Editorial
Gender and militarism is the theme of this issue of The Broken Rifle, coinciding not only with International Day on Conscientious Objection – 15 May 2010 – but also with the newest WRI publication "Women Conscientious Objectors – An Anthology", edited by Ellen Elster and Majken Jul Sørensen. Although the theme of gender and militarism is not new to WRI, and neither are women conscientious objectors, this is the first issue of The Broken Rifle dedicated to it – long overdue, it can be argued (and rightly so).
In 2007, War Resisters' International and its Israeli affiliate New Profile jointly organised a seminar on the same theme, with many interesting presentations and discussions. Unfortunately, we were never able to publish a documentation of the seminar – the every-day workload of both organisers and most of the presenters was to high to allow for the time to write up what had been discussed, and to prepare it for publication. Only very few presentations are now available on WRI's website at http://wri-irg.org/news/2007/council2007-en.htm.
Originally, it was hoped that the book Women Conscientious Objectors – An Anthology could be presented during the 2007 seminar. However, as often is the case when activists are asked to reflect on their work, and everything is done by volunteers, things took much much longer. Now, three years later the book is being published, and we hope that it will contribute to the debate on gender and militarism, but also that it will make the voices of women conscientious objectors more visible.
This issue of The Broken Rifle has a broader theme. We look not only at women conscientious objectors, but also at women's activism against nuclear bases, and at the links between militarisation and masculinities.
Andreas Speck
Right to Refuse to Kill Programme Worker
War Resisters' International
5 Caledonian Road
London N1 9DX, Britain
info@wri-irg.org http://wri-irg.org
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