The Broken Rifle

Dear friends,

We want to thank all those who made this Triennial possible through their financial support:

Stiftung Umverteilen (Germany), Objeción Fiscal (state of Spain), Folkereisnig Mot Krig (Norway), Norwegian Government, 23rd October (Netherlands), Caritas (Belgium), WRI Chechnya/Russia Fund, Danish Peace Council, Solifonds-Die Grünen (Germany), Committee for Conflict Transformation Support, UNESCO Etxea (Basque Country, state of Spain), Peacefund Canada, Myrtle Solomon Memor

Morning plenaries

The morning plenary sessions featured announcements, world news, and short presentations from participants who came upon their nonviolent activism in difficult and threatening circumstances:

Serdar Tekin from the Izmir War Resisters' Association described how he and war resister Osmat Murat Ülke sat around a table one night in the early '90s working out a strategy for resisting militarism in Turkey. "We thought we were the only ones in the country. We are very isolated because of the very militaristic and authoritarian society."

Gender Day: A large step forward in WRI's history?

"This day was an experience. When I started to work in WRI in 1979, many men could not accept, nor understand why women should have their own spaces and their own conferences. After a while we formed the Women's Working Group, and one aim was to look at WRI's issues more in a gender perspective.

Civil Disobedience and Environmental Action

facilitated by Stephen Hancock and Melanie Jarman

The aims of the group were: to uncover the environmental concerns of anti-militarists; to explore the links between militarism and environmental destruction; to compare methods being used; and to learn from each other as anti-militarists and environmentalists.

Day 1 explored the connections between environmental destruction and militarism and identified relevant questions to bear in mind during our discussions.

About 40 workshops were held during the five days of the open conference. A full list of workshops and their convenors is available in the WRI archives.

War Resisters' International, an international pacifist network with affiliates in over 30 countries, discussed the war and humanitarian crisis in Kosovo/a at its Triennial conference in Porec, Croatia, 20-26 September 1998.

Elected and appointed positions chosen or confirmed at the 1998 Triennial Conference

Chair: Joanne Sheehan, USA

Treasurer: Andreas Speck, Germany

Vice-chairs: Peter Jones (Australia), Cecilia Moretti (Argentina), Osman Murat Ülke (Turkey)

Internationally elected council members: