ABS (ESE) ACTIVITIES SIXTH BAHÁ'Í INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND LAW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP CONFERENCE February 1998 The sixth conference of the Baha'i International Politics and Law Special Interest Group (BIPOLIG) proved to be the most successful to date, drawing over 100 attendants. The conference was unique in BIPOLIG’s short history because it was focused around a single theme – The Lesser Peace. The aim of the conference was to address this theme from both theoretical and practical approaches. The conference began with a speech by John Huddleston, who shared his understanding of the Lesser Peace and how current international affairs related to the concept. Drawing from his relevant books, Achieving Peace by the Year 2000 and The Search for a Just Society, and sharing his most recent thoughts on the issue, Mr. Huddleston provided the audience with an understanding of the lesser peace that was detailed and truly insightful. This was followed by a panel of three speakers, who each assessed the lesser peace through different perspectives: the environment, the role of institutions in the process, and the changing nature of warfare in the prelude to the lesser peace. The afternoon session started with Shahriar Razavi, who took a practical approach to the Lesser Peace, and spelled out perceptive ways that Bahá’ís at the local level can promote the concept and provide a fuller understanding to the community at large. This was followed by a presentation by Jeffrey Huffines, the US National Spiritual Assembly representative to the United Nations. Mr. Huffines, who was kind enough to travel from New York to join us, looked at the practical measures taken at the international level by the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) to promote the Lesser Peace. He did this by outlining the various proposals within BIC documents promoting issues that might stimulate international political unity. Furthermore, he assessed the degree to which these suggestions had been taken into account and put into practice by the world community. To round off the afternoon session, two workshops were conducted simultaneously by John Huddleston and Jeffrey Huffines. Both of these workshops expanded on various themes put forward earlier by the speakers during their presentations. The evening program was unique, as it combined the BIPOLIG conference with a public proclamation event. The program consisted of three speakers, John Huddleston, Dan Wheatley and Paul Coleman, who each provided a different perspective on the achievement of world peace. Mr. Huddleston looked at the issue as a function of the development of more advanced international institutions, which he explained were necessary to the security guarantees that world peace would require. Dan Wheatley assessed the role of the individual as a world citizen in the promotion and maintenance of world peace. Paul Coleman, who had travelled the world on foot promoting ecological restoration, shared many touching stories of his experiences and conveyed how peace was possible through simple individual initiatives. Of the more than 70 attendees, about 20 were drawn from the London School of Economics community, who learnt of the event from posters put up at the school. This was an inspiring event which touched the minds and hearts of those present. It represented the successful conclusion to the best-yet BIPOLIG Conference. Report by Babak Bahador The Associate is the newsletter of the Association for Bahá'í Studies (English-Speaking Europe), 27 Rutland Gate, London SW7 1PD, UK.