COVENTRY’S internationally renowned RISING Global Peace Forum will feature the husband of a woman who was held captive for six years in Iran and a Ukrainian politician who served under Volodymyr Zelensky.
Richard Ratcliffe campaigned for the release of his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from imprisonment in Iran.
Nazanin was detained in Iran for six years due to allegations of spying and spreading propaganda against the Iranian government.
Ratcliffe’s campaigning included a 21-day hunger strike and a massive digital media campaign, and he will be talking at RISING about the significance the digital world played in achieving his wife’s release from prison.
Volodymyr Groysman, who was Ukraine’s Prime Minister between 2016 and 2019 and served under current President Volodymyr Zelensky, will be talking about lessons that can be learned from the war in his country and the next steps for peace.
Other speakers include Twitter’s head of global policy Katy Minshall.
The three-day event will be taking place at Coventry Cathedral between Wednesday, November 9 and Friday, November 11.
Politicians, academics and community leaders will take part in several live and virtual discussions about how peace can be built and destroyed through the use of digital media.
It was launched in 2015 in the city and has since gained international recognition, spawning events in Columbia, Westminster and the USA among other areas.
Prof Mike Hardy, Chair of the RISING Board, said: “It has been a year of seismic upheaval with events happening globally and closer to home which underlines that we are living in a troubled world, and now more than ever, conversations are needed around how to build and sustain peaceful communities.
“The war in Ukraine, the worsening cost of living crisis, and emerging dissent between Muslim and Hindu communities on the streets of the Midlands are just some of the reminders over the past year that more work is needed to unite communities to achieve a stable society.
“The use of the internet and social media has a significant role to play in both helping to establish peace and sparking unrest on an array of topics, not helped by the influence of misinformation, and there will be a sharp focus on how we can use digital channels to protect peace, whilst limiting its ability to provoke unrest.”
