War Resisters' International's work in nonviolence needs your support
The War Resisters’ International’s Nonviolence Programme
The Nonviolence Programme is one of the two main programmes areas for the WRI office and network. Working to promote and support nonviolence for social change within the WRI and the wider grassroots movement. The programme began working 2 years ago and has already made some accomplishments. Still, we have one main difficulty, which threatens the success of what has already been achieved and of what is to be achieved in the future – the difficulty of obtaining external funding for the programme.
Why this appeal?
WRI's work is today more needed than ever, but with our radical antimilitarist and nonviolent principles WRI is in a difficult position for accessing official funding. That is why we need your support and ask you to commit yourself to a regular donation to WRI to make this project possible.
Nonviolence
Nonviolence is one of WRI's core principles, with its commitment to promote nonviolence to remove the causes of war. The Nonviolence Programme builds on WRI’s long history of work on nonviolence and aims to promote the use of nonviolence within the broader movement for social change.
The Programme
The overarching aim of the Nonviolence Programme is to strengthen and deepen our understanding of nonviolence, nonviolence strategies, and nonviolent campaigning, and to develop and provide tools and support to groups using nonviolence.
Specific aims include:
Promoting nonviolence within the new social movements, especially the movement for global justice and the wider peace movement. Raising awareness of the connection between corporations and militarism, promoting the analysis that war profiteers are a cause of war through WRI's Global Initiative Against War Profiteers. Educating the WRI network and the wider peace movement about issues raised by the movement for global justice, deepening the understanding of the connection between militarism and economics.
The Nonviolence Programme works in three main areas:
Nonviolence Resources: Development and distribution of resources on nonviolence and nonviolent strategies for use by the WRI network and the wider movement. Resources include a Handbook of Nonviolent Action, a collection of case studies of nonviolent campaigns, nonviolence training and campaign development. So far we have provided training in nonviolence to antimilitarist grassroots groups in many countries. We have developed resources on nonviolence with our Wiki web facility, including a list of related resources, case studies and the ongoing project of the Handbook of Nonviolent Action.
Nonviolence for change: Networking with groups interested in using nonviolence for social change, coordinating workshops at gatherings such as Social Forums, making WRI's resources available to grassroots activists doing antimilitarist and globalisation from below campaigns. WRI has been present at many of the last Social Forums. WRI has also been present at summits of the globalisation from below movement.
A Global Initiative Against War Profiteers: Development of resources on war profiteers for WRI's global initiative. Networking with WRI affiliates working on such campaigns and other networks such as the European Network Against Arms Trade. The Nonviolence Programme is producing a bi-monthly web-newsletter called War Profiteers' News that provides resources on new developments on war profiteering as well as campaigns against them.
Testimonials
"Nonviolence is an incredibly powerful tool to bring about a better world. Yet governments spend billions in funding violence – military forces – and give hardly any support to nonviolence. In the face of this imbalance, groups promoting nonviolence play an absolutely vital role. WRI has a wonderful record of principled action and support for nonviolent struggle. As someone who has studied and advocated nonviolence for decades, WRI is one of my inspirations. It deserves support"
Brian Martin (author and researcher on power dynamics through an interplay of theory and case studies, including nonviolent action, dissent and scientific controversies)
"There is a nonviolence of the body, courageous non-cooperation and civil disobedience. There is a nonviolence of the mind, exploring new and better ways of handling conflict. And there is a nonviolence of the spirit, seeking the unity of all humans, of all life. We humans are body, mind and spirit. We need them all. Let none of them block for the others"
Johan Galtung (pioneer on peace and conflict research, founded the International Peace Research Institute)
"Humankind has shown in the past century that there is another way to deal with problems, a nonviolent way. Resistance to war therefore does not mean acceptance of dictatorship or oppression. But it means that war is certainly not an option to correct an oppressive regime. To stop the destructive spiral which is fast destroying the world and the future of humankind, we need organisations such as WRI to resist war. Lay down arms and work for nonviolence"
Ela Gandhi (granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi is a peace activist and was a Member of Parliament in South Africa from 1994–2004)
War Resisters' International
War Resisters' International exists to support those who oppose war and to promote nonviolent action against causes of war. Through our own international network and through our record of cooperating with other groups, we are in a good position to reach many movements in many countries. WRI is also recognised as having a long history of work around nonviolence: WRI organised the first international seminar on nonviolence training in 1965, cooperated with other organisations in various international exchanges in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, and has had a working group on nonviolence training for some 20 years.
Contributions
It is to continue doing this work and much more that we ask for your support. A commitment on your part to a regular donation could help make the Nonviolence Programme sustainable. If we can secure funding for the salary of the staff person for the Nonviolence Programme, that will permit the continuation of the programme and also to work on accessing external funds. A year staff salary is £21,600 – this means we need to raise £1,800 a month. We need your support to make this happen!
Contact us
War Resisters' International
5 Caledonian Road
London N1 9DX
Britain
tel: +44-20-7278 4040
fax: +44-20-7278 0444
email: info@wri-irg.org
Click here to make an online donation for WRI's programme work.
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