The far right and fascists are on the rise around the world. Why are people attracted to these groups and ideas, and what can we do about it?

In this short interactive presentation and discussion, social theorists Max Haiven and Sarah Stein Lubrano will examine what motivations attract people to far right ideas, what can (and crucially, can’t!) move people away from these positions, and how those who care about fighting back against the rise of the far right should focus their efforts. A mix of social science, psychology, and activist practice will inform thinking on all three. 

Max and Sarah will first discuss three key motivations of those attracted to far right and fascist ideas. Then, together, we’ll consider the role of paranoia, opportunism and an attraction to power, or “psychedelic thinking”. Then we’ll examine some potentially surprising things that don’t work, from voting to debating to sympathising with the far right. Finally, we’ll consider which people can really be moved, with words, relationships, and actions.

nature's genius & RaDICAL HUMAN EVOLUTION

A Salon with David Farrier

 Ideas Festival  / Fri 28th Nov / 7-8:30 pm

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

David Farrier is Professor of Literature and the Environment at the University of Edinburgh and author of Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils (which was a Times and Telegraph book of the year in 2020) and Nature's Genius: Evolution's Lessons for a Changing Planet (published this year). Through his research and engagement, he aims to offer responses to the current environmental crisis. He combines various angles (literature, science, history, ecology, philosophy) to reflect on the challenges posed by the Anthropocene, the future of the planet and the transformation of its ecosystems. His latest book, Nature's Genius, encourages a creative and adaptive approach to climate change and environmental destruction. By learning from the natural world's ability to adapt and thrive, it can inspire resistance against ongoing ecological decline and build a sustainable future. 

GOOD READS

Nature's Genius, Evolutions' Lessons for A Changing Planet (2025); Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils (2020); Anthropocene Poetics: Deep Time, Sacrifice Zones and Extinction (2019).

MORNING COFFEE MEET UP

Start the morning in style

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 29th Nov / 9:30 am-12 pm

Creative ART Workshop

with Silvia Alba

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 29th Nov / 10:30 am-4 pm

Join us for a powerful mixed-media workshop where we use the art of embroidery to explore the theme of 'resist'.

Discover how simple materials and techniques can become tools of expression and sense-making. In this hands-on session you'll work with fabric, needle and thread, explore universal symbols of defiance and strength, and transform simple materials into a personal statement piece. With the guidance of Brussels-based creative Silvia Alba you’ll take part in the creation of a unique, collective work of art that tells stories of resistance and resilience.  

No prior experience is needed – just bring your passion to create and resist what needs to change. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

FROM ASHES TO ACTION,

A FUTURE WE CAN RESIST

Tine Hens & David Farrier in conversation

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 29th Nov / 11:30 am - 1 pm

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Tine Hens is a Belgian historian and independent journalist for MO*, Knack and Apache, among others. She focuses mainly on climate and biodiversity and the ecological transition we are facing. She has just published Archief Van Mogelijk Verlies (Archive of possible loss) - book, composition and exhibition at once - on the many ordinary plants, animals and natural phenomena like snow, glaciers, or "the darkness" that could disappear due to intense human activity. In 2017 she won the press award from the Federal Council for Sustainable Development. She's also author of Het Klein Verzet (2015) (Small Resistance), Een Tocht Door Europa Naar Hoe Het Anders Kan (A journey through Europe to how it could all be different) and Het Is Allemaal De Schuld Van De Chinezen! (2021) (It's all fault of the Chinese!) on typical dead-enders in climate talks. In De Wereld Die We Delen (2022) (The World We Share), she tells the story of humans as part of all life on this planet.

David Farrier is Professor of Literature and the Environment at the University of Edinburgh and author of Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils (which was a Times and Telegraph book of the year in 2020) and Nature's Genius: Evolution's Lessons for a Changing Planet (published this year). Through his research and engagement, he aims to offer responses to the current environmental crisis. He combines various angles (literature, science, history, ecology, philosophy) to reflect on the challenges posed by the Anthropocene, the future of the planet and the transformation of its ecosystems. His latest book, Nature's Genius, encourages a creative and adaptive approach to climate change and environmental destruction. By learning from the natural world's ability to adapt and thrive, it can inspire resistance against ongoing ecological decline and build a sustainable future. 

Gong Recharge

Take A Pause
with Gabriela Garcia Toledo & Claudio Salinas

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 29th Nov / 2-2:30 pm

RECLAIM the digital world with fair design

 A fair-tech workshop with Ctrl+Alt+Reclaim

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 29th Nov / 2:30-4 pm

What is the problem with your feeds? Does your social media feed actually serve you, or are you serving it? And why is it so difficult to get off your phone? Ctrl+alt+reclaim thinks it’s a matter of design. In today's attention economy, feeds are not designed for our wellbeing, but to prolong time spent on the app at any cost. The need to reclaim our role in the digital space has never been more critical.

As the first generation to grow up online, this pioneering European youth movement understands all that the internet can bring: community and connection across continents and cultures, participation in world-changing movements, access to information and services as never before. But some Big Tech CEOs (we all know who) have transformed this product of collective creativity into harmful platforms, algorithms that are addictive by design, an intrusive business model that turns our lives into data to be profited from. 

It's time to resist and reclaim our digital world. To move away from addictive and manipulative design and even reclaim the ideal social media. How? Join Emma and Leandra from ctrl+alt+reclaim to find out and do it together. We will  explore the forces shaping your feeds and your attention, and how the youth is reclaiming this relationship. Together, we'll get to the bottom of addictive design, while identifying what we actually want social media to look like, serving public interest, rather than corporate profits.

ABOUT THE HOST

Gong Recharge

Take A Pause
with Gabriela Garcia Toledo & Claudio Salinas

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 29th Nov / 4-4:30 pm

HOW THE WORLD EATS

A Salon with Julian Baggini

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 29th Nov / 4:30-6 pm

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Julian Baggini is a bestselling author, speaker and popular philosopher. His books include How the World Thinks, The Virtues of the Table; and The Pig That Wants to be Eaten. He has served as Academic Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Leeds and has been a member of the Food Ethics Council since 2016. He has written for the Guardian, the Observer, the TLS, Financial Times and Prospect, among many others, and has been interviewed on TV and radio as well as speaking at countless festivals and events.

GOOD READS

How the World Eats, A Global Food Philosophy (2024); How the World Thinks: A Global History of Philosophy (2018); A History of Truth: Consolations for a post-truth world (2017); Freedom Regained: The Possibility of Free Will (2015); The Ego Trick (2012); Should You Judge This Book by Its Cover? (2009); The Pig That Wants to be Eaten and 99 Other Thought Experiments (2005); What's It All About? Philosophy and the Meaning of Life (2004); Atheism: A Very Short Introduction (2003).

EUROPE SHOULD NOT REARM

A Salon with Robert Skidelsky

 Ideas Festival  / Sat 29th Nov / 6:30-8 pm

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Robert Skidelsky is a British economic historian and Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick. He is the author of a three-volume biography of the economist John Maynard Keynes (1983, 1992, 2001) that won five prizes, and of other notable works. He was made a member of the House of Lords in 1991 (he sits on the cross-benches) and elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1994, and chairs the Centre for Global Studies. 

GOOD READS

The Machine Age (2024); What’s Wrong with Economics? A Primer for the Perplexed (2020); How Much is Enough? The Love of Money and the Case for the Good Life, (2012, co-written with Edward Skidelsky); Keynes: The Return of the Master (2010); John Maynard Keynes: 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman (2003).

Creative Writing Workshop

with Fintan O'Higgins

 Ideas Festival  / Sun 30th Nov / 11:00 am - 12.30 pm

This is a workshop for experienced creative writers and for those who are new to the art. You will come into the workshop with a blank page and come out with the kernel of an idea, or a character, or a germ of a story. You won't be able to believe that you can make so much progress in so little time! 

If you came last year, join again - we'll be mixing up the discussion. 

And finally, if you came last year AND you have produced a fully fledged story, come back and share it with us. 

ABOUT THE HOST

news round up
highlights from this week on 'resist'

A news commentary with

James Kanter, Julia Payne, Joanna Gill, Diego Velazquez, Olga Chladkova, 

 Ideas Festival  / Sun 30th Nov / 11:00 am - 12.30 pm

Come get your news fix and morning coffee in our welcoming House Lounge and enjoy a curated selection of insightful stories from this week on the theme of ‘resist’. Spanning from tech to climate and all in between, this stellar panel of Brussels-based journalists will delve into this week’s main events around the world, offer skilled analysis and comment, and also dare to take a leap into the next developments. 

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Philosopher lunch

with Julian Baggini

 Ideas Festival  / Sun 30th Nov / 1-2 pm

Enjoy a memorable, intellectual lunch in the company of our House philosopher Julian Baggini.

He doesn’t shy away from discussing any subject, so feel free to bring up philosophical topics as much as current events, personal dilemmas, ethics, food, and more in this casual, free-flowing conversation over a delicious meal.  

ABOUT THE HOST

PEACE WILL NOT VANISH

A guided conversation with the Flamingo Collective

 Ideas Festival  / Sun 30th Nov / 2-3:30 pm

ABOUT THE HOST

The Flamingo Collective is an eco-feminist cooperative of freelancers and activists supporting progressive organisations and activists to reimagine and build braver, more systemic solutions to injustice. Rooted in intersectional feminist values, we work collaboratively to transform power, foster inclusive leadership, and nurture spaces for deep reflection, critical conversation, and collective sense-making.

KEY LINKS

Flamingo Collective

ON BUILDING GENUINE SOLIDARITY

A Salon with Rachel Shabi

 Ideas Festival  / Sun 30th Nov / 4-5:30 pm

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Rachel Shabi is an award-winning journalist specialising in the Middle East and who has written for the Guardian, New York Times, Independent, New Statesman, Al Jazeera and The Times. She has reported extensively on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and in 2011 she was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for journalism. Her previous bookNot the Enemy – Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands won a National Jewish Book Award. She has also received the Anne Lindh Award for reporting across cultures and the International Media Awards Cutting Edge Journalism Prize, both in 2011.

GOOD READS

Off-White: The Truth About Antisemitism (2024); We Look Like the Enemy: The Hidden Story of Israel's Jews from Arab Lands (2009).

WE CAN FIX IT!

A Salon with Kimberly Nicholas

 Ideas Festival  / Sun 30th Nov / 6-7:30 pm

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Prof. Kimberly Nicholas is a climate & sustainability scientist at Lund University in Sweden. She has published over 65 articles on climate and sustainability in leading peer-reviewed journals; writes for publications such as Elle, The Guardian, Scientific American, and New Scientist; and is the author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller Under The Sky We Make: How to be Human in a Warming World,  the monthly climate newsletter We Can Fix It, and the newly created SHIFT, the Super Hight-Impact Initiative for Fixing Tomorrow, a guide to meaningful climate action that makes a real difference.  She gives lectures and moderates meetings internationally across public policy, civil society, arts and culture, the wine industry, foundations, and academia. Her work has been featured by outlets including the BBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many more. She holds a PhD in Environment and Resources at Stanford University. 

GOOD READS

Under The Sky We Make: How to be Human in a Warming World (2021)