Dear all,

We are pleased to finally be publishing "Women and Conscientious
Objection - An Anthology", edited by Ellen Elster and Majken Jul Sorensen.

The book includes contributions from women conscientious objectors from
several parts of the world, plus some historical contributions.

The table of content is printed below.

By 1 April 2010 we need to decide on the print run. To do so, it would
be good to know if we will have some bulk orders. Maybe your
organisation would be interested in ordering bulk copies from WRI?

The cover price is £8 (plus postage), but for orders of 50 copies or
more we can sell them at £5 per book, plus postage.

The book will come back from the printers on 22 April, and we will have
a launch event at Housmans Bookshop on 23 April (see
http://wri-irg.org/node/9734).

If you want to know more, please get in touch with me asap.

We need to know about advance orders at the very latest by 1 April 2010.

Best wishes,
Andreas

ENDORSEMENTS:
=============

"This anthology is much, much more than a mere round-up of experience of
women in the movement for men’s conscientious objection to obligatory
military service. It is more, even, than an account of women’s struggle
against their own conscription. For what we see here is women, at
different moments, in one country after another, creating for themselves
the concept, analysis and practice of a distinctive feminist
antimilitarism. Starting from a focus on soldiering, they soon notice
that militarization is not just the existence of armies. It penetrates
and deforms daily life in myriad ways/ All of us are militarized, all of
us can be conscientious objectors. As Ferda Ülker of Turkey puts it in
her Declaration, ‘As much as militarism is determined to affect my life,
I am determined to continue my struggle. I reject!’"

Cynthia Cockburn, Women in Black London, author of From Where We Stand:
War, Women’s Activism and Feminist Analysis. Zed Books. 2007.

"From Native-American Tina Garnanez who, after witnessing “disfigured
bodies, limbs blown off, soldiers who lost their sanity” in Iraq,
decides to leave the military and not “fight for anybody’s oil agenda”
to Idan Halili who applies to the Israeli military’s Conscience
Committee on the grounds of a “feminist objection,” defining it as “an
objection to any army, rather than a specific government policy” to
Colombian, French, Korean, Paraguayan, and Turkish women redefining
conscientious objection as refusing to partake in militarism at large,
rather than conscription per se, this anthology offers a wide-array of
imaginative, thought-provoking, transformative responses by women around
the world to military service, war, and militarism. Their radical
retheorizing of militarism with a feminist perspective reminds us of the
centrality of women in processes of militarization, as well as their
power to turn militarization processes on their head and contribute to
radical reimaginings of a world where violence, war, patriarchy, sexism,
heterosexism, and other forms of dominations are not taken for granted."

Ayse Gul Altinay, Turkey

CONTENTS

Publishers preface 9

Cynthia Enloe: Preface 11
Ellen Elster & Majken Jul Sørensen: Introduction to this anthology 15

Mitzi Bales: They said 'no' to war. Englishwomen conscientious
objectors* in World War 2 23
U.S. women conscientious objectors in World War 2 30
Majken Jul Sørensen: Swedish women's civil defence refusal 1935—1956 33
Total resistance to military service (Statement from Women’s *
gathering in Scotland 1980) 38
German women said no 40
French Women Say “Non à la guerre” 44
Rebecca Gumbrell McCormick: Women conscientious objectors in Belgium 46

Israel
“Coffee Serving Resistance”? * An introduction to women’s conscientious
objection in Israel 49
Tali Lerner: On Women's Refusal in Israel 56
Idan Halili: An Israeli woman’s story: A bold act of refusal 63

Eritrea
Eritrean women: in a crossfire between conscription and denial of *
conscientious objector status 75
Ruta Yosef-Tudla: "I'm against war in principle." 78
Bisrat Habte Micael: “I've had enough of the war.” 80

USA
Introduction to the USA 83
Stephanie Atkinson: A proud deserter 85
Anita Cole 93
Diedra Cobb: The Power of Telling One's Story 94
Tina Garnanez 99
Kathrine Jashinsky 100

Turkey
Ferda Ülker: Turkish Women Awaken to Conscientious Objection 101
Ferda Ülker: I reject (conscientious objection declaration) 109
Hilal Demir: A feminist perspective on conscientious objection in Turkey 110
Hilal Demir: conscientious objection declaration 114

Korea
Jung-min Choi: Women Activists in South Korea's Peace Movement 116

Paraguay
María Elena Meza Barboza: Paraguayans unite against militarism 120
Mujeres Antimilitaristas — MOC Paraguay: Presentation of Women *
Conscientious objectors Paraguay 1995 126
MOC Paraguay: Presentation of women objectors and antimilitarists 128

Colombia
Introduction 129
Andrea Ochoa: Women conscientious objectors in Colombia 130
Alejandra Londoño: Women objectors in the Colombian context 132
Sandra Murillo Marín: Conscientious objection declaration 133
Estefaní­a Gómez Vásquez: Conscientious objection declaration 134
Milena Romero Sanabria: I declare myself conscientious objector 136

Ellen Elster & Majken Jul Sørensen: Women's Conscientious Objection as
a* Strategy Against Militarism — concluding remarks from the editors 138

Other War Resisters' International publications 152
About War Resisters' International 153