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IPRA's 40th Anniversary Conference in Hungary
an article by Michael True
Two hundred-fifty members of the International Peace
Research Association gathered for the organization's fortieth
anniversary gathering, July 5-9, 2004, in Sopron, Hungary, an hour east
of Vienna. The opening address, by Kevin Clements, Director, Peace and
Conflict Studies, Queensland University, Brisbane, Australia, focused
on nonviolent alternatives in addressing terrorism and on conflict
transformation to build cultures of peace.
Particularly
significant were the attendance and participation of younger scholars,
who reported on original and significant research in panels arranged by
the twenty-two IPRA commissions.
Presentations included papers
on nonviolence theory and cosmopolitanism by Ian Atack, Trinity
College, Dublin; nonviolent campaigns in Hungary in the 19th century,
by Tom Weber, LaTrobe University, Australia; and nonviolent responses
to Muslim terrorists by Chaiwat Satha-Anad, Thamassat University,
Bangkok.
A special plenary on the Middle East included a major
talk on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict by Stephen Zunes, University
of San Francisco, USA., and author of "Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East
Policy and the Roots of Terrorism" (2003).
New initiatives by
younger scholars and researchers included a peace education center in
Vienna, new programs in conflict resolution in India; and similar
peacebuilding initiatives in Uganda, Japan, the Philippines, and Latin
America.
At the business meeting, Luc Reychler, University of
Leuven, Belgium, was elected Secretary General of the International
Peace Research Association, and Ian Harris, University of Wisconsin,
Milwaukee, USA continues at President, International Peace Research
Association Foundation, which awards small grants in peace education
and research.
The 2006 IPRA conference will meet in Calgary, Canada, with Larry Fisk as coordinator.
More information is available on the IPRA website.
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DISCUSSION
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Does research show that nonviolence works?
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NON-VIOLENCE
LATEST READER COMMENT:
GRANNY D Part IV -- last part
The limousines of monstrous presumption whisk by us today, but we need not
feel powerless, for the real power of history is always in the people's
hearts and hands. All the power of change is given by fate and history to
the courageous, who fear the loss of liberty and justice more than that
brief glimmer of life that sparkles through the eternity of who we are.
And so we take our parts in the great struggle between dark and light,
fear and love, between the withering decomposition of separation, and the
living joy of combination, cooperation and growth.
Let our neighbors, who have voted another way or not at all, see what we
are made of and what we are willing to do for love, for life, for justice.
Only a few more of them need step forward to our side for love and life
and justice to win. They will not step forward if we are not full of
courage and grace and beauty and most of all love. We will inspire them
with awe.. . ...more.
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