Music, satire, conversation and any dangerous ideas still remaining in captivity.

Hosted by Claire Hooper

Sure to be a highlight of FODI 2011, we bring you a variety hour (and a quarter) like no other! See Emmanuel Jal sing two of his songs, the Space Cowboy performing throughout the hour various of his spectacular solo feats and off-the-cuff presentations by Slavoj Zizek, Mike Daisey and Jon Ronson, as well as a powerpoint presentation by the Boganomics team.

Our guests will join Claire Hooper as she spins the wheel of death, and asks our guests to talk to the dangerous topic of the minute: it’s like Parkinson, but with chainsaws!

The unhappy truth is that children have a special talent for war, as former child soldier Emmanuel Jal has experienced firsthand and war correspondent Kate Adie has witnessed countless times. They make excellent scouts and are natural risk takers. They die in disproportionate numbers and suffer in unimaginable ways - sent into the field of battle by adults who know their potency. Lives of real danger are remote from our experience - so what might account for the destruction of the innocents?

Emmanuel Jal is an acclaimed hip-hop artist and writer. At the age of seven, he was recruited by the Sudanese Liberation Army as a child soldier.

Kate Adie, author and journalist, was Chief News Correspondent to the BBC, who reported from war zones around the world. She is now a freelance journalist and successful writer.

Chaired by Mark Colvin

Date, Venue and Time

While pundits devote untold column inches to what 'the most dangerous man in the world' will do next, now you can hear from Wikileaks founder Julian Assange himself as to whether Wikileaks can bring about a brave new world of government openness and accountability. He has changed the world of journalism, politics and international affairs, finding himself at the centre of a political and legal storm, simultaneously demonised and admired. Since blowing institutionalised secrecy apart, his Wikileaks organisation has brought radical transparency to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and the workings of the US Government. And that's only the beginning...Julian Assange is currently under house arrest in the United Kingdom so he joins us via video link for this session.

Julian Assange is an Australian publisher, journalist, programmer and internet activist. As editor-in-chief of Wikileaks, he has come to widespread attention for his role in the release of classified material.

The debate on torture has been re-ignited by claims that information obtained using 'enhanced interrogation techniques' was crucial in the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden. David Petraeus, Obama's choice to head the CIA, has added that the US should consider using 'something more than the normal techniques' in order to save lives. Are there some circumstances in which torture is justified?

Marc Thiessen is an author, columnist and political commentator, who served as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush. His controversial best-seller, Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack, defends the use of enhanced interrogation techniques.

Chaired by Simon Longstaff

Mockery and contempt for others, unleashed in the name of free speech, are creating a toxic environment where respect and decency are unlamented relics of the past. We have ignored the 'dumbing down' of education and abandoned parts of our cities to drugs, alcohol and violence. As long as they remain insulated in middle class ghettos, our politicians can ignore this. But we can't afford to give up on the ideal of a more civilized and equal society. To live together in healthy communities, we need to put a stop to the culture of alcohol, aggression and the glorification of violence. Hear a literary great speak about a topic that is very close to his heart.

Alexander McCall Smith is a celebrated novelist and creator of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series which has sold over 20 million copies.

Alexander McCall Smith is also presenting a talk on October 3 about his life and books. Click here for more info and to book.

Chaired by Mark Colvin

The Gillard government is trying desperately to export refugees and asylum seekers to Asia to solve a political problem. Meanwhile, the cruel treatment of cattle exported to Indonesia has prompted a massive public outcry. Do we really think that animals 'born into Australian care and protection' deserve better, but people born in Iraq should be sent away?

Julian Burnside is a Melbourne barrister who has acted for the Ok Tedi people against BHP and the Maritime Union in the 1998 waterfront dispute. He was Senior Counsel assisting the Australian Broadcasting Authority in its Cash for Comment inquiry and represented Liberty Victoria in the Tampa litigation. Julian campaigns publicly for the interests of asylum seekers and refugees in Australia.

Chaired by Simon Sheikh

In Egypt and Tunisia we have seen ordinary people come together to claim democracy and human rights in the face of oppressive regimes, with twitter and Facebook the other heroes of the revolution. Are social media and Al Jazeera instrumental in what happened, or are they just the latest communication tools? Can anyone with a mobile phone foment revolution or do the punitive regimes in Syria, Bahrain and Libya show that it takes a whole lot more?

Join our panel: Mona Eltahawy, columnist; Simon Sheikh, international public speaker and national director of the community advocacy group GetUp!; and Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Salil Shetty appears with the support of Amnesty International.

Chaired by Antony Loewenstein

Our lust for cheap animal protein and the intensification of factory farming make the torture and degradation of living creatures an integral part of our diet. To keep on enjoying those hamburgers and chicken wings, we lie to ourselves about what is happening in our names. Even as we claim the superiority of the human to the animal, we enjoy the prerogatives of the supreme predator and remain willfully blind to their consequences. What does being human mean under these circumstances?

Jonathan Safran Foer is an author best known for his novels Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and his nonfiction work Eating Animals.

Chaired by Ann Mossop

In 2011, you would be hard pressed to find someone who does not claim to worship sustainability. Companies report on their 'sustainability performance', describe themselves as 'sustainability leaders', and create 'sustainable jobs' through 'sustainable mining'. As sustainability has been co-opted, environmentalists seem to have settled for a green label instead of green action. So it is time to re-claim sustainability, or throw it away?

Richard Denniss is Executive Director of The Australia Institute, a public interest think tank that conducts research on a broad range of economic, social and environmental issues. Richard is a former Strategy Adviser to Senator Bob Brown and was Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Australian Democrats, Senator Natasha Stott Despoja.

Chaired by Shelly Rowell

Donald Horne called us 'a lucky country, run by second-rate people...' but claiming Australia is the best country in the world is now a habit of the sentimental politician. Have we gone from cultural cringe to complacency in one generation, or is there are real basis for our self-satisfaction? Seen from the outside we are either a pleasant backwater with outdated infrastructure populated by bogan racists or the land of eternal sunshine. Lucky, clever or third rate - where does the truth lie?

Join our panel: Alison Broinowski, academic, journalist, author and former diplomat; and Peter Hartcher, award-winning journalist and author who is the political editor for The Sydney Morning Herald. This session will be chaired by Rebecca Huntley, researcher, author and feature writer for Australian Vogue, with a background in academia and politics.

Chaired by Rebecca Huntley

KATE ADIE, BOB BROWN, JULIAN BURNSIDE, MONA ELTAHAWY, HAMISH MACDONALD & STEPHEN MAYNE.

The more we find out about British tabloids and their phone hacking habits, the more outrageous their conduct appears. Is the ethical vacuum in their editorial offices the sign of old media struggling to stay alive - and relevant - in a brave new world or is this just business as usual driven by user demand? In the new media environment of gossip, opinion, attack and partisanship does the concept of public interest even exist? Do we have the right to expect ethical and moral standards of the media or have they always done whatever it takes to get the story and our attention?

Chaired by Simon Longstaff

Another scandal breaks. Another footballer is condemned as a sexual predator, racist, drug addict or binge-drinking brawler. Why do we continue to act surprised? We say we want our footballers to be heroes to school children or inspire disadvantaged kids. But why do we expect young men with money, trained to be aggressive and to win at all costs to be perfect? Let's get real, is a footballer ever going to be someone you want to take home to meet your mum?

Join our panel: Catherine Lumby, the Director of the Journalism and Media Research Centre at UNSW; and Roy Masters, sports journalist and former rugby league coach.

Chaired by Catherine Lumby

Superficial charm, a tendency to be bored easily, a lack of empathy and remorse, coupled with a grandiose sense of self-worth: these are the hallmarks of the psychopath. After a look at the world around us, some investigative journalism that took him to prisons and CEO offices, Jon Ronson came to the conclusion that not only do these qualities characterise some of the most successful people in all spheres of life, perhaps there is at least a bit of the psychopath in us all...

Jon Ronson is a journalist, documentary filmmaker and nonfiction author whose work includes The Men Who Stare at Goats.

Chaired by Lisa Pryor

Exempt from anti-discrimination laws, religious organisations of all faiths have the right to decide who they employ in their schools, and who they sack, on questions of faith and morals. For many Australians the idea that gay men and lesbians don't belong in the classroom is an unjust anachronism, but parents are opting in large numbers to send their children to schools that offer a 'values-driven' education. If there is a place for faith in the classroom, does equality of opportunity have to take second place, or can religious values and equality be reconciled?

David Marr is an Australian journalist, author, and political commentator. He writes for the Sydney Morning Herald. Jim Wallace is the managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby.

Chaired by Ann Mossop

When a top UK Government drug adviser wrote in an academic journal that ecstasy is no more dangerous than riding a horse, it caused a political ruckus that led to his resignation. His provocative analogy points to how inconsistent we are when drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, racing cars or participating in extreme sports are tolerated, taxed or even actively encouraged. If we took a more rational approach to assessing risk, our drug policies would look quite different, and a genuine minimisation of harm would be the result.

Lisa Pryor is a journalist, social commentator and author. Her latest book, A Small Book About Drugs is a provocative and personal look at the complex issue of recreational drug use.

Chaired by Richard Glover

Join distinguished lawyer Michael Kirby to tackle a record number of dangerous ideas including: gay rights and same-sex marriage; animal welfare and ending the beastly treatment of sentient beings; the Northern Territory Intervention; our ineffective laws on drugs, sex work and sexuality; and, finally, whether constitutional monarchy, with an absent monarch is the most harmless system of government yet devised. Are these ideas paradoxical or do they all fit together?

Michael Kirby retired from the High Court of Australia in 2009 as Australia longest serving judge. He is an active and eminent contributor to the legal community in Australia and overseas and recently became a patron of Voiceless. His biography, Paradoxes/Principles by AJ Brown was published earlier this year, and his own memoir A Private Life will be published in October.

Chaired by Ann Mossop

The Arab Spring has unleashed the hunger for freedom and democracy of Arab populations living under dictatorship. As Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen come to terms with their post-dictator future serious western intervention in Libya creates a stalemate. Meanwhile in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, profoundly un-democratic and repressive regimes endure with western connivance and brutal repression in Syria is met to date with tokenistic sanctions. If Saudi Arabia's oil makes our support for freedom and democracy melt away, does this mean this west can't afford to prefer Arab democrats to Arab dictators?

Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning columnist and international public speaker, renowned for her commentary on the 'Arab Spring'.

Chaired by Debbie Whitmont

We've been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. But how does this square with the facts - where fewer and fewer couples marry, divorce is increasing and marriages are haunted by the twin spectres of adultery and flagging libido. But what if our past is actually one of egalitarian promiscuity? What if monogamy doesn't come naturally to us and never has? If having an affair would make your marriage last, would you?

Christopher Ryan is a psychologist and co -author of New York Times best-seller, Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality. Christopher contributes to Psychology Today and The Huffington Post.

Chaired by Robyn Williams

In the late 90's, political theorists, economists and politicians were talking confidently about the end of history and the undisputed triumph of liberal "democratic" capitalism. Communism was written off as dead and buried. But after 9/11, the GFC, the Arab Spring, and the protests spreading over Europe, the ideological gloss of capitalism may be beginning to fade. If the alternative is Putin's muscular Tsarism or China's authoritarian capitalism, then renovating the idea of communism may matter profoundly. For philosophical rock star and brilliant iconoclast Slavoj Žižek, it is something that we should demand, no matter how impossible it seems. The only true utopia today is that things can go on indefinitely the way they are.

Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, critical theorist and author working in the traditions of Hegelianism, Marxism and psychoanalysis.

Chaired by Ann Mossop

The arbiters of contemporary public debate are unforgiving of those who change their minds - ridiculing such changes as a 'back flip'. But why is changing your mind a crime? While consistency and stability are admirable qualities, do we really want to be a nation of people who can never, ever change their mind about anything and occasionally say 'sorry'? Join these prominent Australians to hear about a significant situation in their lives where they have had second thoughts...

Join our panel: Cheryl Kernot, who was the Leader of the Australian Democrats before joining the Australia Labor Party. She is currently the Director of Social Business at the Centre for Social Impact at UNSW; Philip Nitschke, Founder and Director of Exit International and co-author of Killing Me Softly: Voluntary Euthanasia and the Road to the Peaceful Pill; and Dick Smith, Australian businessman, filmmaker, explorer, and publisher, renowned for his aviation exploits.

Chaired by Ann Mossop

White Australia has always had a view on what makes a 'real' Aboriginal person. Andrew Bolt is the merely the latest in a long line of commentators who have put forward their views about 'black' and 'white' Aboriginals. Spread across a continent after 200 years of colonisation, Aboriginal people are diverse in a way that is at odds with media stereotypes of 'traditional' Aboriginal people living in troubled remote communities. At a crucial time for recognition and reconciliation, does 'white' or 'black' matter? Who speaks for Aboriginal people and defines who they are?

Join our panel: Bronwyn Fredericks is a Murri woman from South-East QLD who is currently a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Health at QUT. Steve Larkin is a Kungarakany man from Darwin, NT. He has worked extensively in Aboriginal communities and is currently Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Leadership at Charles Darwin University. Aileen Moreton-Robinson is a Geonpul woman from Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) and is Professor of Indigenous Studies at QUT.

Chaired by Shelly Rowell

Philip Nitschke and Fiona Stewart's The Peaceful Pill Handbook has been banned in Australia since 2007. As well as canvassing the legal and moral aspects of suicide, more controversially, it also 'instructs in matters of crime'- relating to the manufacture of a prohibited drug (barbiturate). Is a book on death and how to bring it about painlessly, really too dangerous to read?

Philip Nitschke is the founder and Director of Exit International, a leading Voluntary Euthanasia and end-of-life choices advocacy organisation.

In conversation with Simon Longstaff of the St James Ethcis Centre.

Chaired by Simon Longstaff

Children are eating too much junk food and parents blame advertising. Advertisers blame parents - and their choices. Even Masterchef's cultural juggernaut doesn't have the power to get highly processed foods out of our homes and shops. The end result is a poisonously unhealthy diet that we can't seem to change.

Join our panel: Stephanie Alexander, restaurateur, food writer and founder of the Kitchen Garden Foundation in schools across Australia; Gabrielle Hamilton, chef/owner of Prune restaurant in New York's East Village, and best-selling author; and Rebecca Huntley, researcher, author and feature writer for Australian Vogue, with a background in academia and politics.

Gabrielle Hamilton appears with support of Crave Sydney.

Chaired by Rebecca Huntley

Human rights used to be something that Western countries tried to impose on others without talking about their own problems or jeopardising trade over someone else's. This era of 'colonial' human rights and empty rhetoric is over. What is achieved when Australia has 'frank' discussions with China about Tibet, and Chinese leaders critique our treatment of asylum seekers and Aboriginal Australians in return? Western politicians need to realize that actions count for more than rhetoric. Could it be that supporting others as they fight for their rights is more effective than giving toothless sermons?

Salil Shetty is the Secretary General of Amnesty International. A long-term activist on poverty and justice, he leads the movement's work to end the abuse of human rights. Prior to joining Amnesty International, Salil was the Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign and Chief Executive of ActionAid.

Salil Shetty appears with the support of Amnesty International.

Chaired by Mary Kostakidis

Australia justifiably celebrates a rich history of innovation. But what of the future? Are we to be reduced to borrowing the ideas of others or to looking offshore to develop our own? Have we lost our creative edge, drunk on mining income, stifled by regulation and control? Or can we restore our capacity for invention? Bringing together innovators, entrepreneurs and academics this panel will look at whether we can bring innovation back to life.

Join our panel: Alec Cameron, Dean of the Australian School of Business at UNSW, who has held senior positions in the IT and telecommunications industry; Alan Noble, Engineering Director at Google Australia, home of Google Maps and Google Wave; and Martin Rogers, CEO of Prima Biomed, an Australian biotechnology company that specialises in cancer treatment. Eric Knight, research associate at the ANU Centre for Climate Economics and Policy and the University of Oxford will chair this discussion.

Chaired by Eric Knight

Applespiel are a group of young performers who are interested in active audience relationships. Their dangerous idea is groupthink. How does group decision making work when you don't know the rest of the group? They're bringing a snail and a hammer to the Festival Of Dangerous Ideas and you decide what happens next...

This collective of young artists studied Creative Arts (Performance) together at the University of Wollongong. They share an interest in dodgy (yet hilarious) aesthetic ideals and the intellectual rigor of prog-rock concept albums. Polemic, prolific and at least a little dangerous, they have most recently featured at the Tiny Stadiums Festival and Underbelly Arts 2011.

We live in the era of the ascendancy of the corporation. Endowed with the rights of man and none of the responsibilities, they have proved corrosive to human values. Mike Daisey argues that working inside corporations is akin to collaboration in Vichy France, and that only when we have the courage to look at the truth about these flawed creations, can we bring ethics back into this sphere of life.

Mike Daisey has been called "the master storyteller" by the New York Times for his ground-breaking monologues which weave together autobiography, gonzo journalism, and unscripted performance.

Mike Daisey is also appearing in The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs from 24 September.

Tickets for this season can be purchased as part of a FODI Multipack

Chaired by Richard Glover