Book. Jean Jaurès: lessons of peace for times of war

The war returned to Europe’s gates with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It is also present in Gaza between Israel and Hamas after the massacres of October 7, 2023 and perhaps it will be -she will soon return to Lebanon. And then there are all these wars, ongoing or whose embers remain alive, and about which we talk less: from Yemen to Ethiopia, from Myanmar to Syria via Afghanistan.

How to think and find peace in these times of war? How can we maintain hope without being naive? No doubt by mobilizing all energies to bring about another world, no doubt also by looking at this History which we think repeats itself too often, no doubt finally by drawing on the work of those who thought about war for avoid. Jean Jaurès was one of those who always wanted to wage “war against war”, even to the point of sacrificing their lives.

A few weeks before the centenary of his pantheonization, on November 23, a collective work allows us to delve into the political work of Jean Jaurès and the socialist international of his time. Work that can enlighten our current world by giving us tools to combat all racism, all nationalism that provokes and fuels conflicts and barbarities.

Under the direction of historians Rémy Pech, former president of the University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès and president of the association of friends of Jean Jaurès, and Gilles Candar, president of the Jaurèsian studies society, the book “War and Peace in the world of the 19th century^e and in the 21st^e century” addresses many aspects of the wars of yesterday and today by comparing the points of view of researchers, historians, elected officials, specialists and journalists – including Pierre Challier, senior reporter at La Dépêche.

This rich reflection on the conflicts over two centuries makes all the more relevant the thoughts of Jean Jaurès, who wanted to raise awareness and address “human men from all countries”, convinced that history “will give the last word to peace.”