Events on Day 5: Theme - Purpose to Peace

When he was only nine years old, Satish Kumar renounced the world and joined the wandering brotherhood of Jain monks. Dissuaded from his path by an inner voice at the age of eighteen, he became a campaigner for land reform, working to turn Gandhi’s vision of renewed India and a peaceful world into reality.

Fired by the example of Bertrand Russell, he undertook an 8,000 mile peace pilgrimage, walking from India to America without any money, through deserts, mountains, storms and snow. It was an adventure during which he was thrown into jail in France, faced a loaded gun in America – and delivered packets of ‘peace tea’ to the leaders of the four nuclear powers.

In 1973, he settled in England, taking an Editorship of Resurgence magazine. He has been the editor ever since (30 + years!). He is the guiding spirit behind a number of ecological, spiritual and educational ventures in Britain. He founded the Small School in Hartland, a pioneering secondary school (aged 11-16) which brings into its curriculum ecological and spiritual values. In 1991, Schumacher College, a residential international center for the study of ecological and spiritual values, was founded, of which he is the Director of Programme.

Following Indian tradition, in his fiftieth year, he undertook another pilgrimage: again carrying no money, he walked to the holy places of Britain – Glastonbury, Canterbury, Lindisfarne and Iona. Meeting old friends and making new ones along the way, this pilgrimage was a celebration of his love of life and nature.

In July 2000, Satish Kumar was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Education from the University of Plymouth. In July 2001 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from the University of Lancaster.

In November 2001, Satish Kumar was presented with the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values Abroad.

His autobiography, No Destination, was first published in 1978. A revised and updated edition is published by Green Books. His book You Are, Therefore I Am – A Declaration of Dependence was published by Green Books in September 2002. Satish’s new book The Buddha and the Terrorist was published in November 2004.

In 2005 Satish appeared on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4. The BBC have recently commissioned him to make a documentary about his life with nature, scheduled for broadcast in 2007.

Simon Conway is co-chairman of the Cluster Munition Coalition, a network of over 200 civil society organisations campaigning for an international prohibition on cluster munitions. He is also Director of Landmine Action, the UK arm of the Nobel Prize winning organisation the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

He has an MA (Hons) degree in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh. On graduation, he served for five years as an officer in the Queen’s Own Highlanders, a Scottish regiment of the British Army, seeing active service in Northern Ireland before the ceasefire.

After leaving the army, he worked for the mine clearance charity The HALO Trust managing field programmes clearing mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) including cluster bombs in Cambodia, Kosovo, Abkhazia, Eritrea and Sri Lanka. He is a qualified unexploded ordnance disposal (bomb disposal) operator.

He joined Landmine Action in May 2004 as Deputy Director and was appointed Director in November 2005. Since joining Landmine Action he has established clearance programmes in Western Sahara, Liberia and Guinea Bissau and he is a co-author of Foreseeable Harm, the use and impact of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon, published in 2006.

He is the author of two novels, Damaged (Canongate, 1998) and Rage (Hodder & Stoughton, 2006). He was described by the Literary Review as a “roaring and prodigal talent”.

In 2006 he appeared on Radio 4’s Between Ourselves talking about his experiences clearing mines and cluster bombs in affected communities.

The Peace Vigil - Unified in Our Purpose.

Over 1,500 Soroptimist 'Stood for Peace' in a 30 minute vigil at the end of the 18th International Convention in Glasgow,

The Convention Gala Banquets were held at the Hilton Hotel and the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow on the evening of Thursday 2 August. A Scottish themed evening, during which a sumptuous dinner was served followed by a traditional Scottish Ceilidh. This event gave delegates the opportunity to participate in some traditional Scottish dancing.