Bradford Conference on Nonviolent Struggle and Social Defence

Bradford Conference on Nonviolent Struggle and Social Defence, held April 3-7, 1990 in Bradford, England. The gathering, which included five full days of plenary sessions, workshops and intense personal conversations that went on into many late hours of the night, was organized by War Resisters’ International (WRI) and the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), in cooperation with the Bradford School of Peace Studies.

Over 100 people attended the conference, where a unique mix of politicians, grassroots activists, researchers — and one member of the West German Military Academy — challenged and listened deeply to one another. Some participants, like German parliamentarian Petra Kelly and researcher Gene Sharp, are well known in international peace movement circles; others are respected activists inside their own communities, involved, in particular, with campaigns to abolish their countries’ militaries or in promoting conscientious objection.