombia, Iraq and Somalia, he has made films for the BBC, ITN and Al Jazeera, as well as working with The Guardian, The Independent and The Sunday Times. He was founding editor of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and is author of Gun Baby Gun.
]]>France is in mourning after three days of violence that saw 17 of its citizens killed. Violent events began on Wednesday 7 January with the brutal attack on the offices of satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo and ended two days later with sieges on two hostage sites.
As the country begins to come to terms with what has happened, we will be joined by a panel to take a view of events and to discuss the repercussions for society and security in France. We will also be tackling the arguments around the use of freedom of expression.
Chaired by James Coomarasamy, presenter of Newshour on the BBC World Service and former BBC Paris Correspondent. He has just returned from Paris where he was presenting Newshour on the World Service and The World Tonight on Radio 4.
The panel:
Maajid Nawaz is co-founder and chairman of Quilliam. His work is informed by years spent in his youth as a leadership member of a global Islamist group, and his gradual transformation towards liberal democratic values, documented in his autobiography Radical.
Natalie Nougayrède is a columnist, leader writer and foreign affairs commentator for The Guardian. She was previously executive editor and managing editor of Le Monde.
Peter Neumann is professor of security studies at the department of war studies, King’s College London, and serves as director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), which he founded in early 2008.
Nesrine Malik is a Sudanese-born writer and commentator, focusing on Middle Eastern politics and minority matters in the UK.
]]>
This event is off the record, please refrain from filming and reporting the discussion.
The scale of journalist and aid-worker kidnappings in Syria has raised questions about government policies on paying ransoms and the use of media blackouts.
In the US, President Barack Obama has ordered a comprehensive review of US policy governing efforts to free American hostages, but has made clear he is still opposed to the payment of ransoms, in contrast to some of his European counterparts.
There have long been questions within the news industry about whether the use of media blackouts are effective. The head of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon, has now said he believes they are “no longer an effective strategy”.
We will be bringing together a panel to debate the current policies towards ransom and blackouts. We will be asking if they need to be reformed, and if so, what they should look like in the future.
Chaired by Richard Sambrook, professor of journalism and director at the Centre for Journalism, Cardiff University. He is a former director of Global News at the BBC where he worked as a journalist for 30 years as a producer, editor and manager. He is the chairman of the International News Safety Institute (INSI).
The panel:
Anthony Loyd is an award-winning correspondent and writer. He is currently roving foreign correspondent for The Times and author of My War Gone By I Miss It So.
Joel Simon (via Skype) is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). He has written widely on media issues and is author of the recently published The New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom.
Carl Newns, head of media office and press secretary to the foreign secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
Diane Foley (via Skype) is the mother of James Foley, a journalist who was killed by ISIS in August 2014.
An adviser from Terra Firma Risk Management.
]]>Foreign fighters are travelling to Syria and Iraq on an ‘unprecedented scale’ according to a recent United Nations report, which finds that 15,000 people have travelled to fight alongside the Islamic State (ISIS) and similar extremist groups.
The British and other governments are now left with the difficult decision of how to treat these individuals if they do return. A new Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill proposing new counter-terror powers, including temporary exclusion orders and the powers to seize passports of terror suspects, has been met by concern that it threatens civil liberties.
We will be joined by a panel of experts to debate this new bill and the measures it sets out. We will be examining the problem faced by the UK and others governments, and discussing long term solutions.
Chaired by CBS News foreign correspondent, Clarissa Ward.
The panel:
Shiraz Maher is a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ISCR) at King’s College. He is currently coordinating the centre’s research on the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts. He also researches the development of Salafi-Jihadi ideology, and jihadist organisations in the broader Middle East.
Moazzam Begg is one of nine British citizens who were held at Camp X-Ray, Guantánamo Bay by the US government. He was released on January 25 2005 without charge. He is the director of Cageprisoners and author of Enemy Combatant. This year he was imprisoned by the British government on charges relating to Syria, his case was later dropped.
Richard Barrett is the senior vice president for special projects at the The Soufan Group. He is a former British diplomat and intelligence officer who from March 2004 to January 2013 headed the United Nations Monitoring Team concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban.
]]>Thirteen years on from the 9/11 terrorist attack on the US by Al Qaeda, how has the organisation evolved around the world and what are its links with developing groups such a ISIS and al-Shabaab?
With sophisticated social media strategies and professional promotional videos, we will be looking at the tactics being deployed, both on the ground and online, and how they differ from what we have seen from Al Qaeda.
A panel of experts will be joining us to examine the tactics and strategies these affiliated groups have developed and what is being done to combat them.
Chaired by foreign affairs editor of Sky News, Sam Kiley.
The panel:
Peter Neumann is professor of security studies at the department of war studies, King’s College London, and serves as director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), which he founded in early 2008.
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a student at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and a Shillman-Ginsburg fellow at the Middle East Forum. He focuses on developments in Syria and Iraq, particularly jihadist militant groups.
Patrick Cockburn, a Middle East correspondent since 1979, first for the Financial Times, then for The Independent. He has covered the conflict in Syria extensively since protests began in 2011. He is author of several books including The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq, Muqtada Al-Sadr and the Battle for the Future of Iraq and most recently The Jihadis Return: Isis and the New Sunni Uprising.
Dr Alia Brahimi is a visiting research fellow at the Oxford University Changing Character of War Programme at Pembroke College, Oxford. She was previously a research fellow at LSE and a research fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford. She is the author of Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror, as well as a number of academic and press articles on al-Qaeda’s evolving ideology and strategy.
]]>https://soundcloud.com/frontlineclub/the-fog-of-peace
In war there is rarely a single action or answer that will bring peace. As we are seeing with the conflict in Syria, the process of negotiation and resolution is incredibly complex. As the focus swings from intervention to international conferences, how do you begin to forge an agreement?
In a unique account of the process of conflict resolution, The Fog of Peace: The Human Face of Conflict Resolution offers an insight into psychological theories, geopolitical realities and first-hand peace-making experience.
The authors will be joining us to share their analysis of international diplomacy and the complexities of conflict resolution. They will be exploring the question of intervention and examining the impact of the changing nature of warfare and technology.
Chaired by Channel 4 News presenter, Jon Snow.
With:
Gabrielle Rifkind is the director of the Middle East programme at Oxford Research Group. She is a group analyst and specialist in conflict resolution immersed in the politics of the Middle East. Rifkind combines in-depth political and psychological expertise with many years’ experience in promoting serious analysis and discreet dialogues with groups behind the scenes.
Giandomenico Picco served as under-secretary general of the United Nations and was personal representative of the secretary general for the United Nation year of dialogue amongst civilisations. He led the task force negotiations to end the Iran-Iraq war and the freedom of Western hostages from Lebanon. Over decades he helped securing the freedom of 127 individuals unjustly detained from 4 different countries.
]]>March this year will mark ten years since the invasion of Iraq. In those ten years in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, the media has embedded with British troops in an effort to report the conflicts.
We will be joined by an expert panel to look at the nature of the engagement between the British military and the media, in light of more than ten years of conflict overseas.
As we see changes in the British military, the media and the nature of conflict zones, how will this relationship develop? We will be examining the management of the media and the judgements that are made about what to and what not to show.
Chaired by Stewart Purvis, Professor of television journalism at City University London. He is a former Editor-in-Chief and CEO of ITN, and Ofcom’s Partner for Content and Standards.
The panel:
Lorna Ward, deputy foreign news editor at Sky News, currently deployed as Media Advisor to ISAF Deputy Commander, Afghanistan. In her position at Sky she runs the international news input and has spent a considerable time in the field as a reporter and producer. Previously, she was mobilised while in the TA; deploying in charge of a Combat Camera Team attached to British infantry units across Iraq, and US special forces in Baghdad.
Vaughan Smith is a news pioneer who founded the Frontline Club in London in 2003. Since the 80s Vaughan has worked as an award-winning independent cameraman and video news journalist covering wars and conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo and elsewhere.
Robert Fox has worked as a journalist and broadcaster since 1967, and is defence correspondent for the Evening Standard.He is member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Royal Institute for International Affairs, Chatham House.
Major General Jonathan Shaw was chief of staff of UK Land Forces between 2007 and 2008. He joined the Parachute Regiment in 1981 and went on to serve in the Falklands, Kosovo and Iraq before joining the MoD. He currently advises Digital Barriers plc and OPTIMA Defence & Security.
]]>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?
]]>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? Less than five months into a new campaign in Libya, is it time that we reassess our involvement in the Arab world?
We will also be examining the doctrine of counterinsurgency – or COIN – that was advocated so strongly in both Afghanistan and Iraq and asking what lessons can be learnt that could shape future policy.
Chaired by David Loyn, BBC’s international development correspondent
With:
Frank Ledwidge, served in the Balkan wars and Iraq as a military intelligence officer and in Afghanistan as a civilian advisor. Former lecturer at the RAF College, Cranwell and author of Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Jean MacKenzie, senior correspondent for GlobalPost and former program director for the Institute for War & Peace Reporting in Kabul. She has reported from Afghanistan since 2004 and written extensively about the war. She is currently working on a chapter on counterinsurgency in Afghanistan for a book project being sponsored by NYU.
Malte Roschinski, security consultant, political analyst and author based in Germany. As journalist with AFP news agency, he reported from post-Taliban Afghanistan in late 2001. Lived for eight months in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2010, working as intelligence analyst for clients in the humanitarian sector.
]]>