2. How to start a moral revolution
Rutger Bregman gives the second of his 2025 BBC Reith Lectures called Moral Revolution. He argues that small groups of committed citizens can still change the world.
Dutch historian Rutger Bregman gives the second of his 2025 Reith Lectures, called "Moral Revolution."
History, he says can be "a reservoir of hope." He outlines how small groups of people have changed the course of history such as Elizabeth Fry, who brought compassion into the prison system; Emmeline Pankhurst and the suffragettes who won the vote for women and Norman Borlaug, whose Green Revolution saved millions from famine. And he argues that this is as relevant now as it ever was: that small groups of committed citizens can still change the world.
The Reith Lectures are presented by Anita Anand and the programme was recorded in front of an audience in Liverpool, who asked questions afterwards.
The series is produced by Jim Frank. The Editor is Clare Fordham.
The programmes are mixed by Neil Churchill.
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- Tue 2 Dec 202509:00BBC Radio 4
- Wed 3 Dec 202521:00BBC Radio 4
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The Reith Lectures
Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series


