Exiled from Egypt several times as a result of her opposition to President Hosni Mubaraks’s regime, Nawal el Saadawi was in Cairo in January  when the demonstrations began in January.

The renowned doctor, feminist and psychologist who has fought for change for more than half a century, was imprisoned and prevented from writing for many years.

Hailed as "mother of the revolution’ she has been outspoken about the need to ensure women remained at the heart of the revolution.

Speaking on Al Jazeera, Nawal el Saadawy, who will be at the Frontline Club on her 80th birthday, said in February that there could be no democracy without women "because women are half the society, or more than half the society":

"So how can you have democracy without half the society? How can you have a revolution, how can you have justice, how can you have freedom without half the society?"

Asked if she trusted the military to keep their promise that they would pave the way to true democracy, Nawal El Sadaawi said:

I trust the power of the millions who obliged Mubarak to fall. I trust the millions, that’s democracy. We don’t need one man or one woman to govern us. We will have a collective revolutionary leadership. That’s the patriarchal capitalist mentality that we should have one person leading the country, leading the revolution. This is patriarchy and capitalism and imperialism.

But we will have a radical change, we will have collective leadership, men and women equal, Christians and Muslims, all Egyptians, will be represented in the leadership, as well as in every government, every committee, in everything. So, in fact, it’s a revolution, it changes life.

You can also hear her talking to Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman about the Egyptian revolution, the fall of Hosni Mubarak and the opportunities for women in the Arab Spring. 

Book tickets to see Nawal el Saadawy in conversation with the BBC’s Razia Iqbal

House refused to testify last month in Alexandria, Virginia, before a grand jury hearing on WikiLeaks and the disclosure of thousands of classified US diplomatic cables. Democracy Now! spoke to House at the Frontline Club about the significance of WikiLeaks, how he helped found the Bradley Manning Support Network, his visits with Manning at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia, the federal surveillance he and his associates have come under, and his experience before the grand jury.

“In my mind, this reeks of the Pentagon Papers investigation,” says House. “Richard Nixon’s [Department of Justice] 40 years ago attempted to curtail the freedoms of the press and politically regulate the press through the use of policy created around the espionage investigation of the New York Times. I feel the WikiLeaks case we have going on now provides Obama’s DOJ ample opportunity to continue this attempt to politically regulate the U.S. media.”

The full transcript of the interview can be found here.

There are still a few tickets left for this Saturday’s unique opportunity to hear WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange in conversation with renowned Slovenian philosopher Slavoj

There are still a few tickets left for this Saturday’s unique opportunity to hear WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange in conversation with renowned Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek. The discussion, which will be moderated by Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, will focus on the ethics and philosophy behind the work of WikiLeaks and its effect on political institutions globally.

Next week Colin Freeman will be recounting his experience of being kidnapped by Somali pirates and Peter Greste who has recently been in the country for BBC’s Panorama will be talking about the Somali people’s struggle to forge a life in a lawless land.

For July’s First Wednesday, a panel of experts will be discussing the expansion of kill/capture missions in Afghanistan, their effect on the ground and how they level with counter-insurgency hearts and minds strategy.

Follow us on Twitter and catch up on any events you missed on the Forum blog or download our podcasts on iTunes.

ALL EVENTS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

If you want to get a measure of what you can expect from renowned philosopher Slavoj Žižek on Saturday, then take a look at the video above, which shows his talk at the RSA last year.

The Slovenian, who is widely held as one of the most influential living philosophers, will be speaking with WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange and award-winning investigative journalist Amy Goodman at a special Frontline Club event on Saturday (2 July).

The subject of the video above is the economic crisis and the end of global capitalism, titled First as Tragedy, then as Farce, which is the title of his 2009 book. On Saturday Žižek will be turning his thoughts to the ethics and philosophy behind WikiLeaks.