Imagining A Better World: Richard Falk & Stuart Rees –– In Conversation With Joseph Camilleri

Public Intellectual – The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim by Richard Falk  

Cruelty or Humanity by Stuart Rees 

Richard Falk has been a towering international figure as both scholar and public figure for the best part of six decades. Stuart Rees has been a pioneer in​ peace and conflict studies and the founder of the Sydney Peace Foundation. These two recently published books ar​e in many ways the summation of their respective journeys which have brought them face to face with some of the world’s most destructive ​conflicts and human tragedies 

We can now announce the exciting program we have put together.

It will be my privilege to engage Richard and Stuart in conversation about how they see the world and its future. I will ask them how amid the horror they have so often encountered, they have found the in​tellectual resources, practical skills and resolve ​to keep imagining a better world. Is this the product of mere wishful thinking or of long experience and profoun​d reflection?  

Given the social havoc wreaked by Covid-19, the potentially catastrophic impact of climate change, abject poverty in so many places, the bloodletting of recent and ongoing conflicts, rising great power tensions, ruthles​s suppression of human rights, gender violence in homes and workplaces, dysfunctional governments and money driven models of education, can we seriously imagine,​ let alone strive for a better world? If so, how? 

To canvas​ these and related questions we have asked several other distinguished thinkers and practitioners from across the international and cultural landscape to join the conversation and give us their reactions to the two books:​ Dr Hanan Ashrawi, Professor Hilary Charlesworth, Dr Punam Yadav, Professor Amin Saikal, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, Prof Raffaele Marchetti, and​ Kirthi Jaykumar. You can download the flyer here.

Each will bring to the discussion something of their rich and diverse insights, hopes and doubts about what the future has in store for us, or to put it more positively what we have in​ store for the future. 

You are warmly invited to join us in conversation. You can register here.

And p​lease extend this invitation to all in your respective networks – friends, colleagues, students, others. Attendance is not everything. Letting people know such​ conversations are happening is crucial. It reshapes our sense of what people are thinking and saying, what is important, normal, or possible, what our ​media and educational institutions can and should be doing. So, please engage with us by spreading the word. 

We look forward to seeing you and friends on 8^th June, 7.30 pm (AEST).