Africa

The Pan African Nonviolence and Peacebuilding Network (PANPEN) was born on 30th July 2012 and reorganized in June 2014. The PANPEN  connects and empowers African civil society and grassroots peace movements and activists to take nonviolent actions to transform conflicts and promote peace and democracy reforms. steering committee was developed at the side event of War Resisters' International (WRI) conference held in Cape Town, South Africa in 2014. Over the last couple of years, PANPEN has through its individual members and member organizations contributed to peace and political reforms in the region.

Samantha Hargreaves from WoMin - an African gender and extractives alliance - speaks to Andrew Dey from WRI about the links between gender, extractive industries and militarism in Africa, and what this new network is doing to counter it.

During the NATO exercise Trident Juncture 2015 the alliance will practice military interventions in North Africa

Marines from the US train in la Sierra del Retin, Barbate

The NATO exercise Trident Juncture 2015 will take place during October 2015 and until early November in Italy, Portugal, and the State of Spain. According to a variety of sources, this will be the “largest exercise of NATO since the end of the Cold War”1, “largest exercise conducted by the Alliance since 2002” (…) and “the Alliance’s most important exercise in 2015”2, or “the largest deployment of the Alliance in the last decade”3. The exercise consists of two clearly distinguished phases, a command post exercise (CPX, 3-16 October) and a phase of real action (Live Exercise, LIVEX, 21 October-6 November).

Terry Crawford-Browne

Terry Crawford-Browne is a former international banker who became a peace activist during the 1980s. He lives in Cape Town.

World Leaders Take Action Now Save precious lives, give peace a chance!

 

October 2014

We are a Pan-African Network of Peacemakers from over 30 countries across the African continent and represent more than 20 organisations. Our 20-member Steering Committee has representatives from West, East, Central Africa, southern Africa and the islands. Some of our members are also from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, with strong African connections. We work at the grassroots level, training in Nonviolence and mobilising communities for Peacebuilding.

Introduction

[video:https://vimeo.com/96791815 autoplay:0]

Dereje Wordofa presents the trend of "militarisation of youth and child soldiers" in Africa, despite the international instruments for human rights.

Dereje Wordofa is Regional Director for Africa at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). He is committed to lasting peace, sustainable development and social justice.

This webinar is part of the series of webinars by and for the African Nonviolence and Peacebuilding Network.

[video:http://vimeo.com/93260597 autoplay:0]

This webinar discussed meanings of concepts including Patriarchy, Security, War, Peace, Nonviolence, Gender, Sexualities, Consciousness and Intersectionalities, and motivated for nonviolent action to ensure compassion and justice for all.

It was led by Bernedette Muthien (see bio here).

This webinar was the third in a series of webinars by and for the African Nonviolence and Peacebuilding Network. It took place on the 28 April, 2014.

This series is open to all, and leading up to the July 2014 international conference: Small Actions, Big Movements: The Continuum of Nonviolence, taking place in Cape Town.

Terry Crawford-Browne

Introduction:

One is familiar with the “criminal underworld” of thieves, gangs, drug lords, the Italian Mafia, and other manifestations of organised crime.

More serious is the “criminal overworld” of corrupt politicians, corrupt bankers, corrupt lawyers -- in other words the world’s elites. Historically, this is not a new phenomenon. In recent years however, it has become more pervasive and blatant in which privileged members of society fleece the public, evade taxation and lobby vigorously for even greater benefits.

[video:https://vimeo.com/90530047 autoplay:0]

In this webinar Matt Meyer explores the rich history of peace and pacifist encounters in Africa over the past century. Understanding that solidarity and social change are dialectical two-way streets, the presentation does not only review the work of those from Global North reaching out to Southern colleagues but equally examines the deep roots of indigenous African initiatives of unarmed civil resistence.

Small Actions, Big Movements: the Continuum of Nonviolence

We are extremely excited about WRI's next International Conference - the first in Africa - to be held in Cape Town, South Africa,

from 4th July - 8th July 2014. The conference is co-hosted by The Ceasefire Campaign.

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.