Peace and Conflict Studies to Sponsor Two Events at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Peace and Conflict Studies program at the College of the Holy Cross is sponsoring several events during the fall 2006 semester. The talks are free and open to the public.

M.P. Mathai, a Gandhian scholar and social activist from Kerala, India, will give a talk titled “Gandhi and Christianity” on Oct. 11 from noon to 1 p.m. in Stein Hall, Room 102. A light lunch will be served.

The speaker will draw parallels between the philosophies of both Gandhi and Jesus. His remarks are part of his ongoing book project on the topic.

Mathai is a member of the faculty of Mahatma Gandhi University. He has traveled and lectured extensively in the United States, Indonesia, and the U.K., on the legacy of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., non-violent responses to terrorism, and Gandhi’s world view.

Andrew Bacevich, professor of international relations at Boston University, will give a talk titled “The Iraq War and the Myths of American Military Power” on Nov. 13 at 4 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center, Room 402.

Increasingly the Iraq war appears to be unwinnable. The world’s most powerful military establishment finds itself locked in a stalemate. Bacevich will explore the question: What are the implications of this development for U.S. policy?

Bacevich is the author of The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War (Oxford University Press, 2005) and American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy (Harvard University Press, 2002). He has been a fellow of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He is a Vietnam veteran.