Head to Head

Head to Head is Al Jazeera’s new forum for ideas, hosted by Mehdi Hasan. 

It is a gladiatorial contest tackling the big issues of our time, like faith, democracy and freedom of speech in front of a live audience at the venerable Oxford Union.

The Union has hosted such outstanding orators as Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto  and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and is no stranger to challenging intellectual exchange.

Here are our next three recordings:

Friday 26 April - Bernard-Henri Levy - Foreign Intervention: Meddling in Other People’s Business?
From Bosnia in 1994 to Syria today, via Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Mali. The rights and wrongs of intervention, and the difference between humanitarian concerns and the pursuit of special interests. Join us to watch Mehdi Hasan challenge one of the world’s most famous public intellectuals, Bernard-Henri Levy, on whether foreign military intervention can ever be justified.

Friday 3 May - Lord Adair Turner - Has Capitalism Failed the World?
The crash, bailouts and deregulation and how the current world economic uncertainty affects us all. Join us to watch Mehdi Hasan go Head to Head with Lord Turner, who was at the helm of the Financial Services Authority in the wake of the financial meltdown, and now trying to find ground-breaking solutions to global problems at the Institute of New Economic Thinking.

Friday 10 May - Tom Friedman - Is the US as a Force for Good in the World?
The US appears to have taken a back seat role in international relations. Is America in decline? Or is it just taking stock as it accommodates to the new emerging world order? Join us to watch Mehdi Hasan challenge one of the world’s most influential columnists and authors, Tom Friedman of the New York Times, on the morality of America’s global role.

For more details on how to join the discussion as part of the Head to Head audience, contact:  debates@aljazeera.net

This new series of Head to Head will start airing weekly on Friday 7 June at 20.00 GMT.

And you can follow us on:
https://www.facebook.com/AJHeadToHead; and @AJheadtohead