2 October 2023

Sundeep Waslekar’s book A World without War was translated and published in French by CNRS Editions, a leading French publisher, with support from Region Normandy. Prof Bertrand Badie, emeritus professor at Sciences Po, has written Foreword for the French edition. The French title is Entre Guerre et Paix.

The book was launched at the Normandy Peace Forum on 28 September 2023 with a very distinguished panel.

- Ms Oleksandra Matviichuk (Ukraine), Nobel Peace Prize 2022

- Ms Jody Williams (USA), Nobel Peace Prize 1997

- Mr Stefan Lofven (sweden), Former Prime Minister of Sweden, Co-Chair of the UN High-Level Advisory Board for Effective Multilateralism

- Ms Hadja Idrissa Bah (Guinea), Winner of the 2023 Freedom Prize, Founder of the club of young girls leaders of Guinea

- Mr Sundeep Waslekar (India) author of A World without War

-  Mr Ulysse Gosset (France), senior TV journalist, as Moderator of the session.

The panel discussion at the book launch highlighted

The importance of strengthening collective security by reforming the United Nations system

The importance of positive change that ordinary people including civil society activists and youth can bring about

The importance of realisation that most countries in the world do not want war, including 22 countries that have given up weapons and armies and 122 countries that supported the UN resolution for the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons

The importance of preventing the misuse of modern technologies like Artificial Intelligence in developing killer robots and other weapons of mass destruction

The importance of realising the risks associated with hyper nationalism

The book was also discussed at the Gandhi birth anniversary celebrations hosted by the Embassy of India in Paris on 2 October 2023.

Dr. Prafullachandra Sharma, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of India, welcomed the guests.

Mr Francois-Xavier Priollaud, Vice President of the Region Normandy, explained the importance of promoting peace in a pro-active way. Prof Bertrand Baide, Emeritus Professor at Sciences Po university, said that most wars have not produced any results for the invaders. They have in fact resulted in losses for invaders and great powers and stalemates. Therefore, it was not logical to wage wars.

The speakers and the audience paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.

The full session of the launch at the Normandy Peace Forum is available in French on YouTube at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8JNUNptz4A