Festival of Dangerous Ideas

30 Sep 2011-02 Oct 2011 ,

Fairs & Festivals

Critics' choice

The speakers have been announced

First published on 22 Dec 2010. Updated on 3 Oct 2011.

This event has finished

The 2011 Festival of Dangerous Ideas programme has just been announced and it looks like the Sydney Opera House will be causing a stir once again when some of the world's most controversial thinkers come together for a festival of innovative, provocative and in some cases straight-up crazy ideas.

Jullian Assange is opening the festival in the Opera House Concert Hall (or via video link if he is unable to travel) with his continued argument for transparency in government during WikiLeaks has not gone far enough.

Bringing a seriously radical and dangerous idea to the festival stage, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek will propose that society should Let Us Be Realists and Demand the Impossible: Communism in light of 9/11, the Arab Spring and the Global Financial Crisis.

IQ2 will debate the issues that have come to the fore in the wake of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal during The Media Have No Morals.

Keeping the dangerous ideas rolling, other programme highlights will include euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke discussing his book The Peaceful Pil Handbook; Jonathon Safran Foer urging festivalgoers to stop ignoring the ethical and environmental costs of eating meat; and Mark Thiessen, a former speechwriter to President George W Bush, defending the use of interrogation techniques during his talk Is Torture Necessary?

A selection of the festival's speakers and special guests will come together to present music, satire and conversation in A Very Dangerous Variety Hour to close the festival on a lighter note.

For the full line-up visit the festival website.