Thursday 20 March 2014

'Real History of World War I'

Date: Wednesday 26th March, 2014
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: Malcolm X Centre, 141 City Rd, Bristol, BS2 8YH ‎
With: Neil Faulkner, Colin Thomas
Presented by 'Remembering The Real World War 1' - Bristol's campaign to commemorate the real World War 1 (see http://network23.org/realww1)

This meeting represents an opportunity to hear different views about the war and discuss how we can ensure that the real World War 1 is remembered by people across the city.
How the war is remembered is as much about the future as the past – while past conflict remains discredited, future foreign military interventions and occupations will remain difficult to sell to the public.
For the majority of people in all the countries involved, directly or indirectly, World War 1 was one of the greatest disasters of the twentieth century. In this centenary year of the start of the war we have been promised debate in the media about the causes and effects of the war.
So far the views expressed on the BBC have ranged from those who think that the war was essential to defend the British Empire (Max Hastings) through to those who argue that the British Empire was undermined by Britain's involvement in the war (Niall Ferguson). While Jeremy Paxman has been able to refer to conscientious objectors as 'cranks'.
No space has been found for the voices of those who at the time argued against war on a principled basis. Nor those who today argue that it was a war fought for the interests of the European ruling elites whose price was paid by ordinary people across the world. And that empire, militarism and nationalism always lead to bloodshed and disaster. We have heard nothing of the multitude of both individual and mass forms of resistance to the war on all sides of the national divides being uncovered by radical historians.
Neil Faulkner is the author of 'No Glory: The Real History Of The First World War'. He works as a writer, lecturer, excavator, and occasional broadcaster (including Time Team and Timewatch) . He is the Editor of Military History Monthly.
Colin Thomas is an award winning producer, director and scriptwriter of TV documentaries covering Welsh history, the 1st World War, Spanish Civil War and the 1926 General Strike for the BBC and Channel 4. Colin collected the 2006 Jury Award at the Celtic Film Festival for Border Crossing - The Journey of Raymond Williams.
If you aren't able to get to the meeting but want to get involved or know interesting local stories about World War 1 please get in touch.
For more information email rememberingrealww1@gmail.com 

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