WRI Office Report

This report outlines the work of WRI's staff, executive committee and various regional groups in the period May 2020 to June 2021, and will be presented at our Council in June 2021.

The PDF of the report can be found here.

Read about what War Resisters' International have been up to in our annual report. News of our programmes, our campaigning work in Turkey, our publications and meetings, and a look towards the year ahead.

Follow these links to find the report in

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Since the historical conference in Cape Town in the summer of 2014, the WRI office and network have continued to do important work around the world, supporting Conscientious Objectors, taking action against military bases and arms production, countering military recruitment, resisting police militarisation, spreading the word about nonviolent resistance and creating networks to support each other and be stronger together. 

Read our annual report for August 2014 – September 2015 here.

1. Introduction

In this report, we present the work that War Resisters' International has been involved in since the international conference in January 2010 in India, and the challenges WRI faces. It describes the staffed programmes, the work in the regions and the work of the WRI bodies – executive and council. Last but not least, it deals with WRI’s finances – an issue of continued concern and worry.

This report has been prepared by the staff and Executive Committee

1. Introduction

The year since the Council meeting in Bilbao in September 2012 has been a period of a successful transition in the office from Andreas Speck to Hannah Brock, and the continuation of WRI’s various

programmatic activities. The progressing preparation of the upcoming International Conference in South Africa 2014 and the preparation of the Council 2013 have been two further important elements of our work. In the international network, the Global Action Day Against Military Spending on April 15, the Conscientious Objectors Day exactly one month later and the days of action against the militarization of youth in June 2013 marked dates when many of our affiliates took common action.  The international political situation has remained full of challenges and issues – from Venezuela and Paraguay where our affiliates struggle for human rights and against the all-powerful influence of the military establishment through the Middle East with its various theatres of conflict and war to East Asia where our members from South Korea fight against a military basis on an island under the shadow of a major conflict between North and South Korea. This report describes the programmatic activities in the two WRI programmes (Nonviolence and the Right to Refuse to Kill), the work of WRI in the regions, the WRI-internal business and of course WRI’s financial situation.

This report has been prepared by the staff and Executive Committee

1. Introduction

Since July 2011 WRI has had a very impressive calendar of events - perhaps the highlights were the War Profiteering seminar in Barcelona in October, the Countering the Militarisation of Youth seminar in Germany in June, the African Nonviolence Training Exchange in Johannesburg in July, as well as the vital work of mobilising support for Maikel Nabil Sanad, an anti-militarist imprisoned by the post-'revolutionary' regime in Egypt.

This report has been prepared by the staff and the Executive Committee, covering the period January 2010 to May 2011. Items for discussion at the Council meeting will be especially highlighted.

1. Introduction

Two
deaths mark the introduction to this report.

In this report, we present the good work that War Resisters' International has been involved with since 2006 and the challenges WRI faces to become more effective. Yet our starting point, as always, has to be the world in which we live.
WRI's work mainly revolves around two themes - refusing war and war preparations, and promoting nonviolent action.

This report, the annual report by the WRI Exec and staff for the WRI Council and net, is about what we've been up to since the last Council meeting, and where we're at. It focuses on our achievements this year and on the challenges facing us. This time, however, our focus is more on the challenges as WRI faces a crisis.

Introduction:
This is an internal report about WRI and its organisational development in the last year. In evaluating WRI, the starting point always is to measure achievements against our goals in the world situation - in this case, the need for a strong anti-militarist international promoting strategies to counter the rival militarisms that threaten us all and that continually stoke the fires of conflict. For WRI, 'anti-war' does not mean just opposing one war - such as the occupation of Iraq by the USA and its allies - or even opposing one sort of war. Rather, for us, being 'anti-war' means recognising that the various forms of militarism feed each other and committing ourselves to oppose all war and uproot the causes of war.

This year's G8 took place in Heiligendamm, a hotel next to the Baltic Sea in Germany, that was protected by a fence of over 10 kilometers. WRI with two of their staff was present at the events against the G8, at the same time German affiliates were involved in the organising some of the events. DFG-VK was probably one of the most visible. WRI Council member, Tobias Pfluger played a key role as the legal representative responsible for the demonstrations at the Laage airport where all the presidents arrived and also for liaising with the police to get the activists who were arrested free.

Introduction

"People's Struggles - people's alternatives" was the theme of ther 7th World Social Forum which took place in Nairobi from 20-25 January 2007. War Resisters' International took part in this World Social Forum with a 10-persons strong delegation.

No doubt, this World Social Forum was different. Africa - Kenya - made its presence felt. Kenyan and African culture and music were present everywhere at the forum, to the extent that drums and music did not always have a positive impact on discussions.