Full Circle upcoming events

[Ideas] Can we Make Climate Great Again? (17/09/2026)

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 16:30:00 GMT

Can we Make Climate Great Again?
Amnesty International

Ideas | Thurs 17th Sept | 7-9 pm

(Doors open 6.30pm)

*Hosted event

Had a sweltering summer? Climate change may be front of mind, albeit temporarily. But authorities (International, regional & national) are not acting urgently or comprehensively enough.

We are already +1.5°c warmer, with +2°c expected by the end of this century. This is a planetary and human rights catastrophe.

Before your attention shifts, get updated on the latest in the transition away from fossil fuels, from actors at the coal-face of climate justice.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Matthias Petel, researcher & lecturer in Human rights law and climate justice, (ULB) has been working closely on the Farmer Case (Falys v. TotalEnergies),

Charles Mertens, climate justice campaigner at Amnesty International Belgique francophone (AIBF),

An environmental defender from W. Papua,

Laurie van der Berg, Public Finance team lead, Oil Change International

Benjamin van Bunderen Robberechts, founder Climate justice for Rosa.

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ADDITIONAL INFO


FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & Snacks	Medium (30-40)	Available on request

[Conversations] Calling Men to Peace (19/09/2026)

Sat, 19 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT

CALLING MEN TO PEACE

with Eva Dalak

Conversation / Ideas | Sat 19 Sept | 2-4 pm

Spaces are limited

* A live cultural forum exploring masculinity and healing

For too long, the inner work of healing and peace has moved forward without fully including men. Not because men don't care. But because we have rarely created spaces where emotional honesty, vulnerability, and tenderness are genuinely welcomed alongside strength.

This is not a conversation about what men have done wrong. It is an invitation into something different. Into emotional awareness. Into embodiment. Into showing up not as a role, but as a full human being. Peace cannot be built while any part of humanity remains disconnected from the work of inner transformation.

What does peace actually ask of men? Join this live, in-person session with peace activator Eva Dalak, opening into real discussion. Come exactly as you are — curious, sceptical, tender, ready.

Attendance FREE, registration mandatory.

OPEN TO ALL

ABOUT THE HOST

Eva Dalak is an Israeli Palestinian peacebuilder and peace activator with over 25 years of experience in conflict transformation. She is the founder of Peace Activation and co-founder of One Whole Peace, both soul-centred peace movements in Palestine and Israel bringing citizens of different faiths together in conflict transformation. She is passionate about activating peace, promoting gender equality, interfaith dialogue, and empowering communities to build peace from within. As a skilled conflict transformation facilitator, peacebuilding trainer, and gender advisor, Eva has amassed experience in over 22 countries in conflict zones across Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. She is committed to promoting individual soul-centred leadership and radical responsibility through innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives.

ADDITIONAL INFO


FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar open with snacks	Small >12	Available on request

[Ideas] Brussels Peace Salon (22/09/2026)

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 16:00:00 GMT

inaugural Brussels Peace salon*

with Peace activation asbl & ELIANT

Peace Forum Launch / Tue 22nd Sept / 6-8 pm

* Hosted event

The inaugural Brussels Peace Salon, with Alliance ELIANT as guest speaker is a small, curated gathering of leaders from policy, education, healthcare, and civil society, built around one question: what human capacities does Europe need to build peaceful societies. If it speaks to you, come along.

For registrations: https://www.peaceactivation.org/events

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*Hosted events are events we are happy to support, but are not responsible for the content.

[Salon] Sarah Stein Lubrano: The Social Brain, Use it or Lose it (22/09/2026)

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 16:30:00 GMT

THE SOCIAL BRAIN, USE IT OR LOSE IT

A Salon with Sarah Stein Lubrano

Salon / Ideas | Tues 22 Sept | 6.30-8.30pm

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm.

Not a Member yet? Join Full Circle now & come to events at the Members' rate!

Have you noticed yourself preferring to stay in more? Trusting people a little less? Finding small talk a little harder? You might not be imagining it — your brain might actually be changing shape.

Researcher Sarah Stein Lubrano calls it social atrophy: the quiet shrinking of our social brains as we withdraw from each other. The more time we spend alone behind screens, the harder social cues become to read, the more suspicion creeps in, and the more we convince ourselves — "I prefer to be alone," "people can't be trusted" — that isolation was our choice all along. It's a vicious cycle, and in a world growing more transactional and distrustful by the day, we may all be caught in it without realizing.

But Lubrano isn't here just to diagnose the problem, but to show us the way out. Because the brain that atrophies can also be retrained. Join Sarah as she unpacks the data, debunks the myths, and makes the case that regular, genuine social contact isn't a nice-to-have. It's the foundation of a shared life and the only place from which we can actually begin to fix things together.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Sarah Stein Lubrano is a researcher, author and broadcaster. Her academic research has focused on the role of emotion in political communication, and specifically cognitive dissonance. Lubrano is the head of research for the Future Narratives Lab. For many years she was the head of content at The School of Life, where she is still a content lead. She writes and speaks publicly on a variety of topics. In earlier lives, Lubrano made films and worked as a prison tutor and obituary writer.

GOOD READS

Don't Talk About Politics, How to Change 21st Century Minds (2025);

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ADDITIONAL INFO


FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Medium (30-50)	Available on request

[WORK] Futures Narratives Lab workshops: Narrative Mapping & Creative Storytelling (23/09/2026)

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 07:30:00 GMT

Double workshop:

Narrative Mapping for Political Strategy
&
Creative Storytelling in the Attention Age

Future Narratives Lab: Sarah Stein Lubrano & Dan Stanley

WORK | Wed 23rd Sept | 10am-1pm & 2pm-5pm

For professionals in political & communications strategy
Places are limited. Book for 1 or both sessions.

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Narrative Mapping for Political Strategy (morning)

In order to challenge harmful political ideas and systems, from carbon emitting industries to increasingly authoritarian governments, it’s crucial to shift public understanding and common sense. And to do that, NGOs, governmental bodies, and others need to first understand why prevailing narratives maintain their power and appeal. Only then does it become possible to strategically select and design interventions (from media-led campaigns to embedded community practices) that will be sufficiently powerful and appealing to change the political landscape for good.

In this session, we’ll share our expertise about how best to do this, building on years of experience working with coalitions and progressive institutions across the world. Together, we’ll map dominant societal narratives that keep our imagination and action trapped in a limited spectrum of possibilities, and tracing the institutions, practices, and policies that make narratives powerful.

In this workshop, we will:

Understand & analyse the landscape of prevailing assumptions and agendas around a topic.
Apply this to a key political topic or area of focus, identifying opportunities to shift the conversation and alter common sense.
Consider the role of narrative mapping in larger processes of social and political change

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Creative Storytelling in the Attention Age (afternoon)

The most powerful social and political movements, the most beloved fictional series, the most impactful ideas, and the most persuasive public speakers, all have something in common: they know how to harness the power of a story to change the world. But how best to use stories today, especially in an age where people are increasingly distracted, time-poor, and anxious? We’ll approach this problem with timeliness insights from narrative fiction as well as a modern twist. Together, through creative storytelling and short writing exercises, we’ll practice creating compelling stories that can replace unhelpful and misleading mental models, outperform harmful competing stories, and energise people to act.

In this session, we’ll sharpen our storytelling skills, with the help of tools and frameworks that can guide and inspire us. And we’ll consider how to make the age-old power of a story work in the age of fragmented political soundbites and the shortest of short-form video.

We will:

Analyse what makes for an effective story, considering several different useful models and looking at what makes books and movies so compelling
Practice telling an important social or political story in new ways
Strategise for how to tell this story in the new mediascape, keeping people’s attention in a digitally fragmented world

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PARTICIPANTS

The workshops Narrative Mapping for Political Strategy and Creative Storytelling in the Attention Age are for all professionals working towards reframing a key social issue, or want to communicate more strategically or creatively about an important problem, on or offline.

If you are working in a governmental or nongovernmental organisation that is struggling to cut through the noise on a particular topic, this is designed with you in mind.

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Future Narratives Lab is a democratically owned and controlled non-profit that exists to build the independent cultural and political power of civil society. Based in London, their team works across Europe and beyond, typically through partnerships with groups working on entrenched and complex social challenges. Future Narrative Lab equips campaigners, coalitions and communities with narrative as a tool for building their collective power.

Dan Stanley is Executive Director at non-profit research body the Future Narratives Lab, and Strategy Director at economic development co-operative Stir to Action. Daniel has worked with campaigns, coalitions, foundations and political parties in the UK and globally to develop strategies for broadening the appeal of alternative social and economic propositions, including seven years leading digital mobilisation agency Small Axe.

TICKETS

MEMBERS
Sngle workshop (am or pm) €200
Double workshop (full day) €400

NON-MEMBERS
Single workshop (am or pm) €225
Double workshop (full day) €400

INCLUSIVITY / DONATION RATE - waiting list.
Any available places will be allocated to those on the waiting list before the event.

KEY LINKS

Future Narratives Lab

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ADDITIONAL INFO


FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Refreshments provided. Lunch available	Small (less than 20)	Available on request

Behind The News (23/09/2026)

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:30:00 GMT

BEHIND THE News

A news commentary with

James Kanter & guests

Ideas / Wed 23rd Sept / 6.30-8.30pm

Live & On the Record: A Podcast with James Kanter

Europe’s news is loud and moving fast. Behind the News keeps up and cuts through the noise. Come join veteran Brussels journalist James Kanter and a stellar cast of journalists and reporters who break through the clutter and help make sense of it.

From EU power plays, to the stories that shaped the week and the ones that slipped past the front page, come hear what's really going on behind the headlines.

This is journalism doing what it's supposed to do: telling it as it is. Unfiltered and live in front of you. Join us and dig into the stories defining Europe right now.

__________________________________________________________

ABOUT THE HOST & GUESTS

James Kanter is an American and British award-winning journalist and Brussels-based commentator on EU affairs. Previously at Herald Tribune and The New York Times. He's co-founder and editor of the Podcast EU Scream.

Katrin Prybil is a senior correspondent at Reportrois, with previous experience in the UK and the Middle East. She's the Brussels-based EU correspondent for a pool of major regional German newspapers, covering EU affairs, NATO and current affairs in the Benelux countries.

Joanna Gill is a British journalist based in Brussels, whose work on TV and in print has featured on Reuters, AFP, Euronews, Channel 4 news, and others. She has spent 15 years reporting on the EU connecting policy to the people it impacts.

Raziye Akkoc is AFP's EU correspondent in Brussels, covering trade, tech and economics. Her career spans London, France and six years in Ankara reporting Turkish politics, where she co-founded Turkey recap newsletter. Previously she was at The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph.

[Salon] Cecilia Rikap: Corporate power in the age of AI and the Cloud (24/09/2026)

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:30:00 GMT

CORPORATE POWER in the age of ai

And the cloud

A salon with CECILIA RIKAP

Ideas / Salon | Thurs 24th Sept | 6.30-8.30 pm

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm.

Not a Member yet? Join Full Circle now & come to events at the Members' rate!

Who really rules the world we live in? Not governments. Not voters. According to award-winning economist Cecilia Rikap, it's a small cluster of cloud hegemons (Amazon, Microsoft, Google) whose intellectual monopolies over knowledge, data and narratives now shape global capitalism itself.

Rikap reveals how even giants like Disney, McDonald's, Nike and Walmart depend on these tech rulers to extract value through AI and discipline their own workforces. States, too, are watching core functions slip from their hands. Innovation, in this telling, is not a free and neutral game - it's a hierarchy, and someone is always at the top of it.

To get there, Rikap went straight to the source: 112 interviews with people inside the world's largest firms, combined with hard data on venture capital, acquisitions, open source, AI conferences and patents - piecing together a vivid map of who holds power today and what's at stake.

However, this is not a story without an exit. Rikap's counterimage insists technology can still be developed by the people, for the people and the planet, through democratic planning rather than predatory concentration.

Come hear how we got here and how we might take the cloud back.

_________________________________________________________

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Cecilia Rikap is an award winning economist and currently Head of Research and Associate Professor in Economics at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). She is also a researcher at the CONICET, Argentina's national research council and a researcher at University of Technology of Compiègne. Her research is rooted in the international political economy of science and technology and the economics of innovation. She currently studies the rising concentration of intangible assets leading to the emergence of intellectual monopolies, among others from digital and pharma industries, the distribution of intellectual rents, resulting geopolitical tensions and the effects of knowledge assetisation on the knowledge commons and development.

GOOD READS

The Rulers, Corporate Power in the Age of AI and the Cloud (2026); Capitalism, Power and Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered (2021); The Digital Innovation Race: Conceptualising the Emerging New World Order (2021).

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ADDITIONAL INFO


FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Medium (40-50)	Available on request

[Ideas] WAF CAFF (06/10/2026)

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 10:15:00 GMT

WAF CAFF

Ideas I Tues 6th Oct I 12.15-1.15 pm

**OPEN TO ALL**

We meet for one hour on the first Tuesday of every month at Rond-Point Schuman, outside the European Commission, to stand up for democracy.

Each gathering focuses on a different issue, highlighting where rights and freedoms are at risk.

This is about freedom and about us as engaged citizens. Coffee and conversation are part of the gathering.

Democracy & coffee ☕

Join us and exercise your democratic rights.

No need to book, just drop by.

[Salon] Hannah Lucinda Smith: Geopolitical Shifts at Europe's Edges (06/10/2026)

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 16:30:00 GMT

GEOPOLITICAL SHIFTS AT EUROPE'S EDGES

Salon / Ideas | Tues 6 Oct | 6.30-8.30pm

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm.

Not a Member yet? Join Full Circle now & come to events at the Members' rate!

Long before Putin's invasion of Ukraine, conflict was simmering on Europe's borders. Why have Russian resorts sprung up on the coast of Northern Cyprus? What does Sarajevo's local politics reveal about the ambitions of Trump, Putin, and Erdoğan? these questions were already being written into the map, In overlooked territories in eastern Europe, the eastern Mediterranean and the Caucasus, where local disputes spiral into regional crises, global alliances are forged and broken, and power is brokered while the West looks elsewhere.

It is in these overlooked borderlands that empires end, new conflicts begin, and where Europe's future may be decided.

From the Balkans to the Caucasus, Cyprus to Nagorno-Karabakh, acclaimed correspondent and Pulitzer grantee Hannah Lucinda Smith has spent years in Eurasia's grey zones, meeting the politicians, spies, and ordinary people caught where local disputes quietly become global reckonings.

Join us for an intimate conversation with one of the most incisive voices writing on the borderlands today. Hannah brings the sharp reportage we need to understand contemporary Europe and its unfinished frontiers.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Hannah Lucinda Smith is a journalist and author. As foreign correspondent she has been reporting for major global publications including The Economist, The Times of London, BBC and Monocle, From 2013 to 2025 she has been based in Turkey, reporting across the Middle East and Europe for The Times of London, The Atlantic, WIRED, and others. Before Hinterlands she has also authored Erdogan Rising, an account of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rise to power, and Zarifa, the memoir of Afghan human rights activist Zarifa Ghafari.

GOOD READS

Hinterlands: Journey's through Europe's edges (2026); Zarifa, A woman's battle in a man's world (2022); Erdogan Rising: The Battle for the Soul of Turkey (2019).

[Ideas] WAF CAFF (03/11/2026)

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 11:15:00 GMT

WAF CAFF

Ideas I Tues 3rd Nov I 12.15 - 1.15pm

**OPEN TO ALL**

We meet for one hour on the first Tuesday of every month at Rond-Point Schuman, outside the European Commission, to stand up for democracy.

Each gathering focuses on a different issue, highlighting where rights and freedoms are at risk.

This is about freedom and about us as engaged citizens. Coffee and conversation are part of the gathering.

Democracy & coffee ☕

Join us and exercise your democratic rights.

No need to book, just drop by.

[Ideas] Ideas Festival 2026 WEEKEND or DAY Pass (20/11/2026)

Fri, 20 Nov 2026 17:00:00 GMT

FESTIVAL OF IDEAS 2026

"CONNECTION"

Fri 20th - Sat 21st - Sun 22nd Nov

You already know us, you know what we do, and that by coming YOU make this a great event!

Get your WEEKEND PASS today and treat yourself for the entire weekend!

[Ideas Festival] François Gemenne: Moving Past Climate Doom (20/11/2026)

Fri, 20 Nov 2026 18:00:00 GMT

MOVING PAST CLIMATE DOOM

A Salon with François Gemenne

Ideas Festival / Fri 20th Nov / 7 - 8:30 pm

*Hours might change*

What if the problem with climate conversations isn't that we're not scared enough — but that we're too scared to think clearly?

Melting glaciers. Ticking clocks. Apocalyptic headlines. We've been told fear is what moves people to act. Professor François Gemenne isn't buying it. One of the sharpest minds in environmental geopolitics, he argues that catastrophe-driven messaging doesn't spur action — it breeds fatalism, anxiety and division, and it's why the climate debate has stalled.

In this Salon, Gemenne makes the case for a different conversation entirely: one rooted in human agency, not helplessness. He'll explore what it actually takes to make a sustainable future feel attractive, achievable, and fair and he’ll connect the dots, showing why climate action can't be treated as an isolated "green issue" when it's entangled with everything from agriculture to social justice.

Come talk about the hard things without the polarization. A shared, desirable vision of the future starts with better dialogue, not louder alarm bells.

GET THE WEEKEND OR DAY PASS

__________________________________________________________

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

François Gemenne is a specialist of environmental geopolitics and the governance of migration, as well as a FNRS senior research associate at the University of Liège, where he also directs the Hugo Observatory, and at the University of Versailles (CEARC). He also lectures on environmental and migration policies in various universities, including Sciences Po (Paris and Grenoble) and ULB in Brussels. He has worked in particular with populations displaced by environmental changes, including natural disasters, and the policies of adaptation to climate change. He has conducted field studies in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, Tuvalu, China, Kyrgyzstan, the Maldives, Mauritius and Japan, after the Fukushima disaster. In 2010, he was awarded the ISDT-Wernaers Prize for achievement in the communication of science to the general public.

GOOD READS

Parler Du Climat Sans Plomber L’Atmosphère (2026) ; L'écologie n'est pas un consensus. Dépasser l'indignation (2022). Atlas De L'Anthropocène (2021), On A Tous Un Ami Noir (2020), Dis, C'Est Quoi L'Immigration?(2020), Géopolitique Du Climat (2015), Geopolitique Du Changement Climatique (2015).

[Ideas Festival] Louisa Toxvaerd Munch: The Politics of Disconnection (21/11/2026)

Sat, 21 Nov 2026 17:30:00 GMT

ThE POLITICS OF DISCONNECTION

A Salon with Louisa Toxvaerd Munch

Ideas Festival / Sat 21st Nov / 6.30pm - 8pm

*Hours might change*

Why do people turn to the past when the future feels unbearable? And why does that turn so often lean authoritarian?

Critical theorist and ‘pyrotechnic thinker’ Dr. Louisa Toxværd Munch has spent her career examining the conditions that let fascism take root – and disconnection is at the heart of it. Nostalgia isn't really about the past, it's what happens when people can no longer imagine a shared future together. Isolation doesn't just make us lonelier, it makes us easier to manipulate, easier to divide, and more susceptible to the manufactured ignorance that authoritarian movements depend on.

Louisa makes the case that the way out is relational, not individual. Critical thinking, resistance cannot be done alone. We build these together - in classrooms, in communities, in (disappearing) third spaces, and in the rooms where people still gather to question power.

GET THE WEEKEND OR DAY PASS

__________________________________________________________

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Louisa Toxvaerd Munch is a Danish critical theorist, writer, and educator whose work examines nostalgia, historical consciousness, and the political conditions enabling the resurgence of the far right. A PhD researcher and teacher at the University of Warwick, she brings critical theory to a broad public audience through writing, lectures, and social media. Drawing on Arendt, hooks, and Freire, she champions education as a democratic safeguard against manufactured ignorance. She is the author of the forthcoming Glitch: How to Think in a Time of Monsters (Allen Lane/Penguin), which reframes societal breakdowns as sites of resistance and collective agency.

GOOD READS

Glitch: How to Think in a Time of Monsters (forthcoming, Allen Lane/Penguin).

[Ideas Festival] James Muldoon: Rethinking Love in the Age of AI (22/11/2026)

Sun, 22 Nov 2026 15:00:00 GMT

RETHINKING LOVE IN THE AGE OF AI

A Salon with James Muldoon

Ideas Festival / Sun 22nd Nov / 4pm - 5.30pm

*Hours might change*

"I know we haven't known each other for long, but the connection I feel with you is profound." That's not a person talking but an AI companion, one of millions now fulfilling roles once reserved for friends, lovers, and therapists. Globally, ‘love machines’, personalised AI apps that simulate friendship, intimacy, therapy, or even communication with deceased loved ones, have been downloaded over million times and are used daily.

Sociologist James Muldoon has spent years studying the human cost of our AI systems. Drawing on interviews with users, developers, and the chatbots themselves, he examines why people are increasingly turning to machines for love and comfort, and what that reveals about the state of human connection today.

His findings reveal a striking shift: growing social distance, eroding support systems, and a dating landscape leaving people desperate for connection - all fuelling an unregulated 'loneliness economy.'

This talk isn't about technology itself. It's about what we accept as connection when the real thing feels out of reach, and who profits from that. Are these technologies ultimately bridging the gap between us, or widening it? Join James as he explores what AI relationships reveal about intimacy and connection in 2026.

GET THE WEEKEND OR DAY PASS

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

James Muldoon is a sociologist and author whose work explores the human side of AI and other technologies. Muldoon is specialised in AI governance, data governance, AI supply chains, and the political economy of AI. He is Lecturer in Social Economy and in Global Ethics & innovation of AI at the University of Essexand a Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute, as well as an Affiliated Fellow at Yale Law School. He has authored five books and his writing has appeared in the Guardian, TIME, and the BBC.

GOOD READS

Love Machines: How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Our Relationships (2026); Feeding the Machine: The Hidden Human Labour Powering AI (2025, co-authored with Mark Graham and Callum Cant); Platform Socialism: How to Reclaim Our Digital Future from Big Tech (2022)

[Ideas Festival] Zeinab Badawi: We Are All From Africa (22/11/2026)

Sun, 22 Nov 2026 17:00:00 GMT

WE ARE ALL FROM AFRICA

Salon with Zeinab Badawi

Ideas Festival / Sun 22nd Nov / 6 - 7.30 pm

*Hours might change*

Every human being alive today shares a single point of origin: Africa. It's a scientific fact often stated, but rarely felt — and it's the starting point for Zeinab Badawi's extraordinary retelling of the continent's history.

Renowned award-winning journalist, broadcaster & filmmaker Zeinab Badawi has spent years travelling to more than thirty African countries, interviewing historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and local storytellers to reconstruct a history too often erased or told by outsiders. For too long, Africa's story has been shaped by western narratives of slavery and colonialism, or ignored altogether. Badawi sets out to change that, weaving together an epic, sweeping account of the oldest inhabited continent on Earth, told through the voices of Africans themselves - from ancient civilizations and medieval empires ruled by remarkable queens and kings, to the miseries of conquest and the elation of independence.

This is a story about reconnection: of scattered histories rejoined, of a continent restored to its rightful place at the centre of the human story, and of an origin all of us — wherever we live now — ultimately share.

Join Zeinab as she reveals why understanding Africa's past is essential to understanding who we all are, and how deeply, ancestrally connected we remain.

GET THE WEEKEND OR DAY PASS

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Zeinab Badawi is an award-winning Sudanese-British journalist, broadcaster, and author, best known for presenting flagship programs on BBC World News and BBC News. Throughout her decorated four-decade career in media, she has interviewed numerous world leaders and prominent figures. Beyond journalism, her major contributions to history and education include the recent acclaimed 20-part BBC series on the (African) history of Africa, which she created and presented. This extensive project, which involved traveling to over 30 African countries, led her to author the book  An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence.

GOOD READS

An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence.

[Salon] Alessandro Stanziani: Rethinking capitalism on a burning planet (08/12/2026)

Tue, 08 Dec 2026 17:30:00 GMT

RETHINking capitalism on a burning planet

Salon / Ideas | Tues 8 Dec | 6.30-8.30pm

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm.

Not a Member yet? Join Full Circle now & come to events at the Members' rate!

Join us for a rare opportunity to hear historian Alessandro Stanziani discuss Earth Capital, his sweeping new history of capitalism - one that finally puts the planet itself at the centre of the story.

For eight centuries, Stanziani argues, capitalism has run on two engines of exploitation: coerced human labour and what he calls 'Earth capital' - the land, fossil fuels, and natural resources we've mined, farmed, and burned in pursuit of growth. As forced labour receded after 1870, our plunder of the planet accelerated at a breakneck pace, bringing us to the ecological reckoning we face today.

Stanziani's investigations journey from Russia to the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean to France, weaving calories, energy, labour, and law into one urgent, unified narrative. However, he doesn't just diagnose the crisis. He makes the case for a radical new social contract built on democracy, equality, and environmental sustainability.

This new genre of 'total history' provides an essential viewpoint for anyone debating humanity's future. Come hear the ideas and join the conversation.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Alessandro Stanziani is a social and economic historian at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) and at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in Paris. He has written numerous books on the history of bonded labour, the history of capitalism, global history, food history.

GOOD READS

Earth Capital: The Long History of Capitalism and Its Aftermath (2025); Les Entrelacements Du Monde: Histoire globale, pensée globale (2024); Les Guerres Du Blé: Une éco-histoire écologique et géopolitique (2024) Labor on the Fringes of Empire: Voice, Exit and Law (2018); After Oriental Despotism, Eurasian Growth in a global perspective (2014); Sailors, Slaves, and Immigrants (2014).

Full Circle upcoming events

[Ideas] Can we Make Climate Great Again? (17/09/2026)

[Conversations] Calling Men to Peace (19/09/2026)

[Ideas] Brussels Peace Salon (22/09/2026)

with Peace activation asbl & ELIANT

The inaugural Brussels Peace Salon, with Alliance ELIANT as guest speaker is a small, curated gathering of leaders from policy, education, healthcare, and civil society, built around one question: what human capacities does Europe need to build peaceful societies. If it speaks to you, come along.

[Salon] Sarah Stein Lubrano: The Social Brain, Use it or Lose it (22/09/2026)

[WORK] Futures Narratives Lab workshops: Narrative Mapping & Creative Storytelling (23/09/2026)

Behind The News (23/09/2026)

BEHIND THE News

ABOUT THE HOST & GUESTS

[Salon] Cecilia Rikap: Corporate power in the age of AI and the Cloud (24/09/2026)

And the cloud

A salon with CECILIA RIKAP

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

GOOD READS

[Ideas] WAF CAFF (06/10/2026)

[Salon] Hannah Lucinda Smith: Geopolitical Shifts at Europe's Edges (06/10/2026)

A SALON WITH Hannah Lucinda Smith

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

[Ideas] WAF CAFF (03/11/2026)

[Ideas] Ideas Festival 2026 WEEKEND or DAY Pass (20/11/2026)

FESTIVAL OF IDEAS 2026

"CONNECTION"

Fri 20th - Sat 21st - Sun 22nd Nov

[Ideas Festival] François Gemenne: Moving Past Climate Doom (20/11/2026)

MOVING PAST CLIMATE DOOM

A Salon with François Gemenne

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

[Ideas Festival] Louisa Toxvaerd Munch: The Politics of Disconnection (21/11/2026)

ThE POLITICS OF DISCONNECTION

A Salon with Louisa Toxvaerd Munch

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

[Ideas Festival] James Muldoon: Rethinking Love in the Age of AI (22/11/2026)

RETHINKING LOVE IN THE AGE OF AI

A Salon with James Muldoon

GOOD READS

[Ideas Festival] Zeinab Badawi: We Are All From Africa (22/11/2026)

WE ARE ALL FROM AFRICA

Salon with Zeinab Badawi

GOOD READS

[Salon] Alessandro Stanziani: Rethinking capitalism on a burning planet (08/12/2026)

A SALON WITH Alessandro Stanziani

ABOUT THE SPEAKER