Airstrike by the US-led coalition in Kobani, Syria, 2014. Lefteris Pitarakis/AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.The most recent Labour leadership hustings briefly touched on the issue of 'talking to terrorists' and then returned to more domestic issues. But the issue of alternatives to war remains at a time when the horrors of what is happening in Syria, let alone the violence in Iraq and Turkey, have once more brought to the fore the search for more peaceful solutions. In this context the Adam Curle Symposium at Bradford University on 5 – 6 September is all too relevant, especially given Adam’s own commitment to the peaceful resolution of conflict. This commitment was rooted in extensive personal experience, including mediation efforts in the Biafra war and the Indo-Pakistan confrontation in 1971.
Adam Curle was the founding professor of peace studies at Bradford University, coming from a chair in education for development at Harvard in 1973 to start what would become Britain’s first full university department devoted to peace education and research. The symposium marks the centenary of his birth, and brings together peace researchers and practitioners from around the world. The keynote speakers are John Paul Lederach, Cynthia Enloe and James Thompson, and leading thinkers and practitioners include Wolfgang Dietrich, Kevin Clements and Irene Santiago.
The driving force behind the symposium is Jenny Pearce, who has set the scene powerfully:
