WRI affiliate

WRI has welcomed VİCDANİ RET DERNEĞİ (VR-DER) -  the Conscientious Objection Association in Turkey - as an associate member. You can find their details on the list of affiliates here.

NO to continued war in Iraq!

War Resisters League resists all war-making and militarism, regardless of US Congressional approval. The crisis unfolding in Iraq will not be solved by military action and air strikes. It will not be solved by arming forces in Iraq with “Hellfire” missiles nor by neoliberal development policies. It will not be solved by forces that reduce the humanity in Iraq to sectarian factions or powerless victims caught between geopolitical conflicts. It will not be solved by congratulating ourselves for predicting the outcome of sanctions, invasion, and occupation nor by simply historicizing this devastating moment.

We republish in English a statement from Bund für Soziale Verteidigung, a WRI affiliated in Germany. Find the original (in German) here: http://www.soziale-verteidigung.de/news/meldungen/pressemitteilung-zur-…

On the Situation in Ukraine

Minden, 5. March 2014

We are observing the developments in the Ukraine with great concern; in particular, the ways

some media outlets and politicians are currently stirring up a revival of the East-West conflict.

Once more the world is divided into 'good' and 'bad'. The 'good guys are the uprising people of Ukraine, who demonstrated for democracy and association to (and membership of) the European Union. The 'bad guys' are once again 'the Russians', who are trying to stop this process through violence and the threat of military intervention in Ukraine. Neither is wrong, but the picture is much more complex. In fact, many protesters demonstrated on the Maidan because they were fed up with the corruption and arbitrary rule of the government of Yanukovych. They see themselves as only partly represented by the opposition parties – a strong element of the protests of recent weeks was the distrust people felt against all parties and all politicians.

At this September's eCouncil, WRI was glad to accept the applications of four organisations to become affiliated to War Resisters' International.

Bund für Soziale Verteidigung, Germany
Schwarzer Weg 8, 32423 Minden; Tel +49 571 29456 ; office@soziale-verteidigung.de; http://soziale-verteidigung.de

Bringing together statements and analysis on January 2013's military interventions in Mali.

Militarized politics at their worst: Mali An article from Peter Dörrie, published by Waging Nonviolence. Mali: Hijacked Autonomy and French Intervention An article from friend of WRI René Wadlow, published by Toward Freedom. Why western intervention is destined to fail in Mali from Ben Zala and Anna Alissa Hitzemann of UK-based Oxford Research Group. The bombing of Mali highlights all the lessons of western intervention by Glenn Greenwald - looking at the west African nation that has become 'the eighth country in the last four years alone where Muslims are killed by the west'. Algeria, Mali and beyond by Paul Rogers: 'The seizure of an international gas-plant in Algeria follows closely the escalation of conflict in Mali. The response of western states to both reinforces the worldview of their Islamist adversaries'. Read the full article on openDemocracy

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Mali: peace is not war!

Statement from WRI section Union pacifiste de France. Also available in French here.

GALZ Alert 17 August 2012

Harare police have launched a manhunt of the 44 GALZ members who were beaten and detained before being released without charges last week. From last night the police have visited the homes of about ten members. It is not clear what they want from the members, so far three of them who were detained, interrogated and their personal details recorded have been released.

Dear WRI Allies and Friends:

Greetings from New York City!

Want to meet up with other International activists taking on the world's alleged Super Powers?

Ready to teach, train, march, and resist more war and militarism?

Want to see communities organize for action in the United States?

YES!

Then please join the War Resisters League (WRL) in Chicago from May 12 through May 20, 2012 to let NATO know that the people of the world will not be silent.

Peace activists from Ofog paint peace signs on the runway at Vidsel air base, which is a part of North European Aerospace Testrange -- an area almost as big as Belgium, that Sweden, Nato and others, are using for war preparations (military exercises).

We, members of War Resisters’ International (WRI), express our profound horror and deep sadness at the torture and murder of Nigerian pacifist, Chidi Nwosu, founder and president of the Human Rights, Justice and Peace Foundation, affiliate member of WRI. Nwosu, a lifetime human rights activist and promoter of nonviolent social change, was brutally assassinated in his home on December 29th, 2010.

WRI, a pacifist network with 90 affiliates in 40 countries, recognizes that this is the first time in its 90-year history that the founder and president of an affiliate member has been murdered.

Author: Tanjug

Belgrade - The peace group Women in Black announced today that last night around 1:30 am, two young men invaded the organization's headquarters and with a hammer attacked men and women activists in the kitchen.

This incident took place just before the holding of the Pride Parade in Belgrade, which indicates that homophobia is the motive of the attackers, a statement declared.

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).