Front Page

Write to peace activists in prison - find the details you need here.

Each 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. This day is a chance for you to demonstrate your support for them.

WRI has a permanent Prisoners for Peace list, and we make a special effort to update for Prisoners for Peace Day on December 1st.

We're delighted to add a new publication to WRI's online book store! Against All Odds: Voices of Popular Struggle in Iraq, from Ali Issa of War Resisters League.

Collected from dozens of interviews with, and reports from, Iraqi feminists, labor organizers, environmentalists, and protest movement leaders, Against All Odds presents the unique voices of progressive Iraqi organizing on the ground. Dating back to 2003, with an emphasis on the 2011 upsurge in mobilization and hope as well as the subsequent embattled years, these voices belong to Iraqis asserting themselves as agents against multiple local, regional, and global forces of oppression.

You can find the accompanying Organizing & Study Guide here.

Buy it here: /node/25212

Dear friends,

I am writing from World Without War in South Korea. Alongside War Resisters' International, World Without War has just hosted the “Stopping the War Business” seminar and

actions against the ADEX arms fair. It has only been two years since we launched our campaign against ADEX, but thanks to international solidarity, significant progress has already been made.

Now I'm asking you to support with your donation WRI's work as the international pacifist network that nurtures this solidarity.

I’m convinced pacifism knows no borders. International solidarity within WRI has been vital to the work of World Without War, and the work of this global network has greatly benefited and helped the work of organisations like ours.

This week is the 2nd International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth. Join us with your nonviolent actions this week and stand against the many ways young people are engaged in wars all around the world. 

Share your word using #YouthAgainstWar hashtag on social media and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for further updates.your nonviolent actions this week and stand against the many ways young people are engaged in wars all around the world.

The coming week is the 2nd International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth where youth groups and activists from different countries will be taking actions against the many ways militaries engage with the young and militarise our public spaces.

Happening now: direct action against NATO's Trident Juncture military exercises that are taking place across Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Members of the European Antimilitarist Network join antimilitarists from state of Spain.

Follow #TJ15 #WarStarstHere #OTANno on social media for updates

 

An international Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth will be held for the second time between 14-20 November this year. Many activists from all around the world will take part in the week through their own autonomous actions and events from their own countries and cities. Examples include activists protesting against army recruitment at a job fair in Frankfurt and rallying against military campaigning for the young in Mainz (Germany); online campaigns in Finland and Catalonia; anti-recruitment workshops and performances in the USA; as well as a radio show dedicated to youth demilitarisation in Guam. There's still time to plan your own actions! Join us this November and stand against the militarisation of youth with many others all around the world. Your voice, your nonviolent actions and events will contribute to our growing international movement! Contact us via cmoy@wri-irg.org or www.facebook.com/antimiliyouth for further information.

Read more here.

In 2012, 7 activists entered the SHAPE military base where NATO makes strategic nuclear weapon decisions. The group called themselves 'the bombspotters', and they took their act of civil disobedience to denounce the presence of nuclear weapons on Belgian soil as part of the NATO Game Over/Bombspotting campaign. They were arrested, and three and a half years later have been put on trial. The seven appeared in court on October 26thand are now awaiting the verdict of their trial. It is possible to send an email in support from this website: https://bomspotters.wordpress.com/nous-soutenir/

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.

A new book from War Resisters' International has been published this week. Written by and for activists all over the world who are campaigning against war, militarism, and all kinds of injustice, it will be of use not only to conscientious objector movements.

Conscientious Objection: A Practical Companion for Movements is full of ideas to help groups work together, deal with power dynamics, surmount the external challenges they face, and enhance the concept of conscientious objection, using it in new and innovative ways — like resistance to war profiteering, or the militarisation of youth. 

The book pays particular attention to the question of gender and the often invisible role of gender, both in the war machine and in the movements that oppose it. We believe this is the first book of its kind, we know it has lots of original content, and we hope it will become an invaluable resource in the worldwide peace movement. 

It will soon be available online, and you can purchase a copy here. Thank you to the many people who contributed to our crowdfunder, which made this book possible, and to all those who contributed to the book through writing articles and translations.

Translations into Thai and Spanish are already planned. If you would like to translate the book into your own language, please write to hannah@wri-irg.org

Buy it here.