The Broken Rifle

This issue of The Broken Rifle is the last in a series of two devo­ted to WRI's upcoming Interna­tional Conference: “Nonviolent Livelihood Struggle and Global Militarism: Links & Strategies”.
By coming to India, WRI is coming back to one of its refe­rence points as a pacifist network. But returning to India also brings up the opportunity to make new connections, both thematically and geographically.

President Obama smiled at Manmohan Singh‭ (‬India's Prime Minister‭)‬,‭ ‬Secretary of State Hilary Clinton invited him over for lunch,‭ ‬the World Bank President certified his economic vision,‭ ‬and the IMF chief patted his back for leading his country on the path of‭ ‬sustained growth.‭ ‬That's India's arrival on the world stage.‭ Never mind the‭ ‬150‭ ‬000+‭ ‬farmers‭' ‬suicides.‭ ‬Forget the millions displaced without rehabiliation over the last‭ ‬50‭ ‬years.‭ ‬Ignore the fact that the State acts as an agent and

The English arrived, Mr Englishman arrived in Chagos,
The English arrived, the English uprooted us, cut off our food supply,
I will not forget,
Never, I will not forget my family,
The whistle blew three times to board the Mauritius,
It dumped us in Mauritius.

I will not forget,
Never, I will not forget my mother,
I will not forget those we left there in the cemetery.

CONAMURI, as the acronym indicates, is the national coordination which groups together rural and indigenous women’s workers’ organisations, the first of its kind in Paraguay. On 15 October - the International day of the rural woman - CONAMURI celebrated their tenth anniversary during and their Fifth National Conference under the title “A decade sewing the seeds of hope, constructing equality”

Echoing and heeding the call from Dr. Kenneth David Kaunda, first president of Zambia, to “redouble our efforts for justice and for a true African humanism,” the two of us, as editors and authors of Seeds of New Hope: Pan African Peace Studies for the 21st Century (2009) and the forthcoming Seeds Bearing Fruit: Pan African Peace Action, do affirm the great potential of the peoples of Africa.

Action

On 1 December, put aside at least one hour and write at least four cards to prisoners; Get your peace group or class or meeting place to organise a card-writing session; Set up a stall in your town centre, perform a bit of street theatre, or do whatever else it takes to attract attention and interest.

Sending cards and letters

Always send your card in an envelope; Include a return name and address on the envelope;

Programme

International Confe­rence, Ahmedabad, India, January 2010



War Resisters' Interna­tio­nal is cooperating with Indian partner organisations for an international conferen­ce investigating the links between local nonviolent livelihood struggles and global militarism, including war profiteering. This parti­cipatory conference will bring together campaigners from all over the world to analyse the role of states and multinational corpora­tions in depriving local com­munities of their sources of livelihood, and learning from the experience of nonviolent resistance at various levels – from the community to the global – and at various phases, from preventing displacement to planning for return.

The Broken Rifle is the newsletter of War Resisters' International, and is pub­lished in English, Spanish, French and German. This is issue 84, May 2009.
This issue of The Broken Rifle was produced by Javier Gárate. Special thanks go to Anand Mazgaongak, Wilbert van der Zeijden, Matt Meyer, Elavie Ndura, CONAMURI and many others.
If you want extra copies of this issue of The Broken Rifle, please contact the WRI office, or download it from our website.

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