Upcoming Events

The King’s Politics Society is delighted to be presenting an exciting year of events and new projects. Stay up to date by following us on Facebook and Twitter!

Last Autumn we launched an online platform for political discussion known as King’s Debates. We hope this site will complement the live debates that we host at King’s. We welcome contributions from all members of the university and beyond.

All our events are completely free and open to everyone – above all, we aspire to be an inclusive and accessible centre for discussion and debate at the university.

 TAKE A LOOK AT THE EVENTS WE’VE HELD IN THE PAST HERE. Our next event is:

Next Event:

Documentary Film Screening: ‘No Country for the Poor’

15th June 2018, Keynes Hall, King’s College from 7pm

 Please note Keynes Hall is fully wheelchair accessible and gender neutral toilets are available.

‘No Country for the Poor’ is a documentary film about a community of homeless and middle class activists fighting for social justice, democracy and solidarity in Hungary.

What if democracy fails to serve citizens equally? What if inequality becomes the norm and the most vulnerable citizens are left behind with no money, no home, no rights, and no country of their own? In Hungary, the government has slashed social benefits and criminalized homelessness, but a group of activists, homeless and middle class, is confronting authorities to defend social justice and their right to citizenship. After the tragic death of two of its founding members, the group feels that Hungary is growing more hostile and their struggle is more important than ever. Despite all odds, their own community keeps them going—a mini-society with democracy and solidarity at its heart, an island of hope, belonging and dignity in a society gradually shifting the other way.

We will also be joined by two speakers, who will help to understand the social and historical context of Hungary:

Dr Darja Irdam is currently a Research Director for the Health Policy Research team at NatCen. She is a sociological and public health researcher, and specialises in the fields of political economy of public health, gender, health behaviour, addiction, and social inequalities. Before joining NatCen, she worked on the multilevel retrospective cohort survey PrivMort. The PrivMort project has generated a novel dataset using the multilevel indirect demographic retrospective cohort study technique in Russia, Belarus and Hungary.

Dr Gabor Scheiring is a multidisciplinary political economist combining theoretical innovation with empirical rigour to reduce social hardships and to advance human development, health and democracy. Currently he is doing research on the political economy of democratic backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe comparing Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland. In 2010 he was elected as an MP, and served as a member of the Committee for Economic Affairs of the Hungarian Parliament and also as a member of the board responsible for the development of economic policy of a Hungarian left-green party he co-founded.

You can find out more about the film at http://www.nocountryforthepoor.com/

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