Civil disobedience/NVDA

Press release, 14th of October

Sweden's largest arms contractor today fights two peace activists in a local court, demanding that the duo pay damages after a disarmament manifestation two years ago.

Saab Bofors Dynamics is a subsidiary to the Saab Group which produces the Gripen fighter aircraft, but it was anti-tank handheld weapons that the pacifists went after on October 16, 2008.

Nonviolent direct action against militarism all over Europe

The European Antimilitarist Network is not a fixed entity, but a flexible network of antimilitarist groups, based on the principle of nonviolent direct action. It inclu­des, but is not limited to, groups formally affiliated to War Resi­sters' International. As a net­work, it aims to keep an infor­mation flow going between ac­tions, and also to take decisions jointly on the focus for the coming months/year(s).

The vast unpopulated areas in Northern Sweden are increasingly used for war preparation and trainings. North European Aerospace Testrange (NEAT) is Europe’s largest overland test range and consists of an area 360 by 100 km of restricted air space and 1,650 sq km of restricted land area (expandable to 3,000sq km). It is a cooperation of the Swedish organisations FMV (the Swedish Defence Material Administration) and SSC (the Swedish Space Corporation).

Reflections on strategic issues for the antimilitarist movement

In
most NATO countries public opinion is either divided over, or in
favour of, the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan. Only in
very few countries can NATO count on support for its war (see
illustration 1). However, neither does this turn into a massive
mobilisation against the war in Afghanistan, nor does it – for now
– translate into opposition to the organisation fighting this war –
NATO (see illustration 2). So are we successful?

Counter-summit

Location: To Be Determined

19/11/2010 - Friday

11.00-11.15: Welcome
Vitor Lima (PAGAN) confirmed
Reiner Braun (ICC) confirmed
11.15-13.00: Lectures
1. NATO’s War in Afghanistan (Malalai Joya, Afghanistan) (TBC)
2. The New NATO Strategy and Global Crisis (Vitor Lima, PAGAN, Portugal) confirmed
3. Nuclear Weapons in the New NATO-Strategy (Joseph Gerson, AFSC, USA) confirmed
4. NATO and Latin America (Eduardo Melero, UAM, Spain) confirmed
5. Missile Defense Systems in Eastern Europe / Russia (Jana Glivicka, No Bases, CR) confirmed

Activist Conference, Lisbon, 16/17 October 2010

The No to War – No to NATO Activist Conference will be embedded in the con­ference of the Portuguese organisation “CULTRA”.

The German Marshall Fund of the United States annually does a survey on important "transatlantic trends", which can make an interesting read. One of the questions asked is: "Please tell me to what extent do you agree with the following: Under some conditions, was is necessary to obtain justice." (Q29.2). The answers are quite revealing (see graphic below).

Opening speech by Arundhati Roy at the WRI conference on the 22 of January 2010 in Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, India

[video:http://vimeo.com/14272918 width:300 height:225]

Three Christian peace activists were arrested at AWE Aldermaston after opening the base for disarmament. The three, Fr. Martin Newell (43), Passionist priest from the London Catholic Worker, Susan Clarkson (63) of the Oxford Catholic Worker, and Chris Cole (47) also from Oxford , cut a doorway into the outer fence of nuclear base. They group then attached a sign saying ‘Open for Disarmament: All Welcome’.

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The processes and techniques which can be found below show/ prove that even in large groups of hundreds and thousands of people, it is possible to make decisions in a democratic, horizontal, participative manner, without hierarchy, delegations, hierarchies or votes/ voting.

‘Haga que pase’: Make it happen! The short documentary 'Mi FinK' shows the process of community organization and resistance. This participatory action arose in the face of vulnerability to losing the land: one of the few things that keep the community united and free. Since the abolition of slavery in Colombia, the land has sustained the food supply and the economy of the Afrodescendant people of Villa Rica. Today the sugar companies dominate the area, planting sugar cane as a monoculture, thereby forcing out the traditional small farms of the region.

That Dark and Stormy Night

On January 17th 2009 six people broke into EDO MBM/ITT in Brighton and caused £189,000 worth of damage to computers, servers, lathes and other equipment. The activists, calling themselves the ‘decommissioners’, took their action in response to the Israeli assault on Gaza which had claimed 1,400 lives by the 17th. EDO MBM/ITT manufactures the arming unit for the Israeli F16 bombrack.

Court in the Act