Former Commissioner of Corrections, Georgia, USA - Allen Ault

South Africa holds elections in May and complaints from workers are getting louder. Unofficial figures show that nearly half of the working population does not have a proper job. So what happened to the post-apartheid dream of work and education for all? Hardtalk is in Johannesburg to speak to Zwelinzima Vavi, the now suspended head of COSATU, the powerful trade unions alliance – is it holding back South Africa’s progress?(Photo: Zwelinzima Vavi. Credit: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images)

2 Apr 201423min

As part of the BBC’s Freedom season, Zeinab Badawi speaks to Kenneth Kaunda – leader of the struggle for independence, he was sentenced to hard labour in prison by the British before he went on to become Zambia’s first president of the post-colonial era. It is a landmark year for Zambia – this is the 50th anniversary of its independence - and Kenneth Kaunda himself turns 90 in April. What has 50 years of freedom brought the people of Zambia?(Photo: Kenneth Kaunda in 1978, Credit: AFP/GettyImages)

30 Mar 201423min

Tamara Rojo - artistic director and lead principal of the English National Ballet - talks about her new production, a ballet about one of the bloodiest conflicts in the 20th Century, which is part of an attempt to modernise what is often a rather conservative repertoire in ballet. She would like to do the same with training and technique too, but with some of the stars arguing that ballet should be tough and a new generation of dancers who have gone through a demanding training in Japan and China beginning to flourish, can Tamara Rojo triumph over tradition?(Picture: Tamara Rojo. Credit: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images)

26 Mar 201423min

Since the financial meltdown of 2008, China has been the key driver of growth in the global economy. In Beijing, it is easy to see how the country's brand of command capitalism has transformed infrastructure and generated unprecedented wealth. But suddenly confidence has given way to insecurity - at the heart of it is a debt bubble that would threaten the whole world economy if it turned toxic. Hardtalk is in Beijing to speak to Jin Liqun, supremely well connected investment bank chief and former chairman of China's sovereign wealth fund. How worried should we be about the Chinese economy?

24 Mar 201424min

There has been widespread condemnation of Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin’s decision to absorb Crimea after its referendum to break away from Ukraine. But Moscow says that any further sanctions imposed against it by the EU over Crimea, will affect Europe as much as itself. Hardtalk speaks to the Bulgarian president, Rosen Plevneliev. Bulgaria is the EU’s poorest country and depends on Russia for 85% of its gas needs. Can Bulgaria, and the EU as a whole, afford to get tough with Moscow?Picture: Rosen Plevneliev, Credit: Samuel Kubani/AFP/Getty Images

21 Mar 201423min

Stephen Sackur speaks to Dmitry Peskov, spokesman to Russia’s President Putin following the decision of EU and US leaders to impose sanctions. With international pressure mounting against the Kremlin, does Russia stand to lose more than win from this crisis?Dmitry Peskov, Credit: Maxim Shemetov/AFP/Getty Images

19 Mar 201423min

Hardtalk is in Beijing for a special interview with China’s most famous artist and dissident, Ai Weiwei. Under constant surveillance, prevented from leaving the country, how does this artist push back against the forces of repression?

17 Mar 201423min

We live in the internet age but perhaps most of us haven’t realised just how radically it will change our lives. As part of the BBC’s Freedom Season, Hardtalk speaks to Cody Wilson who is at the leading edge of an anarchist movement which wants to use the so called ‘dark web’- anonymous, borderless, and lawless - to empower individuals and undermine big government. His symbolic first move was to make a gun using open source software and a 3D printer. Is this really where we want the internet to take us?

14 Mar 201423min