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Global Policy Institute
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Rethinking the Public

A Queen Mary Public Lecture Series hosted by the GPI and the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences

 

I. How to save our Democracies?

Catherine Fieschi, Simon Reid-Henry, Rick Edwards, Peter MacLeod, Neal Lawson in a Queen Mary auditorium after the first Rethinking the Public conference

Our first event in the series was subtitled How to save our Democracies and took place on January 29th, 2020. Simon Reid-Henry (IHSS) and the GPI Director Catherine Fieschi were joined by writer and presenter Rick Edwards, public consultation maestro Peter MacLeod of MASS LBP in Toronto, and activist Neal Lawson of Compass to discuss the nature of journalism, the rise of citizen's assemblies, the transformation of the media, and the challenges posed by populists and those who seek to shrink the avenues for debate today. It was followed by a fruitful discussion with the audience.

 

II. The Rhetoric of Freedom

The Rethinking the Public events logo in orange

Our second event has been postponed for now. It will explore the nature of the public realm today and examine the rhetoric of political language and the promises (and pitfalls) of the idea of freedom.
For this event, Catherine Fieschi and Simon Reid-Henry will be joined by acclaimed author Eva Hoffman (Lost in Translation, Exit into History) and literary editor at The Spectator Sam Leith (You Talking to Me?). We will announce a date for this virtual event soon.