Viver é Resistir: Undoing the Chain of Violence

A central concept for the Triennial in Brazil will be "the chain of violence", a chain connecting everyday experience with the structures which ultimately lead to war and destruction. There is the daily violence in the street and in the home: sometimes it's direct violence; sometimes an ever-present threat; sometimes poverty or a degraded environment; sometimes it's the violence of images of hate, images which reduce people to objects. Behind this daily experience of violence are structures and institutions: some are tangible — the military and the machinery of the state, or of banks and corporations; some pervasive ­— patriarchy, consumerism. The violence of everyday life is often most acutely experienced in the South; following along the chain of violence, the structures can often be traced back to the North.

At each link in the chain of violence, however, there are points of resistance, possibilities for alternatives, and it is these strategies and this potential for action which will form the main focus for the Triennial.

The Triennial conference will take place in São Leopoldo in the south of Brazil from 10-17 December. WRI is expecting 250 participants from all over the world. If you plan to be one of them, and hope to make a longer stay in Brazil, SERPAJ-Brazil might organise a study trip immediately before the Triennial.

Format for the Triennial

The Triennial will combine plenary sessions, theme groups meeting on the same topic for several sessions, and one-off workshops. Offers for workshops are still welcome. One change of format from recent years is that, instead of dividing the Triennial between "open meeting" and "business conference", WRI "business" will be integrated into the proceedings as the conference progresses.

Registering for the Triennial

We want people to register for the Triennial by 1 October. Anyone registering later will be asked to pay more! The fee for those who register by 1 October will be £175, including food, accommodation.

If you have any suggestions of sources of grants for the Triennial, please tell the WRI office. And if you could organise a fund-raising event — be it a samba evening or any other sort of benefit — please go ahead, and send us a photo of yourselves having fun while raising money for the Triennial!

Deadlines for Triennial business

Every three years, WRI elects a chair (by postal ballot) and a Council (at the Triennial).

Any WRI Section (or any five individual members) wishing to nominate a WRI member as a candidate for election to chair should obtain their proposed candidate's agreement in writing and send it with their nomination to the WRI office by 1 June. (Note: Sections wishing to nominate the current chair, Jørgen Johansen, do not need to contact him as he has already confirmed that he is willing to serve for another three years.) The ballot will take place at the end of August.

Any WRI Section (or any five individual members) wishing to propose a resolution to the Triennial, should send it to the WRI office in London by 9 August (that's easy to remember: Nagasaki Day).

Any Section (or any five individual members) wishing to nominate a candidate for election to Council should obtain their proposed candidate's agreement in writing and send it with their nomination to the WRI office by 1 September. (Please note: all candidates must be members of WRI at the time they are nominated.)