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/

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.

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. 

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.

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.    

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. 

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.

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.   

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

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.