War Resisters' International

A nonviolent movement to end war

War Resisters' International was founded in 1921 under the name "Paco". It is based on the WRI declaration:

War is a crime against humanity. I am therefore determined not to support any kind of war, and to strive for the removal of all causes of war

War Resisters' International exists to promote nonviolent action against the causes of war, and to support and connect people around the world who refuse to take part in war or the preparation of war. On this basis, WRI works for a world without war.

Nonviolence

WRI embraces nonviolence. For some, nonviolence is a way of life. For all of us, it is a form of action that affirms life, speaks out against oppression, and acknowledges the value of each person.

Nonviolence can combine active resistance, including civil disobedience, with dialogue; it can combine non-cooperation - withdrawal of support from a system of oppression - with constructive work to build alternatives.

As a way of engaging in conflict, sometimes nonviolences attempts to bring reconciliation with it: strengthening the social fabric, empowering those at the bottom of society, and including people from different sides in seeking a solution.

No to war

WRI will never endorse any kind of war, whether it is waged by a state, by a "liberation army", or under the auspices of the United Nations, even if it is called a "humanitarian military intervention". Wars, however noble the rhetoric, invariably are used to serve some power-political or economic interest. We know where war leads - to suffering and destruction, to rape and organised crime, to betrayal of values and to new structures of domination.

War Resisters' International Seminar and Council Meeting

War Resisters' International and Peace Action, WRI's Macedonian affilliate, invite you to the WRI/Peace Action seminar, and to the WRICouncil meeting in Ohrid, Macedonia.

20-23 June: Conscientious Objection and Peace - International Seminar in Macedonia. Costs: €120 (including food and accommodation).

24/25 June: War Resisters' International Council Meeting. Costs: €50.

Contact: War Resisters' International, 5 Caledonian Rd, London N1 9DX, Britain
email info@wri-irg.org, http://wri-irg.org/news/2004/council2004-en.htm