Frontline members Lisa Ling and Diani Barreto will be speaking at the ELEVATE festival in Graz, Austria, focused heavily on discussions about whistleblowing and hacktivism. Lisa was a U.S. Army nurse, and then a drone-warfare technician in the U.S. Air Force, but came to prominence in the documentary film National Bird, speaking out against the U.S. drone program. 

Diani is a researcher for ExposeFacts (and launched the agency's Berlin, Germany office) and for the Courage Foundation. She is one of the world's most ardent defenders of whistleblowers. 

The 2018 ELEVATE festival theme is Risk/Courage, with an obvious emphasis on whistleblowers who's acts of conscience come at great peril, and for which they often pay a heavy price—imprisonment, loss of financial security, enormous mental and physical burdens associated with work driven by high ethical standards, and punished by repressive governments whose corruption is exposed by whistleblowers' revelations. 

The festival's promoters note, "Civil disobedience and non-violent resistance again become the leitmotif for those citizens who get involved. Some activists even risk their lives to fight for their cause.

This is exactly where the upcoming Elevate Festival comes in: We want to focus on the concepts of risk and courage, look at concrete examples and discuss the pros and cons. What risk are we personally willing to accept for our beliefs? What courageous ideas do we consider important and where do we see the most urgent need for action? What strategies and methods do activists and artists from around the world use to assess the risks of their actions? And when does the end no longer justify all means?

Together with many guests from all over the world these questions and more will be discussed at the Elevate Festival. A lot of inspiration and an exciting exploration of new ideas and strategies are in the foreground, over five festival days at the beginning of March 2018 in Graz." 

Bios for Ling and Barreto are available on Frontline's profiles page.