Mary Dobbing is a granddaughter of a First World War conscientious objector A. Herbert Dobbing. She was inspired by his example to be an active pacifist in line with the Quaker testament for peace. Her witness for peace has taken her to Palestine/Israel as a human rights observer and to Afghanistan supporting a youth group in Kabul the Afghan Peace Volunteers.
Mary has an MA in Conflict Resolution from the University of Bradford’s Peace Studies Centre. Her year as a Quaker Peace and Social Witness Peaceworker lead to working with Dronewars UK as a researcher into the use, development and international trade in remote-controlled military aircraft (drones), as well campaigning for their abolition. She has written and presented about these activities.
Mary is one of the co-curators of the exhibition ‘Refusing to Kill’ which has been shown in several venues across Bristol in 2018-2018 telling the story of the City’s conscientious objectors and has been involved with the Remembering The Real World War 1 group since. More recently she has been on the advisory board for Commemoration, Conflict and Conscience, a national festival with events around Bristol in April and May 2019, including a festival weekend: Saturday 27th April – Sunday 28th April.
Publications
Cole C., Dobbing M., Hailwood C. Convenient Killing: Armed Drones and the Playstation Mentality. Oxford: Fellowship of Reconciliation, 2010.
Cole C., Dobbing M. Israel and the Drone Wars: Examining Israel’s production, use and proliferation of UAVs. Oxford: Drone Wars UK, 2014.
BRHG Publications: