From the office

Opening speech by Arundhati Roy at the WRI conference on the 22 of January 2010 in Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, India

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“I feel relieved and elated! Thank God! Today I will have a good night sleep in peace,” these are the words of victory echoed by Ignatious Muhambi a consultant accountant with GALZ following his acquittal today.

Muhambi was on trial facing charges of allegedly possessing pornographic material, in breach of the country’s censorship laws.

In her ruling Magistrate Sandra Mupindu who presided over the matter said that there was no prima facie evidence to prove the essential elements of the case which are possession, indecent or obscene and without lawful excuse.

From 1-5 July 2010 the IV European Social Forum will take place in Istanbul.

War Resisters' International is part of several seminars and workshops during the ESF:

Thursday, 1 July, 9.30-12.30

The struggle against nuclear weapons in Europe and the Middle-East
Hans Lammerant (Vredesactie), Dominic Moran (Greenpeace), Ufuk Uras
Room D102-200, İtü Maçka Kampüsü

"No to Nato, Against militarisation and nuclearisation of the EU, build EU for peace"

War Resisters' International - an international pacifist network with more than 80 affiliates in more than 40 countries - condemns the murderous Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza and calls for an immediate lifting of the blockade on Gaza.

The Israeli state has been responsible for many outrages in its history, especially against the population of Gaza. To put it at its mildest, as reported last week by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, after a thousand days of the Israeli blockade, 61 per cent of the households of Gaza are “food insecure”.

ZLHR Press Release – 26 May: Two Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) employees on Wednesday 26 May 2010 alleged that police severely tortured them in their holding cells.

David Hofisi and Dzimbabwe Chimbga, the lawyers representing the two employees Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Mhambi told Harare Magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi that their clients were tortured during their
detention in police cells and asked for an investigation into the alleged torture.

Subsequent to the arrest of Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Muhambi, employees of the WRI's affiliate Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) on charges of “possessing dangerous drugs and pornographic material” on the 21st May 2010, the police have gone further to search the house of Chesterfield Samba, former WRI Council member and the Director of GALZ. The raid took place this morning (26 May 2010) at 0600hrs.

Police on Monday 24 May 2010 pressed fresh charges against two employees of WRI affiliate Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), who were arrested last week after the police raided their offices in the capital.

Police on Monday charged Ellen Chademana, who attended the WRI conference in India in January 2010, and Ignatius Muhambi with contravening Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for allegedly undermining the authority of President Robert Mugabe.

War Resisters' International Appeal, April 2010

Dear friend and supporter of War Resisters' International,

The history of anti-war and peace movements is peppered with the names of women, and throughout the 20th century, feminist thinkers and activists were deepening the critique militarism. Since the 1970s, WRI has played a useful role in highlighting the connections between feminism and nonviolence, militarism and patriarchy, but there has always been one gap. Women have initiated movements against military service right up to the present time, but because they themselves have not usually been conscripted for combat duty, women conscientious objectors to military service have largely remained “hidden from history”.

Up to eight hundred anti-nuclear campaigners from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and a number of other countries joined a blockade of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston in Berkshire from just before 7am in the morning. Every gate was closed by blockaders in the course of the morning. Twenty-six arrests were reported, on suspicion of criminal trespass (for entering the site) and highway obstruction.

Campaigners plan to shut down nuclear bomb factory as they call for disarmament of Trident and abolition of nuclear weapons

The War Resisters’ International condemns the arrest on 28 January 2010 of Mohammed Khatib of Bil’in, Palestine.

The War Resisters’ International Council, assembled in Ahmedabad, India, learned of the arrest of Mohammed Khatib by the Israeli military at his home at 1:45 am yesterday. Mohammed Khatib has played a central role in the popular committee planning and coordinating the struggle of the Bil’in village against the Apartheid Wall, constructed by Israel inside the 1967 occupied territories.

We, members of the War Resister’s International (WRI) and all participants of the Triennial conference held in Ahmedabad from 22-25 January 2010 have, as part of our deliberations, also discussed the current situation in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.