Civil disobedience/NVDA

All five participants in the blockade action. From left to right are Iraq Veterans Bobby Whittenberg-James and Crystal Colon, Jeff Grant, Military Spouse Cynthia Thomas and Afghanistan Veteran Matthis Chiroux.

Aug. 23, 2010 (KILLEEN, TX) - Five peace activists successfully blockaded six buses carrying Fort Hood Soldiers deploying to Iraq outside Fort Hood’s Clarke gate this morning at around 4 a.m. While the activists took the width of Clarke Rd.

Martin Smedjeback

17 June 2010

I am led into the central office of the Skenäs prison outside Norrköping. Two guards help me to carry my stuff. “It looks like you’re moving in here!” says one guard. “That’s exactly what I am doing, temporarily anyway”, I say. “Do you have your sentence papers with you?” asks another guard. “Yes,” I answer and hand them the papers which say that I was convicted to four months in prison.

with support from

ICC, International Coordinating Committee No to War – No to NATO
PAGAN, Plataforma Anti-Guerra Anti-NATO Portugal

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"

Despite two men being found guilty of minor miscellaneous charges, there was another great victory for Derry Raytheon protesters and for opposition to the arms trade when all nine women charged were acquitted by a jury at Belfast Crown Court on 4th June after a trial spread out over 3 weeks.

From this weekend's edition of "NONVIOLENT NEWS", produced by INNATE (Irish Network for Nonviolent Action Training and Education) in Belfast...

Despite two men being found guilty of minor miscellaneous charges, there was another great victory for Derry Raytheon protesters and for opposition to the arms trade when all nine women charged were acquitted by a jury at Belfast Crown Court on 4th June after a trial spread out over 3 weeks.

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”.

Press release the 5th of May 2010

They hammered on weapons – were sentenced to prison

Today the sentence for the two peace activists, Anna Andersson and Martin Smedjeback, was announced. The Svea court of appeal gave them four months in prison for the disarmament action in the city of Eskilstuna in October 2008, where they disarmed fourteen bazookas at Saab Bofors Dynamics weapons factory in Eskilstuna.

During the women's blockade at AWE Aldermaston on 15 February 2010. Photo: Cynthia Cockburn

On Monday 15 February, at the Big Blockade of the Atomic Weapons Esta­blish­ment in Aldermaston, Berkshire, one of the seven gates was blockaded unique­ly by women. A planning group of around ten women had got together to organise the ‘women’s gate’.

In the autumn of 2008, activists from the antimiltaristic network Ofog disarmed fourteen rocket propelled grenades at Saab Bofors Dynamics weapons factory in Eskilstuna. The two activists, Anna Andersson and Martin Smedjeback, were sentenced to four mounths imprisonment each in Eskilstuna district court. At the same trial Smedjeback was also sentenced to pay damages of 155 000 SEK (about 15 000 euros) for having climbed the fence at arms factory Aimpoint in Malmö. Both these cases where put on appeal and will now be tried again in Svea hovrätt (Court of Appeal) in Stockholm.

Despite the bad weather thousands of Bombspotters have gathered in Kleine Brogel today to denounce the illegal nuclear policy of the Belgian government. They responded to the appeal of Vredesactie and were not intimidated by the massive presence of police and military personnel, kilometres of barbwire, several helicopters and guard dogs that were being deployed in order to try to keep the illegal nuclear policy in place.

Actions for nuclear disarmament at nuclear weapon bases all over Europe

Overview on http://www.bombspotting.org

During the Easter weekend peace organisations all over Europe are staging actions at nuclear weapon bases and command centres, as part of a European Day of Action against nuclear weapons. One month prior to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) Review Conference, peace movements in all the European countries with nuclear weapons on their territory (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey and the UK) are sending one message: it is time for nuclear disarmament. The continuing deployment of nuclear weapons does not provide more security, but rather encourages the proliferation of nuclear weapons.