Events
The Movement for the Abolition of War welcomes you to all events.
MAW Strategy Day
Date: 5th Feb 2011
Time: To be announced.
Details: Details to be announced soon
Location: London
Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition
Dates: 6th Dec 2010 to 10th Dec 2010
Times: To be announced.
Details: London members of MAW have arranged for the Bradford Peace Museum exhibition of about 40 Nobel winners to be on display in Haringey Library early in December. The Mayor of Haringey will officially open the event at 10:30am on Tuesday 7 December. This is an ideal opportunity for schools and other community groups to hear about Nobel's will, his intentions and the extent to which his wishes have been observed. His aim was clearly to try to put an end to war.
Location: Wood Green Central Library
Tel: Please contact Bruce Kent on brucek@uk2.net for more information
2010 Remembrance Sunday Lecture
Date: 14th Nov 2010
Time: 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Details: This year's lecture will be given by Professor Philippe Sands and will centre on the legality of the Iraq invasion, and the Chilcot Inquiry.
Location: Imperial War Museum - Cinema
2010 Annual General Meeting
Date: 14th Nov 2010
Time: 11:15 am to 2:00 pm
Location: Imperial War Museum Lambeth Road London SE1 6HZ
Children's Mystery Walk
Date: 19th Sep 2010
Time: 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
Details: Children's Mystery walk along the London Peace Trail
Location: Starts at Friends House, opposite Euston station, and ends at the Imperial war Museum in Lambeth.
Download the flyer.
Tel: Please contact Mystery Walk, 11 Venetia Road, London N4 1EJ on 01908 511948 for more information
Annual Erskine Childers Lecture 2010
Date: 15/6/10
Details: For those of you who missed Sir Richard Jolly at MAW's recent Peace History Conference, you might be interested in this event.
Location: Friends House 173 Euston Road London NW1 2BJ
Tribute to Adrian Mitchell at MAW's Peace History Conference
Date: 16/4/10
Details: Adrian, who died in 2008, was an outstanding poet and author who described himself as 'a mixed lefty, a socialist-anarchist-pacifist-Blakeist revolutionary'. He wrote with simplicity and humour on subjects and people he cared for. His work is fierce, courageous and accessible; and he maintained his determination for, and his commitment to, peace until his dying day. MAW was one of Adrian's favourite causes and part of the proceeds of the book 'ADRIAN: Scotland Celebrates Adrian Mitchell' (Markings 2009) is being donated to it. The book has contributions by 40 major poets including the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Michael Horovitz, Martin Espada and Paul McCartney. The tribute will feature perfomances by Adrian's wife Celia (actress and his muse) and his daughter Sasha (singer), Michael Horovitz (author and poet), Pete Brown (poet, singer and songwriter), Elspeth Brown (poet) and Tim Whitehead (jazz musician) and others. The celebration starts at 6pm, is free and will be open to all - not just people at the conference.
Location: Imperial War Museum
MAW Peace History Conference
Dates: 16/4/10 to 17/4/10
Details: This is the fourth peace history conference organised by MAW. We hold the firm belief that there is much to learn from the history of past peace work and that we can be inspired by it. Yet, unlike the history of war, it gets too easily forgotten. These events are for everyone, academic or not. Those of you who have taken part in previous conferences will know their value and just how many interesting issues come up in the discussion as much as in the main talks. For details and booking form see the flyer below.
Location: Imperial War Museum, London.
Peacemaking in a Time of Global Crisis
Dates: 19/3/10 to 21/3/10
Details: The weekend will be run by Dr Tony Kempster, project director of MAW, with assistance from singer-songwriter Sue Gilmurray.
Location: Hilfield Friary, Dorset
The human cost of war: quilts and arpilleras exhibition.
Dates: 18/11/09 to 22/11/09
Details: This exhibition is featured at two locations over several days. ST ETHELBURGAS Arpilleras are three dimensional applique textiles of Latin America, handcrafted by women in Chile as a way of telling their stories of struggle for truth and justice during Pinochet's dictatorship from 1973-1990. These were often used to camouflage prisoners and send messages to the international press. This unusual exhibition of quilts and arpilleras will be at St Ethelburga's from lunchtime on November 18th, until it is dismantled in the evening of November 21st. On the 18th at 1pm MAW president Professor Robert Hinde gives a talk drawing on the theme of the human cost of war, and the need to abolish war. This will be an open meeting of the Council for Christian Approaches to Defence and Disarmament. At 3.30pm Roberta Bacic, curator of the exhibition, will talk about the quilts. The exhibition will be formally opened by Robert Hinde at 6pm, to be followed by music, poetry and refreshments. On November 19th the exhibition will be open all day for visitors, with seminars/discussions on inter-faith issues taking place with invited school groups. These will include a talk about the quilts and arpilleras. A Northern Ireland theme day occurs on November 20th, looking at the history of 'the troubles' and the reconciliation/peacemaking process. In the evening music will be played during an informal social event, possibly with a classical Spanish or South American theme. Sue Gilmurray of MAW will perform. THE WHITECHAPEL GALLERY During November 21st, the exhibition will be highlighted at a seminar/publicity event at The Whitechapel Gallery as part of the Bloomberg Commission, where people will be encouraged to visit St Ethelburgas - which is only a 10 minute walk away. This event will take place on the large table under a tapestry of Picasso's Guernica. Also at the Gallery the following day November 22nd from 11.30am to 12.30 MAW vice-president Bruce Kent will welcome guests and give a short introductory talk. From 2.30 to 4.30pm the main seminar/publicity event is an illustrated talk by Roberta Bacic, Alba Perez and Maria Vinolo on quilts and arpilleras related to the Spanish Civil War. This will include music and the reading of poems by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. The MAW events at the Gallery are taking place as part of The Nature of the Beast, an exhibtion by Goshka Macuga.
Location: Nov 18 to Nov 21st: St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, 78 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AG Nov 21st to Nov 22nd: Whitechapel Art Gallery, 82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1.
2009 Annual Remembrance Day Lecture
Date: 8/11/09
Speaker: Dr Mark Levene
Speech: Weapons Of The Strong (Dr Mark Levene)
Location: Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ (Lambeth North Tube)
Weapons of the strong: what will western states do in response to climate change? -Annual Remembrance Lecture and AGM
Date: 8/11/09
Details: This year's Remembrance lecture is 'Weapons of the strong: what will western states do in response to climate change?' It will be given by Dr Mark Levene, Reader in Comparative History at Southampton and an expert on the history of modern genocide. He is also Director of the Climate Change and Violence Project, and a co-founder with David Cromwell ( of MediaLens) of Crisis Forum. This is a network of academics, campaigners, government and faith groups looking at change in an holistic way, rather than from segregated disciplines or policy groups. It is a relatively new network and currently running a series of 7 workshops at universities. It recently published 'Surviving Climate Change: the struggle to avert global catastrophe (Pluto Press). The subject of Mark's lecture will be announced in due course. The speaker at our AGM in the morning, will be Roberta Bacic, of Chile, who now lives in Northern Ireland and is curator of 'The Art of Survival' - an International and Irish Quilts and Arpilleras exhibition. Arpilleras are three dimensional applique textiles of Latin America, and Roberta will talk of how these were handcrafted by women in Chile as a way of telling their stories of a struggle for truth and justice during the Pinochet dictatorship from 1973-1990. The arpilleras were often used to camouflage prisoners and to send messages to the international press. The exhibition will open in the museum Cinema from 11am. Those who wish may attend the museum's 10-minute Remembrance ceremony at this time. We will begin the AGM,including a presentation by Roberta, following this. After a break for lunch from 1-2pm, there will be a short introduction to the exhibition, and music by Sue Gilmurray. Our speaker will begin at 2.30pm, his talk to be followed by questions, with a guest reception held at 4.30pm.
Speaker: Dr Mark Levene (Co-founder of Crisis Forum. Director of the Climate Change and Violence Project. Reader in Comparative History at Southampton, expert on history of modern genocide.)
Location: Imperial War Museum, London.
The Arthur Hewlett Award presentation
Date: 8/11/09
Details: MAW is instituting an annual award of three hundred pounds in memory of our benefactor Arthur Hewlett. The first award will be presented this year during the AGM. There are many small peace and peace and justice groups all over the UK doing valuable work arranging events or undertaking projects that encourage people to become involved in working for peace. Many of these groups exist on tiny budgets and a boost to their funds would enable such a group to continue with a project, help set up a new one or arrange a public event. Do you know of such a group that you would like us to consider? The recipient will be a group that: supports MAW's aims, campaigns/informs/educates locally on a range of peace-related issues, uses imaginative and innovative ideas to engage the public, and does so with limited resources. To nominate a group please tell us: 1) your contact details, with a short explanation of why you think the group deserves the award 2) the name of the group 3) name, postal/email address and phone number of the main contact for the group 4) the group's website address if it has one 5) how long, if known, the group has existed 6) main activities of the group. If you have a digital photo or two of the group in action then email them to us - we'd love to see them. Send your nomination to MAW by using the Contact Us link on our website. Please head your message 'Award.' Otherwise, please post your nomination to Lesley Docksey, 1 Court Farm Cottages, Buckland Newton, Dorset DT2 7BT. ALL NOMINATIONS TO REACH US BY SEPTEMBER 15th.
Location: The Imperial War Museum, London
Myth truth and nation-state: how do our 'histories' help create our wars?
Date: 14/10/09
Details: Nationalist history has often been at the heart of justifying wars, ethnic cleansing and genocide. It is therefore of utmost importance to develop an understanding of history which allows for mutual tolerance and which creates more open and playful collective identities. Speaker Professor Stefan Berger will explain how a new research programme has underlined the importance of history( school textbooks, public history, popular history, academic history) to nationalist agendas from the late 18thC to the present day. Jeremy Corbyn MP will be joining in the discussion. Professor Berger will speak of the project 'Represenations of the Past: The Writing of National Histories in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Europe'(NHIST). Funded by the European Science Foundation, this international programme involves 20 European research councils, covering 29 Europeana countries and involved more than 200 scholars who have been working in four teams in order to provide comparative perspectives on the relationship between national identity formation and historial writing. A significant outcome of the project is that French and German school pupils have started using the same history textbook - an example of a trend across Europe for using the teaching of history to overcome mistrust and conflict between nations. It is hoped the discussion may explore how this new thinking may influence history teaching in the UK. FULL NOTES ON PROFESSOR BERGER'S TALK are under References in the Briefings and Reports section of the website. Click on 'Nationalism's Role in History Teaching'
Speaker: Professor Stefan Berger (Professor of Modern German and Comparative European History, Director of the Manchester Jean-Monnet Centre of Excellence at the University of Manchester. Director of project 'Representations of the Past: The Writing of National Histories in 19th and 20th C Europe)
Speech: (Professor Stefan Berger)
Location: Grimond Room, Portcullis House, Westminster, London
Mystery Walk
Date: 20/9/09
Details: A trail through London, planned with children in mind but suitable for - and enjoyable for - all. Annual event. Further details to follow nearer the time.
MAW executive committee meeting
Date: 14/9/09
Details: Quarterly management meeting. Please use the Contact Us form for further information, or to offer to contribute to our work.
Location: Friends House, Euston Road, London.
And STILL they don't listen!
Dates: 1/9/09 to 2/9/09
Details: Join us in working for a responsive State which listens to citizens and takes the law seriously! This conference will not be academic, but centre on the needs of citizens who believe in the rule of law and are anxious for their activism to be more effective. We hope to draw on the wide range of expertise and experience represented by our speakers, some of whom are listed below. For full list see booking form. Workshops will consider: ways and means of approaching MPs, creating an archive of common responses from Government and politicians, developing a bank of useful responses based on the advice of lawyers, and reaching out to like-minded groups and the public. We intend there to be a result: strategies to achieve a more constructive dialogue between officials, legislators and citizens about compliance with the law by the British State. Do join us for this unique opportunity...
Speakers:
- Clare Short MP
- Gareth Peirce, Birnberg Peirce and Co
- Norman Baker MP
- John McDonnell MP
- Jenny Jones (London Assembly)
- Ann Feltham (Campaign Against Arms Trade)
- Professor Nick Grief (Bournemouth University)
- Carole Naughton (WMD Awareness Group)
- Dr Nick Ritchie (Bradford Dept of Peace Studies)
- Milan Rai (Justice Not Vengeance)
- Dr Andrew Blick (The Federal Trust)
- George Farebrother (The World Court Project)
- Rosie Houldsworth (formerly Oxford Research Group)
Location: Friends House,Euston Road, London
MAW executive committee meeting
Date: 9/7/09
Details: Quarterly management meeting. Please use the Contact Us form if you wish to contribute to our projects, or for further information.
Location: Friends House, Euston Road, London
The Limits of Military Obedience
Date: 26/6/09
Details: An open discussion on the eve of Armed Forces Day.Three speakers, General Sir Hugh Beach, Bruce Kent(Pax Christi) and George Farebrother ( Institute of Law Accountability and Peace)will address the challenges to military obedience posed by international law and the individual's conscience. To include exploration of case studies. Chaired by Kat Barton of Quaker Peace and Social Witness.
Location: Imperial War Museum, London.
Musicians Against Nuclear Arms(MANA) Concert for Peace
Date: 25/6/09
Details: Fitzwilliam String Quartet
Location: St Cyprian's Church, Clarence Gate, Glentworth Street, NW1 6AX.
International Conscientious Objectors Day ceremony
Date: 15/5/09
Details: Gather to remember those who have refused to kill, and are still refusing to kill. Songs, readings, vigil. Further information nearer the time.
Location: Tavistock Square, London
2009 Annual Peace History Conference
Date: 24/4/09
Details: This, our third Peace History Conference, offers seven speakers over the two days, plus live music, film and discussion. The event will begin on Friday with Professor Robert Hinde, MAW president, giving the welcome and introduction. the booking form gives full details of the programme, but a summary of speakers and topics is as follows: Henry Dunant, Solferino (1859) and the origins of the Red Cross - Peter van den Dungen; Dawn of a Euroopean Middle East Policy, Bruno Kreisky and the Socialist International - Gabriele Matzner-Holzer; The influence of Francis of Assisi, messenger of peace and reconciliation - Paula Pearce; Remembering Humanity, Pugwash, scientists and peace - Sandra Butcher; Henry Ford's Peace Ship - Terry Charman; Conscientious OPbjectors in action, working with the fighting forces in WW2 - Lyn Smith; Civilian Resistance in the US to the war in Vietnam - Joseph J.Fahey. In addition, there will be a chance to hear music played live, from the new MAW CD Call Back the Fire, and to see the short historic peace films Attention, The Red Stain, The Big If, Hsitoire du Soldat Inconnu. Plenty of refreshment breaks are included. Do join us!
Speakers:
- Peter van den Dungen (University of Bradford)
- Gabriele Matzner-Holzer (Austrian Ambassador)
- Paula Pearce (Franciscan International Study Centre, Canterbury)
- Sandra Butcher (INternational Pugwash History Project)
- Terry Charman (Imperial War Museum)
- Lyn Smith (Author. Imperial War Museum)
- Joseph J. Fahey (Manhattan College, New York)
Speech: America's Dox Quixote: The Henry Ford Peace Ship of December 1915 (Terry Charman)
Location: Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1. Organised by the International Peace Bureau and the Movement for the Abolition of War, in association with the Imperial War Museum. We wish to extend our gratitude to the museum, once again, for its generous assistance with this annual event.
Musicians Against Nuclear Arms Concert for Peace
Date: 18/4/09
Details: Tony Lamb, clarinet, PAl Banda, cello, and Julian Jacobson, piano.
Location: Rosslyn Hill Chapel, NW3.
Unity in Diversity - Celebrating the UN International Year of Reconciliation, 2009
Date: 28/3/09
Details: The brutality of conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is a stark reminder that the people of Middle East continue to pay dearly for the failure to achieve peace. The same is true of ongoing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Sudan. The General Assembly proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Reconciliation to pursue reconciliation processes in societies affected or divided by conflicts, for the establishment of firm and lasting peace. This can only be achieved through implementing cultural, educational and social programs to promote the concept of reconciliation. This is intended to be one such meeting to highlight three peace processes which have been effective and successful in holding peace among communities. They are the S.African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the N.Ireland Peace Process and inter-faith dialogue in Bosnia and Kosovo. Three eminent speakers will explore and see if these can be used as a template for bringing conflicts to a peaceful resolution. Organised by Action for UN Renewal.
Speakers:
- High Commissioner for South Africa
- Rev. Donald Prentice
- Dr Harold Good
- Father Alec Reid
Location: Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ.
Building Alliance for Joint Action Against War
Date: 28/2/09
Details: Aims to unite groups and individuals campaigning for justice and peace into a broad alliance which would be strong enough to challenge the renewed arms race and the perpetual planning for war. A representative from MAW will be attending. Organised by the Network of Oxford Women (NOW)for Justice and Peace.
Location: North Oxford Community Centre, Diamond Place, Summertown, Oxford OX2 7DP.
War and Medicine exhibition
Dates: 15/12/08 to 15/2/09
Details: Aims to trace the history of both since the Crimean War. What is the politics of medicine when it is involved in keeping a war effort going? A big problem of warfare is that it keeps away from what it is to be humanising - how can medicine be part of that? A typically bravura show, put together with the Deutsches Hygiene Museum, Dresden, it dares to tackle big ideas and to answer troubling, topical questions - through the analysis of medical interventions including the wartime dramas of Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole, the birth of psychiatry as a response to shellshcok in WW1 and through David Cotterell's installation, recording how surgical teams operate behind the lines in Afghanistan. Especially striking about the relationship between war and medicine is that, as armies have developed increasingly sophisticated ways of harming their enemies, medicine has had to respond virtuosically to the changes in types of wounded casualties and increases in their number. Stuart Jeffries of the Guardian asks - 'what kind of sick society would organise itself that way?'
Location: The Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1
Sue Gilmurray - Writing Songs about War and Peace: connections and communications
Date: 8/12/08
Details: A singer-songwriter from Ely who is fast becoming well known for her songs - both secular and Christian - some of which carry a strong political message drawn from current international events. Sue is a performer on the new MAW CD Call Back the Fire ( see Resources section). This was launched at the Imperial War Museum on Remembrance Sunday. This event is being organised by the Council on Christian Approaches to Defence and Disarmament (CCADD). It is an open meeting and all are welcome - those of any faith or none. A sandwich lunch will be available from 12.30, for a small charge.
Location: 39 Ecclestone Square, London SW1
New World Order and the United Nations
Date: 25/11/08
Details: Explore terrorism, especially nuclear terrorism, intervention of Russia in Georgia, new India-US deal, role of media, shifting world power balance.... see website below for further info
Speakers:
- Vijay Mehta (WDC co-chair and author of 'The UN and its future' and 'Global Security and Global Governance: UN Role'.)
- Rae Street (Chair, Manchester and District CND)
- Rita Payne (Chair, Commonwealth Journalists Association)
Location: Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NS
2008 Annual Remembrance Day Lecture
Date: 9/11/08
Details: 'Hope in a Time of War' - This year, on the 90th anniversary of the ending of the First World War, we focus on peace and reconcilliation.
Speaker: Kathy Galloway (Leader of the Iona Community)
Speech: Hope in a Time of War (Kathy Galloway)
Location: Imperial War Museum, London SE1
2008 Annual General Meeting
Date: 1/11/08
Details: 'Climate change and military conflict'
Speaker: Dr Stuart Parkinson (Executive Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility.)
Speech: Climate Change and Conflict (Dr Stuart Parkinson)
Location: The Atrium and Conference Room, Imperial War Museum, London SE1
Children's Mystery Walk
Date: 21/9/08
Details: A Mystery Walk for children along the London Peace Trail.
Location: The walk starts at Euston and finishes at Lambeth.
5 years of war in Iraq: What role can the United Nations play in building peace and security.
Date: 14/5/08
Speakers:
- Tony Benn (Former MP and Minister, President of the Stop the War Coalition)
- Cllr John Tanner (Mayor of Oxford)
Location: Oxford Town Hall
Walk for Peace
Dates: 26/4/08 to 16/7/08
The Role of Global Institutions in Tackling Poverty
Date: 23/4/08
Speaker: Vijay Mehta (WDC co-chair and author of 'The UN and its future' and 'Global Security and Global Governance: UN Role'.)
Location: Magdalen Auditorium, Magdalen College, Oxford, OX1 4AU
2008 Annual Peace History Conference
Dates: 28/3/08 to 29/3/08
Speakers:
- Terry Charman (Imperial War Museum)
- Kazuyo Yamane (Kochi University, Japan)
- Tramor Quemeneur (PhD in History Institute of History of Present Time (IHTP-CNRS))
- Katrina Gass and Helen May
Speeches:
- The 1932 League of Nations Disarmament Conference at Geneva (Terry Charman)
- Japanese Peace Pioneers Masaharu Oka and Yayori Matsui (Kazuyo Yamane)
- General de Bollardière: The French General who changed his mind. (Tramor Quemeneur)
- The Development of WILPF in Britain 1915 (Katrina Gass and Helen May)
Location: Imperial War Museum, Londaon
2007 Annual Remembrance Day Lecture
Date: 11/11/07
Speaker: Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
Speech: Law not War (Baroness Helena Kennedy QC)
A new role for the military? Waging law, not war
Date: 12/7/06
Details: Public Meeting to discuss A Human Security Doctrine for Europe, exploring the report's ideas for transforming the nature of military intervention, and the concept of Human Security
Speaker: Mary Kaldor (Professor and Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics)
Speech: What is Human Security? (Mary Kaldor)
Location: House of Commons, London
2005 Annual General Meeting
Date: 19/11/05
Details: Public meeting starts at 1:00pm
Location: Vaughan House, 46 Francis Street, London SW1
What is the Best Way to Honour Their Memory?
Date: 3/10/05
Details: Talk on how Remembrance should be a time to focus on preventing future wars, and challenging the culture of war being regrettable but inevitable, followed by discussion.
Speaker: Christine Titmus (MAW vice-chair)
Speech: What is the Best Way to Honour Their Memory? (Christine Titmus)
Location: Dorchester Corn Exchange, Dorchester, Dorset.
2004 Annual Remembrance Day Lecture
Date: 14/11/04
Details: Our annual meeting and lecture.
Speaker: Caroline Lucas (MEP)
Speech: Building a Culture of Peace (Caroline Lucas)
Location: The Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1.
2003 Annual General Meeting
Date: 1/11/03
Details: Annual General Meeting with a speech by one of our founding members - Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat.
Speaker: Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat (President, MAW)
Speech: Remember Your Humanity (Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat)
Location: Vaughn House, 46 Fracis Street, London SW1P 1QN