No matter the horrors he's witnessed in around four decades of war journalism, George Negus says we should never give up on peace.

Landing in town this Friday night in collaboration with photography collective Degrees South to host a public forum on the very topic, George says despite our history, there is no excuse in giving up the fight against war.

“(Peace) might be an unattainable goal, but it’s a good goal,” George says.

“As human beings when war is concerned, we continue to defy gravity and intelligence. So much of the world depends physically on weaponry and the war factor. It provides people with jobs and in turn, gives them a reason to do what they do, whether it’s nationality, loyalty or laying down their lives for a friend or family member. War has a high-minded side it shouldn’t have. For some obscure reason, when you whack a uniform on someone, it gives them an excuse to kill someone. If they aren’t wearing a uniform, they are a terrorist. But they are all killing each other.”

George says he hopes that the current generation – and the ones that follow – learn from past mistakes instead of repeating them like generations past.

“My generation have seen it, and we didn’t learn anything from it,” Negus says.

“Fingers crossed the next generation can do something about it. I’m looking forward to living in a world run by my son’s generation, he’s in his 20s. Any older person who says, ‘if you do what we did, you’ll be right’, is talking b------. When war, poverty, racial discrimination, environment and the social economy are concerned, we can’t hold our heads up and say we did the right thing.”

George says that the images in Degree South’s exhibition PEACE should speak for themselves – and he plans to leave the talented photographers, including Tim Page, Stephen Dupont, Ben Bohane, Jack Picone, Ashley Gilbertson, David Dare Parker and Michael Coyne, to do most of the talking in the panel.

“The photographs themselves are amazing, it’s brilliant photography,” he says.

“You’re not going to be there to get lectured by me, they are very, very interesting men who have seen it all close up and want to do something about it. Otherwise, it will be entertaining and I’m sure there will be laughter, but I wouldn’t think you’ll get a lot of psychobabble from me. I’ll have my tongue in my cheek, but that’s when I’m saying what I really mean anyway.”

See Degree: South's exhibition PEACE at Tanks Arts Centre from Friday, November 23. Official opening from 6pm, followed by public forum with George Negus and Degree: South. Entry is $10.

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