corruption
The True Cost of Corruption
By Alexandra Sarabia On Wednesday 24 May, an audience gathered at the Frontline Club for a discussion on corruption and its far-reaching implications. Sarah Chayes and Tom Burgis joined freelance journalist and host of Newshour on the BBC World Service, Owen Bennett-Jones, to talk about their experiences in Africa, Afghanistan and beyond. Chayes is an expert on kleptocracy, anti-corruption […]
The Cost of Corruption
Across much of the world people face a daily battle with corruption. We will be joined by Sarah Chayes and Tom Burgis, whose investigations have taken them deep into the workings of corrupt systems across Africa, Afghanistan and elsewhere. From the local power brokers to the international corporations, they will be discussing what they discovered about how corrupt systems operate, the implications locally and globally, and what can be done to more effectively tackle them.
Screening: Burden of Peace + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Joey Boink.
Burden of Peace tells the impressive story of Claudia Paz y Paz, the first woman to lead the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Guatemala. Ravaged for years by a devastating civil war, in which nearly 200,000 Mayan Indians were systematically massacred, the country today is one of the most crime-ridden in the world. Paz y Paz starts a frontal attack against corruption, drug gangs and impunity and does what everyone had hitherto held to be impossible: she arrests former dictator Efraín Rios Montt on charges of genocide against the Mayan Indians.
Hearts of Oil: Virunga Sneak Preview + Q&A
By George Symonds “They are like my family.” “They’re just fucking monkeys.” On Thursday 15 May 2014, the Frontline Club screened Virunga, a masterful documentary that portrays both the highest of human empathy, and lowest of murderous greed in eastern DR Congo. Present for the Q&A were director Orlando von Einsiedel, producer Joanna Natasegara and investigative […]
Vested Interest: In Hock to Oligarchs?
By Elliott Goat Opening the debate organised by Standpoint magazine, which took place at the Frontline Club on May 1, Standpoint Editor Daniel Johnson began by restating the motion: This house believes that Britain is more interested in doing business with Russian Oligarchs than standing up to Vladimir Putin.
More Alive Than The Living: Putin’s Olympic Dream
By George Symonds “We used to say health to the people. Now we say health to the rich only.” On Monday 3 February 2014, the Frontline Club screened the UK premier of Putin’s Olympic Dream. Director Hans Pool shone light onto the crooked nature of Putin’s very own “fake smile.” Behind the facade of the […]
A country’s struggle between the glamourous world of Eurovision and the unrealistic demand for democracy
By Caroline Schmitt The screening of “Amazing Azerbaijan!” on Thursday, 11th April was followed by a Q&A with the film’s director Liz Mermin. The film contrasts the two-faced Azerbaijan: on one hand there was the glamour before and during Eurovision, carefully constructed by the government; the other side is that investigative journalists like Khadija Ismayilova regularly […]
Mumbai – A Microcosmic Megacity?
Pavements teem, cars crawl and deals are done in Mumbai, a city whose challenges reflect those of the country as it sails towards next year’s general election. As the proud inhabitants of India’s commercial capital jostle and toil, Mark Mistry looks at how infrastructure needs, as well as legislative and political problems in a city […]
Marikana: undermining the ANC?
By Tom Meade "This is merely the worst, the most brutal, the most bloody of thousands of so called ‘unrest incidents’ we’ve had around the country. We have them on an almost daily basis." Cape Town based journalist and political commentator Terry Bell set the tone at last night’s insightful discussion of the Marikana massacre and South African politics […]
Narco Estado: an advertisement of terror
By Merryn Johnson Teun Voeten’s CV reads like a guide to some of the world’s most dangerous places. “For 25 years I’ve been working [as a photojournalist and anthropologist] and seeing pretty nasty things, to put it diplomatically, in Rwanda, Sierra Leon, Liberia, Congo, but this is savagery and depravity that I have not seen.” […]
FULLY BOOKED Screening: U.N. Me
In a film that exposes incompetence and corruption at the heart of the UN, filmmakers Ami Horowitz and Matthew Groff charge an organisation with failing its founding ideals. U.N. Me is a harrowing and dark exploration of how the world’s foremost humanitarian organisation has become a clubhouse for dictators, thugs, and tyrants.
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 12- 18 December
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 12 December to Sunday, 18 December from ForesightNews By Nicole Hunt US President Barack Obama hosts Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki for talks in Washington on Monday, with discussions focusing on strengthening the ‘strategic partnership’ between the two countries. The summit comes ahead of a […]
Afghanistan: “A solution is going to look somewhat ugly”
The important international voices have been ‘on message’ about Afghanistan recently in time for a new British-led NATO offensive in the area around Marjah in Helmand province. At the London Conference last month there was talk of "turning the tide"; NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen believes there is new momentum in Afghanistan; and US […]
New motto of Azeri Government – there’s no such thing as bad publicity?
As the government in Baku continues to crack down on dissent, the least it is concerned with seems to be its reputation abroad.
Youth activist expelled from university
Once I wrote an innocent piece for azadliqciragi.org, an Azeri-language version of Cato Institute’s Lamps of Liberty and I don’t know how, but my dean N.A. at university got aware of it (too old and conservative to surf in Internet). Later followed what my dean called "educational conversation" between us in order to persuade me […]
Mexico should pay attention to International Anti-Corruption Day
Mexicans might be encouraged to do a bit of soul-searching today by a United Nations campaign, which has declared December 9th International Anti-Corruption Day. Why should Mexico be particularly interested? Because, as we reported today, more than 5,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence so far this year – that’s more than double the […]