Veteran journalist Robert Fisk gives a lecture on Remembrance Sunday

On Remembrance Sunday, 11^thNovember, Robert Fisk is coming all the way from Beirut to give a talk about the Armistice Centenary at Sands Films Studio in Rotherhithe.

It is 100 years since our leaders justified sending thousands of men to kill and be killed by claiming that it would be the last war. It was meant to be the war to end all wars and it was meant to be the great war for civilisation.... They produced the medals but did not deliver peace. During the twentieth century alone, humanity suffered more wars and associated tragedies than during all the previous centuries put together.

Robert Fisk, one of the world's most acclaimed journalists, is The Independent’s multi-award-winning Middle East correspondent, based in Beirut. He has lived in the Arab world for more than 40 years, covering the war in Syria and Lebanon, five Israeli invasions, the Iran-Iraq war, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Algerian civil war, Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, the Bosnian and Kosovo wars, the American invasion and occupation of Iraq and the 2011 Arab revolutions.

“The Great War For Civilisation” is the title of Robert Fisk's 2006 international bestseller; a passionate eyewitness account of the events that have shaped the Middle East.

Fisk has described himself as a pacifist. He has said that journalism must "challenge authority, all authority, especially so when governments and politicians take us to war."

He has written at length on how much of contemporary conflict has its origin, in his view, in lines drawn on maps: "After the allied victory of 1918, at the end of my father's war, the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent my entire career—in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad—watching the people within those borders burn."

Robert Fisk is based in Beirut and seldom comes to London; his acceptance of our invitation to join our series of anti war events to mark the Armistice is great honour and Sands Films is very proud to host this unique event.

THEY TOLD US IT WOULD BE THE LAST WAR is a series of events to mark the centenary of the Armistice. It is organised by Olivier Stockman at Sands Films Studio in Rotherhithe, London SE16.

The events run from 1st to 15th November and include live theatre, poetry, music, films, lectures and debates. Events are free or very modestly priced.

There are 7 films, 9 live performances, 4 debates/lectures.

Notable participants include Robert Fisk, Andrew Feinstein, Vanessa Redgrave, Lowkey (see previous and future press releases)