War Resisters' Stories

War Resisters‘ International, in collaboration with Connection e.V. in Germany and nonviolent activists and WRI members from Turkey sent a delegation to the Southeast of Turkey between 26-29 April. A report from the delegation's visit, which included activists from Austria, Germany, Spain and Sweden, is now available online.

During their visit, the delegation met officials, peace and human rights activists in Diyarbakir, Cizre and surrounding towns affected by the curfews and armed conflict that have been ongoing since August 2015.

You can download the report here.

In Israel, Omri Barnes and Tair Kaminer have been imprisoned again because they #refuse2occupy and refuse to serve the army. Tair, starting her 6th term of 45 days in prison said "As long as the violent military way holds sway, we will simply have further generations growing up with a heritage of hate, which will only make things even worse. We must stop this - now!". Omri, returning now to prison for the third time for a term of 30 days says "The military creates a circle of violence while claiming to defend the country. I believe that a person has a responsibility towards certain humanistic values, which lie beyond his/hers political and social framework, which is why I refuse to enlist."

Their support group Mersavot is calling people around the world to support them, by posting your own picture a with a message to Tair and Omri and use the hashtag #refuse2occupy.

The Eurosatory arms fair took place in Paris this month. The 'Defence and Security' fair, one of the largest in the world, takes place every two years. For many years, opposition to Eurosatory took the form of one woman, Yvonna Kressman, faithfully standing outside on her own, over decades. Gradually the word has spread, and this year campaigners from Germany, England, Belgium and the Netherlands joined French antimilitarists and others to make sure it wasn't “business as usual” for the arms trade. There was significantly more disruption, protest and awareness-raising than ever before.

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War Profiteers News is a bi-monthly round up of news and activism against war profiteering. The June edition featured nonviolent activism from around the world against the arms trade, exploitation of natural resources, and profiting from occupied territories. You can read the articles here: /en/publications/war_profiteers and sign up to recieve the email newsletter in your inbox here: http://lists.wri-irg.org/sympa/subscribe/warprofiteersnews

In the UK, WRI affiliate Trident Ploughshares have held a month of nonviolent action against the construction of nuclear weapons at Burghfield Atomic Weapons Establishment. WRI affiliates from Finland, Germany and Belgium joined Trident Ploughshares for an international blockade, which led to the construction gate being blockaded for over ten consecutive days. Other actions included a successful attempt by faith groups to blockade every entrance, and a mad hatters tea party!

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