Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
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Annual peace lecture returns to Leeds 17th April 2013
The Leeds International Olof Palme Memorial Peace Lecture, jointly organised by our University and Leeds City Council's Peace Links Group, is to be presented on Tuesday 7 May at Leeds Civic Hall by the Secretary General of the International Peace Bureau (IPB), Colin Archer.
Working together with local peace and human rights groups, the Leeds International Olof Palme Memorial Peace Lecture was first established in 1987 in memory of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, a peace campaigner and outspoken opponent of apartheid in South Africa who briefly studied in Leeds in the 1950s. Colin will deliver a lecture entitled 'Spending on Development and the Military in a Time of Austerity'.
Leeds Metropolitan University's Professor David Webb, co-organiser of the event, Politics & Applied Global Ethics, commented: "We are fortunate to have Colin Archer present this year's annual Olof Palme Memorial Peace Lecture. The IPB has been campaigning for peace and alternatives to war for many years and its work has been awarded with a Nobel Peace Prize. This year, on 15 April, it is organising and coordinating a Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) and so this is a highly relevant and timely topic for our lecture."
The Lord Mayor of Leeds, Cllr Ann Castle, said: "It is fantastic that Colin Archer is able to speak at the annual Olaf Palme peace lecture. The event is very popular year on year and has attracted many interesting discussions and topics, and I am sure this year will be no different."
Colin's work as a peace and human rights activist began in the early 1970s, with him being especially active on nuclear issues in the UK during the late 1980s. He co-founded the Institute for Law, Peace and Accountability and has been Secretary-General of the International Peace Bureau since 1990.
An organiser of a wide variety of projects, publications and events with the international peace movement., Colin has been heavily involved in the World Court Project and Abolition 2000 (coalitions against nuclear weapons), the Hague Appeal for Peace (World Congress 1999), and the Global Campaign for Peace Education.
The International Peace Bureau is based in Geneva and is dedicated to the vision of a world without war. It has 300 member organisations in 70 countries together with individual members that from a global network. Its work was recognised in 1910 when it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and since then, 13 of its officers have been made Nobel Peace Laureates.
The lecture will be held at 7.30pm at Leeds Civic Hall. For more information and to reserve a place, contact peace@leeds.gov.uk or 0113 2474339.