Here are some of the panels being hosted at Greenbelt Festival this August. There will be other conversations too – with the co-operative organisations in our Exchange venue, in the Amal venue and in the Christian Aid venue. There will also be interviews and conversation, too – such as the one around Jo Cox’s More in Common legacy. Plenty to get your teeth stuck into; tackling the big issues of the day.
Friday
The Hot House:debates for The Common Good
What makes for a good debate?
Looking past the ‘Punch and Judy’ of Westminster politics – which understandably turns us off from the idea of debate and argument – our associates Winchester University take us back to what a good debate might look like and how to have one. In a divided society, it is vital that we learn to disagree and debate well. Ahead of set-piece Hot House debates over this weekend, this opening session will explore how to debate and disagree robustly and well. Something we all need to do better.
In association with Winchester University
Towards a New Heaven, New Earth?
Darton Longman and Todd are proud to be at Greenbelt to launch a groundbreaking new essay collection: ‘Reclaiming the Common Good.’ In this panel session, editor Virginia Moffatt and three of the essayists, Simon Barrow, Henrietta Cullinan and the Rev Dr Simon Woodman, discuss how the common good has been lost and how it might be reclaimed. In the light of the 2017 election result they will argue now is time for Christians to work together to help rebuild this broken world.
This event will be hosted by the Christian think tank Ekklesia.
Saturday
Business as usual?
Almost 10 years on from the financial crash of 2008 and the resulting longest, deepest recession in living memory, it seems like the banks, the financial institutions (and those of us who use them, let’s be honest!) are still largely behaving in the same when it comes to finance. It’s business as usual. It feels like we’re stuck in age-old financial patterns and systems and governments and banks have too many vested interests to change. But are there alternative ways in which to think about our money and run an economy? Join a panel of experts as they debate whether we might need to move beyond the system and welcome in the new. Might bitcoin, lets, blockchain, and other financial systems be the way forward?
With Ann Pettifor, Phone Coop CEO Vivian Woodall, Kenneth Boyce, Christian Aid’s Interim Head of Private Sector Engagement (who produced the research on the Big Shift Banks Campaign), and a New Economics Foundation representative (TBC)
Chaired by Anna Laycock, Finance Innovation Lab
All welcome! (Terms and conditions apply)
Jesus invited everyone to the feast, but the Church does not open its doors equally wide to everyone. Are we getting better? What is it like to be made unwelcome by Church? How can we change things – and how will it change us? This panel discussion is one of the United Reformed Church’s ‘More than welcome’ events.
With Rachel Mann, Savi Hensman, Niall Cooper (Director of Church Action on Poverty) and Jane Henderson (Children and Youth Development Officer for URC East Midlands Synod)
Chaired by Elizabeth Gray-King (URC)
In association with the URC
The Hot House:debates for The Common Good
Religion leads to violence. It always has and always will.
Since 9/11, and stretching back centuries before, the worst atrocities committed against humanity have been motivated by religious conviction and difference. And things don’t seem to be getting better. Indeed, some argue that we’re entering a new Dark Ages. Join a panel of people who work at the interfaces between religious belief and social policy and politics to see if there is still space for good forms of religion today or if we should turn our back on religion as an inherently violent and divisive force in society.
With Salma Yaqoob, Clive Stafford Smith, Sahar Vardi
Chaired by Lisa Raine Hunt.
In association with Winchester University
Sunday
Hidden in plain sight? Bringing black women into focus.
The film Hidden Figures highlighted the wider truth about women of colour being largely invisible despite the crucial roles they have played in society. But is this changing now? As a new generation of black women are learning to more confidently and comfortably hold together their notions of identity, self and faith, are black women being noticed, credited, valued and listened to as they should be? Or is the road still a long one yet to walk?
Join Chine McDonald as she chairs a conversation with a panel of black women artists and leaders including Chibundu Onuzo, Saraiya Bah and Rozalee Haydee White
So what does “The Common Good” even mean?
It’s a phrase which sounds ‘right’ somehow. But what does it really mean? Where does the idea come from? And can it make a difference to our lives and our world? Join a panel of thinkers and activists involved in working in different and various ways for what they see as ‘The Common Good’ and go deeper with this year’s festival theme, recognising that it’s perhaps a more complex idea than we might imagine.
With Luke Bretherton, Ed Mayo (Coops UK), Anna Rowlands
Chaired by Citizens UK’s Karen Rooms
The Hot House: debates for The Common Good
What makes for a good Brexit?
For better or worse, the EU Referendum a year or more ago has exposed deep divisions in our society. Join a panel to debate whether Brexit can be good for the UK. Looking past the language of ‘Hard Brexit’ and ‘Soft Brexit’, the panel will debate what Brexit will really mean for our divided society and our place in Europe and the World.
With Natalie Bennett, a local Brexiteer
Chair tbc
In association with Winchester University
Monday
Two degrees of separation
Following the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, when the world committed itself to safeguarding a ‘two-degree world’ (not allowing global warming to rise by more than two degrees centigrade because of the catastrophic effects that would have on sea levels rising and the whole global climate), where are we at? What are our governments doing? What are we doing? How do we keep this most fundamental of issues in the spotlight and what can we do to play our part? Hear about the impacts of climate change from those living on the frontline, from politicians and NGOs.
With Dr Winston Halupua (USPG), Natalie Bennett, Mohamed Adow, Global Climate Policy Lead at Christian Aid
Chaired by Jo Musker-Sherwood, from Hope for the Future
No Fit State?
Two State? One State? No fit state? What hope is there for a just peace in Israel-Palestine, when the world (and Israel) seems so content with the status quo? And might the brazenness of Trump (perversely) be the only real hope for Israel-Palestine now?
With Peter Oborne, Robert Cohen, Muhanad Al Qaisy, Sahar Vardi
Chaired by Karen Chalke
The Hot House: debates for The Common Good
The truth. The whole truth. And fake news.
Join a panel of reporters, journalists and campaigners as they debate how to report, advocate and speak in a post-truth world – where everyone has an opinion to share, fake or legitimate. Free speech and freedom of the press are such treasured and key values in our society. But are they being devalued and corrupted? Or do they still hold, and hold us to account?
With Jack Monroe, Peter Oborne, and Vanessa Baird (Co-Editor of the New Internationalist)
Chaired by Mads Davies, Church TImes
In association with Winchester University