Editorial

This issue of The Broken Rifle focuses on war profiteers. During War Resisters' International Conference "Globalising Nonviolence" that took place in Eringerfeld Germany between the 23-27 of July 2006, we had a theme group who worked on war profiteers. This theme group was an essential step in the develop of WRI's Global Initiative Against War Profiteers. Most of the material you will find in this issue comes from the work of that week.

During the theme group we learned from several organizations campaigning against war profiteers. A common understanding of how to target these corporations was the need of working to eliminate the power that these corporations have to influence government policies to get their contracts. The first article of the Broken Rifle describes how corporations influence the government and the decisionmaking bodies that decide military policy and military contracts, and what can we do to stop them.

During the last week of August a meeting in Colombia organized by Red Juvenil de Medellin on antimilitarist initiatives and US intervention will be looking at the role that corporations have in that region. An article written by the organizers of the meeting reveals how these big corporations have dirty hands in Colombia. At the end of September a conference of grassroots working to Stop the Merchants of Death, organised by War Resisters' League, is taking place in Minneapolis USA. Starting with the case study on the Honeywell project that was based in Minneapolis, we see at how nonviolent campaigns can be effective against the war profiteers.

I encourage you to read this issue of The Broken Rifle with an eye on how you can get involved in campaigning against the war profiteers.

Javier Gárate