 | IDEAS airs Monday to Friday on CBC Radio One
at 8 p.m. (8:30 p.m. NT) and 4 a.m. (4:30 a.m. NT) | |  | Monday, April 14, 2025 | | | |  | In his latest book, American historian Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny, turns his attention to the concept of freedom — redefining it, for a better political future. (Ole Berg-Rusten/Getty Images/Penguin Random House) | | | * Please note this schedule is subject to change. | | | MONDAY, APRIL 14 | | | On Freedom: Timothy Snyder | | Historian Timothy Snyder (On Tyranny) speaks to Nahlah Ayed about his newest book, On Freedom. In a political era where the word freedom is defined and redefined by whichever faction needs to evoke it, Snyder argues that — more than the freedom from various things — we actually need the freedom to thrive, for the sake of our common future. Recorded in front of an audience at the Toronto Reference Library. | | | TUESDAY, APRIL 15 | | | Staying Ahead in a World of Cyberthreats: Rob Deibert | | In his latest book, Chasing Shadows: Cyber Espionage, Subversion, and the Global Fight for Democracy, Ron Deibert, founder of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, details the unseemly marketplace for high-tech surveillance, professional disinformation, and computerized malfeasance that threatens our world today. In a public interview with Nahlah Ayed at the Toronto Reference Library, he discusses his own journey to where he is today, the threats we all face as a society, and the possible road forward to a more secure future. | | | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 | | | A Global History of Elon Musk: Quinn Slobodian | | The strange career of this unusual American oligarch has fascinated Slobodian, who views Musk's rise to power in terms of a larger, global story — the development of a new ideology based in video gaming, engineering, and technological futurism, and fed by a lust for both dominance and chaos. Examining Musk's life story alongside the arrival of artificial intelligences capable of infiltrating the public sphere, Quinn Slobodian presents his ideas to a packed house of concerned students, upstairs at McGill University's Faculty Club. | | | THURSDAY, APRIL 17 | | | | Please note: IDEAS will be preempted in all timezones for the election debate. Our podcast and the 4 a.m. radio broadcast will feature the episode below. | | | The Odyssey of Saturn the Alligator: Hitler's 'Favourite' | Saturn, an alligator that was supposedly Hitler’s favourite animal was 'liberated' from the Berlin zoo when the Red Army invaded Germany at the end of the Second World War. The reptile was relocated to Moscow where it died in 2020. But with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Saturn’s story has become once again a symbol in wartime geopolitics. Contributors David Zane Mairowitz and Malgorzata Zerwe bring us this documentary with voices from Louisiana swamps, and zoos in Berlin and Moscow. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 10, 2023. | | | FRIDAY, APRIL 18 | | | Turn the Other Cheek: The Radical Case for Nonviolent Resistance | Jesus sees the crowds, climbs the mountain, sits down, and begins to teach. Actually, he begins to turn everything upside down. Or is it right-side-up? All of a sudden, the meek, the poor and the heartbroken are the blessed ones — and our enemies are the ones we should pray for. The Sermon on the Mount is one of the greatest gifts of scripture to humanity; just ask Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Leo Tolstoy. But who is making any use of it today? In a time when an eye for an eye still seems to hold sway, IDEAS producer Sean Foley explores the seemingly bizarre logic of Christian non-violence, beginning with Jesus' counsel to 'turn the other cheek.' *This episode won a Wilbur Award for excellence in communicating spiritual themes. It originally aired on Oct. 14, 2022. | | |  | The idea of childhood innocence, free from harm or difficulties, is an experience valued as ideal. But it's not a positive way to live, according to Julie Garlen, a professor of teacher education. She argues the conversation should focus on the actual lived lives of children. (Zoteva/Shutterstock) | | | IDEAS IN THE AFTERNOON | MONDAY, APRIL 14 at 2 p.m. | | | | | The idea that childhood should be a time of blissful ignorance about the adversities of life has a real impact on how we plan for the lives of children. But what would happen if we swapped out the idea of a innocent childhood with the goal of justice? Could it be possible to better position childhood as a time of learning and growth, that includes truth and honesty. | | |  | Listen whenever you want.
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