Given the current situation in so many parts of the world and the ways in which the lives of so many are impacted, Shlomit and I, in consultation with the Colloquium Committee and the ECC, decided that we needed to do something that acknowledges our reality at the moment, rather than a purely academic paper.

To that end, we have decided to hold a one -week colloquium, from 15 – 22 May, using Freud’s (1933) paper “Why War?” (attached) as springboard for a discussion. We hope that, together with holding very strong and careful boundaries, we may allow an opportunity for our members to comment on what it is about the human condition that inspires us to war, as well as what psychoanalysis has to offer in these times.

We have carefully assembled a panel of discussants – as usual, they will discuss among themselves for the first 2 days before opening to the general membership for 5 days