On Antisemitism (2026) - Ruth Balint, Sarah Schwartz & David Slucki

On Antisemitism (2026) - Ruth Balint, Sarah Schwartz & David Slucki

Author: Festival of Dangerous Ideas September 2, 2026 Duration: 1:03:44

Antisemitism is one of the world's oldest hatreds. Adapting to every age, it lies hidden below the surface until the conditions of our world allow it to emerge.  
 
Join professors Ruth Balint and David Slucki, and lawyer Sarah Schwartz, in conversation with Simon Longstaff as they examine how antisemitism mutates across ideologies, why it so often flourishes during moments of social breakdown.

This session was recorded live at Carriageworks, Sydney in August 2026.

Ruth Balint is Professor of History at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Her research examines the intersections between migration, gender and international law, with a current focus on the Jewish experience. 

Sarah Schwartz is a human rights lawyer and founding Executive Director of the Jewish Council of Australia, an organisation committed to fighting antisemitism and supporting Palestinian liberation.

David Slucki is Professor and Director of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation and Loti Smorgon Associate Professor of Contemporary Jewish Life and Culture. 

Simon Longstaff is Executive Director of The Ethics Centre. In 2013, he was made an officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for "distinguished service to the community through the promotion of ethical standards in governance and business, to improving corporate responsibility, and to philosophy." He is also Adjunct Professor of the Australian Graduate School of Management at UNSW Sydney, a Fellow of CPA Australia, the Royal Society of NSW and the Australian Risk Policy Institute.


 

 


For more than a decade, the Festival of Dangerous Ideas has curated a space where provocative thinking isn't just welcomed, it's the entire point. This podcast is a direct line to that stage, offering an archive of talks that deliberately unsettle comfortable opinions and interrogate the stubborn problems we often agree to ignore. Each episode captures a live conversation from Australia's original disruptive ideas festival, presenting arguments that can be exhilarating, uncomfortable, and vitally important. You’ll hear from a compelling roster of festival alumni-including leading experts, intellectual troublemakers, and visionary authors-who share perspectives that conventional discourse frequently sidelines. The discussions here aren't theoretical exercises; they grapple with the pressing and difficult issues shaping our society and culture right now. Tuning in means granting yourself access to a decade-long tradition of intellectual courage, where the core assumption is that some truths are only reached by first entertaining a dangerous idea. It’s a chance to listen as boundaries are pushed, not for shock value, but for clarity. The result is a consistently challenging and refreshing audio experience that complicates simple narratives and expands what feels possible to talk about.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Festival of Dangerous Ideas
Podcast Episodes
Steven Pinker (2022) | Enlightenment or Dark Age? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:04
Are the ideals of the Enlightenment – reason, science and humanism – and the progress they can deliver being undermined by a cynical desire to burn it all down? Pre-eminent psychologist Steven Pinker explains why problem…
Claire G. Coleman (2022) | Words are Weapons [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:36
Stories define who we are, our history and they can be weaponised. Stories can erase an entire culture. History is nothing but a story. Noongar woman and author Claire G. Coleman invites you to consider that Australia ha…
Joanna Bourke (2022) | The Last Taboo [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:44
Our modern society is dependent on extraordinary levels of abuse and violence towards non-human animals. While we may love animals, we continue to interact with them in thoughtless, violent and cruel ways. We destroy the…
Frances Haugen (2022) | Unmasking Facebook [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:31
Former Facebook product manager, Frances Haugen did not set out to be a whistleblower, but when it became a question of saving lives, she knew it was time to tell the truth. On top of her concerns about mental health and…