WRI activists

Postcards sent from WRI affiliate World Without WarEach year on 1st December War Resisters' International and its members mark Prisoners for Peace Day, when we publicise the names and stories of those imprisoned for actions for peace. Many are conscientious objectors, in gaol for refusing to join the military. Others have taken nonviolent actions to disrupt preparation for war.

Angie Zelter, Trident Ploughshares, 9th November 2015

Trident Ploughshares received the call-out to to oppose the Trident Juncture military exercise and decided to take part. After all, it was the biggest NATO exercise for 10 years, was about intervening in Africa and included a large contingent of UK military forces. The UK Minister of Defence was to visit the UK forces and it seemed right that UK anti-militarists should support their Spanish colleagues and explain that we, as global citizens, were against NATO and his visit was not in our name. We also wanted to support and strengthen our European network.

At the WRI Council meeting in Seoul, Korea, the WRI Council was delighted to admit four new associated organisation as members of War Resisters' International:

The Antimilitarist Kollective of Medellín, Colombia: an affinity group that promotes antimilitarism and conscientious objection to war as a way of life and as a way to fight for political and social advocacy. We fight for the transformation towards a more just, inclusive, equitable and humane society which promotes autonomy, self-determination and the freedom of people.

The Centre for Peace Studies, Zagreb, Croatia, is a non-profit citizens’ association whose mission is promoting non-violence, human rights and social change through education, research, public policies and activism. CPS grew out of various direct forms of peace-building activities in the region of western Slavonia during the 1990s war in Croatia (community projects such as The Volunteer Project Pakrac and The Croatian Anti-War Campaign - ARK). It was established in 1997, formally in 1999.

The Community Self Reliance Center, Nepal whose vision is to see a Nepali society where everyone enjoys a secure, free and dignified life. Their mission is to empower land-poor women and men enabling them to claim and exercise their basic rights, including right to land resources, contributing to eradicating poverty and injustice.

The National Land Rights Forum (NLRF), Nepal whose vision is to see a self-reliant farmer community in Nepal, and whose mission is to empower the land-poor people by organizing and conscientizing them to enable to launch struggle against discriminations and claim their farmers’ rights.

We welcome all of them and look forward to working together.

Last Friday, a group of Antimilitaristes-moc activists disrupted the organization of the departure of a military convoy from the port of Sagunto, due to be deployed in war maneuvers in the next few days by army units of more than 30 countries as part of NATO exercise “Trident Juncture 2015”

On 20 July, an attack against civilians in the southern Turkish town of Suruç killed dozens of people. Conscientious objectors Alper Sapan and Polen Ünlü were amongst those killed. WRI affiliate Vicdani Ret Derneği have released a statement that includes Polen and Alper's CO declarations, which we quote here:

Our CO-Update this month is a reminder that, as we work together as an international movement against war, the repercussions of resistance to militarism is often felt by individuals refusing to fight. Our Finnish friends have written of the history of the movement in Finland where resistance to conscription began, in some form, in 1901.

In October 2015 War Resisters' International and our South Korean affiliate World Without War will host an international seminar against war profiteering. This seminar will provide a space for activists using a whole range of different methods to gather together, learn how a spectrum of tactics interlink and help each other to be more effective. The seminar will coincide with a WRI council meeting, and will be followed by a nonviolent direct action against the ADEX arms fair, which will take place in Seoul and is the largest arms fair in the Asia region. For more information and the registration form, visit: /stopping-the-war-business

On Monday 13th April, groups across the world took action on military spending. The Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) is now in it's fifth year, and WRI affiliates took action to highlight the huge amounts of money that are wasted on military expenditure across the globe.

In Finland, two WRI affiliates came together to display a banner reading "If we had $1.8 trillion, we'd would #movethemoney to education, renewable energy, healthcare" in multiple languages. Members of South Korean group World Without War are currently touring Europe, met with members of AKL (the Union of Conscientious Objectors), and took part in the action.

The Broken Rifle, No 98, December 2013

A quick and cursory view of the history of War Resisters International (WRI) – an organization responsible for many wonderful small actions but rarely credited for its inspiration of big and effective movements – had hardly any connection to Africa at all. But that initial impression would be incorrect. Though often behind-the-scenes and without fanfare or spotlight, key members of WRI have played significant roles in significant aspects of the continents anti-colonial and anti-war moments over the past 90-plus years since WRI’s 1921 founding. The July 2014 international conference in Cape Town, South Africa is simply the most public – and perhaps the most ambitious – of these endeavors.

Coming up next month is the Disarmament Camp in Burghfield, Britain from 26 August - 7 September. The camp, run by Trident Ploughshare, is part of the Action AWE campaign that is acting to halt nuclear weapons production at the Atomic Weapons Establishment factories at Aldermaston and Burghfield. Groups are coming from Finland, Sweden, Spain, France, Italy and Belgium – it would be great if more people would be able to join us!

On 24th April, Taiwanese peace activist Emily Wang was held by Korean immigration and later was deported for opposing the construction of the naval base on Jeju Island. Since 2010, Emily has been working with people from the village of Gangjeong on Jeju Island just off the South Korean coast. The people of Gangjeong are at risk of being evicted in order to make way for a naval base, which was planned without proper consultation with the people in the community.

War Resisters' International (WRI), the international network of pacifist organisations with more than 80 affiliates in more than 40 countries, calls for an end to the harassment of our affiliate Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) and to the physical attacks on members of GALZ. Furthermore, WRI strongly condemns the violation of basic human rights of the members of GALZ, such as freedom of association, freedom from arbitrary arrest, and freedom from torture and degrading treatment.