As one of only two Irish member organisations [1], Afri is delighted to welcome the International Peace Bureau for its first ever Council meeting in Ireland. The IPB is a winner of the Nobel peace Prize and has acquired a distinguished peace promoting reputation in the course of its over 100 year existence.
The meeting will take place in All Hallows College, Drumcondra, on this week-end, November 16th – 18th, and will coincide with Afri’s annual Hedge School which will take place at the same venue. Also, as part of the Afri/IPB weekend, the annual Sean MacBride Peace Prize will be presented to two heroines of the ‘Arab Spring’ by its first ever recipient, President Michael D. Higgins.
Afri became a member of the International Peace Bureau in the 1980s at the recommendation of Sean MacBride who was IPB President for more than ten years and was also a special advisor to Afri. For this reason also we are happy to welcome the IPB and to be part of the Sean MacBride Peace Prize ceremony.
As war continues to rage in many parts of the world and as the annual global arms budget exceeds $1600 billion Afri considers the work of the International Peace Bureau to be particularly crucial in bringing an important peace perspective to the table. Afri Coordinator Joe Murray described the IPB perspective as being a useful corrective “to the increasing tendency towards commemoration in Ireland of imperial wars.”
Adi Roche, of the Children of Chernobyl Project and a former IPB Board member, has also been invited to the various events of the weekend. As an IPB Board member in the 1990s, Adi organised a visit to Ireland by IPB members which lead to the formation of Peacewatch Ireland, an international peace monitoring group, which made an important contribution to Ireland’s recent history.
[1] Afri is one of only two Irish member organisations of the IPB: Joe Murray of Afri is a current Board member and Irish CND is the second IPB member organisation.
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