The Broken Rifle

This issue of The Broken Rifle introduces the forthcoming War Resisters' International's International Conference, historically known as the WRI Triennial: “Nonviolent Livelihood Struggle and Global Militarism: Links & Strategies” that will take place in Ahmedabad, India between the 22 and 25 of January 2010. As Howard Clark says in the opening article “a WRI Triennial is more than a conference.

Whenever the time comes to organise a WRI Triennial (now Quadrennial) conference, we search for a conference theme that will combine different elements of our vision. Just as Gandhi gave an activist twist to the ancient notion of ahimsa (non-harm), transforming it into "action based on the refusal to do harm", so WRI's "no" to involvement in war and war preparations leads us into involvement in and support for nonviolent action in a range of context.

Mining in the Age of Terror

The aluminium industry occupies a vital position in the military-industrial complex. Supply links between mining companies and arms companies are at the heart of this complex, along with the financial institutions that invest in both. In a context where state violence, as well as the terrorism it targets, is escalating in many countries, the “war against terror” has created a climate where too few are questioning the arms industry, and its role in promoting war.

Forced displacement in Colombia has been caused by both official and illegal military groups, by paramilitary and guerrilla groups. However, little is being done to tackle these consequences of the war and there is a lack of preventive measures to deal with the effects of displacement on different kinds of victims.

Indian acquisitions of military hardware are the hot topic in the global armaments bazaar. India is expected to spend around $30 billion on arms imports over the next few years. India is perhaps the world’s largest importer of armaments with annual expenditure of around $6 billion on this count, a sizeable proportion of India’s defence budget of $28 billion for 2009-10.

Act local think global, it's one of the main mottoes of the globalisation from below movement. In this globalised world where there are no borders for goods and information. Where corporations cover all the world and the dominant culture is imposed in every corner of the planet. The reaction from the movement is to act locally while thinking globally, the globalisation from below movement protests against big summits of the economic power while constructing economic alternatives locally – as cooperatives, squatters, barter markets, etc.

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War Resisters' International
War Resisters' International was founded in 1921, and is based on the WRI declaration:

War is a crime against humanity. I am therefore determined not to support any kind of war, and to strive for the removal of all causes of war

War Resisters' International exists to promote nonviolent action against the causes of war, and to support and connect people around the world who refuse to take part in war or the preparation of war. On this basis, WRI works for a world without war.

Contributors include:

Anand Mazgaonkar, Andreas Speck, Andrew Rigby, Angie Zelter, April Carter, Brian Martin, Chesterfield Samba, Christine Schweitzer, Cynthia Cockburn, George Lakey, Janet Cherry, Jorgen Johansen, Kathy Kelly, Milan Rai, Quique Eguren, Stellan Vinthagen, Véronique Dudouet and Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan

The Housmans World Peace Database, the main project of the Housmans Peace Resource Project, is now available online.

The Housmans Peace Resource Project was established in the early 1990s by Peace News Trustees primarily to develop the World Peace Directory which has appeared annually in the Housmans Peace Diary since its first edition in 1954.

Social change doesn't just happen. It's the result of the work of committed people striving for a world of justice and peace. This work gestates in groups or cells of activists, in discussions, in training sessions, in reflecting on previous experiences, in planning, in experimenting and in learning from others. Preparing ourselves for our work for social justice is key to its success.