A Note on the Paris Peace Forum

France is convening an international forum in Paris from November 11 to November 13, 2018 to promote peace. Intended to be an annual event, the Paris Peace Forum is part of France’s commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, the ceasefire signed  on 11 November 1918 ending the Great War which caused 18 million dead.The gathering will be inaugurated by heads of state and representatives of more than 80 countries Warning that peace was again in danger, President Macron called for ‘concrete proposals’  to drive forward multilateralism and international cooperation.

France is the  the world’s third arms suppliers and  its exports increased by 27% compared to 2008-2012, according to SIPRI Arms Tranfers Database.

Faulkner’s best known line never goes out of date: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

 

Patrick Howlett-Martin is a career diplomat living in Paris. His new book is La Mémoire Profanée. Les Spoliations Nazies. Le vol du Patrimoine culturel et la question de sa restitution (The Profaned Memory. Nazis Spoliations. The Theft of Cultural Heritage and the Issue of its Restitution), L’Harmattan, Paris, October 2023.