The Forgiveness Project Annual Lecture 2011

In today’s climate of continued violence, conflict and bloodshed, Clare Short will give The Forgiveness Project’s 2nd Annual Lecture ‘No Forgiveness without Justice?’. In a year which marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11– an atrocity which changed the global and political landscape and focused the world’s attention on terrorism – Clare Short will explore the controversial issues of ‘forgiveness’ and ‘justice’.

The Annual Lecture is chaired by award-winning journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and will be followed by a panel discussion with speakers from The Forgiveness Project – all who have lost loved ones at the hands of political violence.

The Panel:

Clare Short was Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983-2010 and Secretary of State for International Development in Tony Blair’s government from 1997 until her resignation in 2003. Among other issues her current work is focused on sustainable urban development and environmental politics.

Colin Parry O.B.E JP. is a tireless campaigner for peace and has become a prominent authority and speaker in the years following the IRA bombing in Warrington in which his son was killed. Following this tragic event, Colin and his wife Wendy, founded The Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Foundation for Peace.

Elizabeth Turner’s husband, Simon Turner, was at a breakfast meeting at the World Trade Centre in New York when the twin towers were attacked on Sept 11th 2001. Pregnant with their first child, Elizabeth’s life was catapulted into a new direction.

Bassam Aramin became involved in the Palestinian struggle as a boy. At 17, he was caught planning an attack on Israeli troops and spent 7 years in prison. In 2005, he co-founded Combatants for Peace, an organisation uniting former Israeli and Palestinian combatants in a non-violent struggle against the Occupation.

Clare Short was an outspoken critic at the time of the UK’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. Having reluctantly supported Tony Blair’s call to war, she soon came to believe that her party had misled parliament and that there was no legal authority for the war. She resigned just 8 weeks after the invasion, in protest against the chaotic post-war planning. She has always believed that the very concept of a ‘war on terror’ is deeply flawed.

The Forgiveness Project is a charitable organisation which uses real life stories to explore forgiveness in the face of atrocity. It collects the testimonies of victims who have chosen understanding over retaliation, and of perpetrators who have sought peaceful solutions to crime and violence. The Forgiveness Project works with the public, schools, prisons, faith communities, and with any group who wishes to explore a way out of conflict, either in a wider political context or within their own lives. Its award-winning RESTORE prison programme encourages prisoners to explore the path of forgiveness.

Tickets: £12.50 + £1.30 booking fee, available online: www.unionchapel.org.uk/events.php.

Tickets are also available by post direct from The Forgiveness Project. Please send a cheque for £12.50, a stamped addressed envelope and your contact email address to 38 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0RE.