WRI network

This year's WRI Council meeting will take place in London in September, coinciding with DSEI - Defence & Security Equipment International - the biggest arms fair in the world. We will take part in actions before and after Council to disrupt the fair.

UK activists: see how you can help international activists to stop DSEI!

The schedule for our events is as follows:

At our eCouncil meeting this month, we were really glad to welcome four new organisations as Associate Organisations of War Resisters' International. They are: Campaign Against Arms Trade (Britain), NESEHNUTÍ (Czech Republic), Şiddetsizlik egitim ve arastirma dernegi (Nonviolence Education and Research Centre, Turkey) and VD AMOK (the Netherlands). Three organisations already affiliated to WRI as Associate Organisations were also admitted as Sections of WRI. They are Alternatives to Violence Project, Nigeria; the Organization for Nonviolence and Development (South Sudan) and Žene u crnom (Women in Black Serbia).

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Every year, WRI holds a council meeting – sometimes this is in person, but this year will be held online over two weeks of internet forums, conference calls and webinars. As well as more formal decision-making related to WRI, it is an opportunity to discuss politics, campaigns, and issues that are important to us. In 2014 we held a series of meetings via conference calls and as 'webinars' (web-based seminars) on different topics, and we are inviting contributions for ideas of similar events for this years meeting. Email info@wri-irg.org with the subject "E-council planning" if there is something you would like to contribute.

In 2012, Megan Rice was part of a group that entered the Oakridge National Laborotory in the United States, where nuclear weapons are developed and weapons-grade uranium is stored. The group - called 'Transform Now Plowshares' - hammered on the storage building, dawbed the walls of the storage building with blood and slogans, and hung banners. All three were arrested, and spent two years in prison. A detailed written overview of the action can be found here.

Statement of the feminist collective TO MOV (Greece) co-signed by the Association of Greek Conscientious Objectors

At a time when the democratic demand is the abolition of compulsory military service, the ministry of Defense, on the contrary, seems to wish the extension of this service to women.

According to publications, a new bill is prepared for the foundation of military secondary schools (lycea) in which all those planning to follow military or police professions will enrol, and also the women enrolling such lycea will have to subsequently perform “voluntary” military service, in order to be eligible for exams in the respective academies. We are faced with a proposal for radical and reactionary reform of the education system in the second grade, which must not pass. What does the Minister of Education say? Does the Minister of Defense decide alone for his own ministry? On what right?

 

Activists from Germany, West Papua and South Korea disrupt the welcome dinner at the ADEX arms fair

In this letter, Lee Yongsuk shares how participating in the WRI network has made a difference to Korean group World Without War. He asks that you consider supporting WRI with a donation if you are able.

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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.

Members of the RAMALC in solidarity with the victims of AyotzinapaThe Latin American and Caribbean Anti-Militarist Network (RAMALC), in the city of Mexico on September 23, 2015, with representatives from Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Chile, Paraguay Brazil, Bolivia, Serbian anti-militarists and United States, together with their peers from Mexico, would like to express our solidarity with the mothers, fathers and relatives of the 43 student teachers of the Ayotzinapa Rural

The NATO exercise Trident Juncture will take place during October 2015 until 6 November, principally in Italy, Portugal, and the State of Spain. With the participation of more than 36,000 soldiers from 30 countries, the exercise will be “the Alliance’s most important exercise in 2015” and “the largest deployment of the Alliance since the Cold War and in the last decade”, according to the Spanish Ministry of Defence. More than half of this military force, 20,000 soldiers, will be deployed at eight sites in the State of Spain: the National Training Centres of San Gregorio (Zaragoza) and Chinchilla (Albacete), the Exercise and Firing Range ‘Álvarez de Sotomayor’ (Almería) and the Amphibian Training Range of the Sierra del Retín (Cádiz), and as well in the areas of the military bases of Albacete, Son San Joan (Palma de Mallorca), Torrejón and Zaragoza. Additionally, the US marines from the base of Morón de la Frontera will participate in the "mega exercise".

Yesterday's attack against civilians in the southern Turkish town of Suruç killed dozens of people. Conscientious objectors Alper Sapan and Polen Ünlü  were amongst those killed. In solidarity and respect, we share news from WRI member Merve Arkun:

Two of our CO friends were murdered by a suicide bomb attack that has happened in Pirsus (Suruç, Urfa, Turkey), today.

More than 31

people travelling to Kobanê to support resistance against ISIS have died. At least 100 were heavily wounded.

Here is his Alper Sapan's CO declaration:
I am Alper Sapan. I am an anarchist who 19 years old. I am against the injustice, exploitation and oppression of the state. I am rejecting violence and the state. I am listening to the voice of my conscience and objecting the military system for a world that no borders, no wars and no nations. I will not die, I will not kill for anybody and will not be anybody's soldier.

Before militarism ends our lives let's end militarism.

Information about Polen Ünlü is still being translated into English. You can find information in Turkish here.

via Vicdani Ret Derneği (Conscientious Objection Association)

On Monday 13th April, groups across the world took action on military spending. The Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) is now in it's fifth year, and WRI affiliates took action to highlight the huge amounts of money that are wasted on military expenditure across the globe.

In Finland, two WRI affiliates came together to display a banner reading "If we had $1.8 trillion, we'd would #movethemoney to education, renewable energy, healthcare" in multiple languages. Members of South Korean group World Without War are currently touring Europe, met with members of AKL (the Union of Conscientious Objectors), and took part in the action.

We, peace and human rights organizations, declare our support and solidarity with No to Compulsory Military Service Movement and with the Egyptian conscientious objector, Mark Nabil Sanad. We condemn the silence of Egypt’s authorities over conscientious objectors’ suffering. We call on the Egyptian authorities to restore his civil rights and to recognize his right to an exemption from the military service based on his conscientious beliefs.