Countering the Militarisation of Youth highlights

WRI's work on Countering the Militarisation of Youth is also a key part of the Right to Refuse to Kill programme, a natural extension to our work on counter-recruitment and conscientious objection. This work has had a really exciting time recently.

• A new book, Sowing Seeds: The Militarisation of Youth and How to Counter It, was published. It documents the seeds of war planted in the minds of young people, and also explores the seeds of resistance to this militarisation that are being sown creatively by numerous people. The book was launched in a packed evening at Housmans Radical Bookshop in London – have a look at some photos of the event. Get a copy of the book here.
• Last week also saw the first International Day of Action For Military-Free Education and Research. This day of action was inspired by the week of action that took place in Germany in 2012. Actions took place in the USA, India, Chile, Israel, South Korea, South Africa, Australia, Spain, Venezuela, joining those in Germany challenging the presence and influence of the military in their countries' education systems, from recruiters' visits to schools to the government funding of military research, and the privileging of military approaches associated with this. There's a report on the street theatre action in Israel here, and you can watch a video of the event in Tel Aviv (from 3.15min) here (in Hebrew and with some great footage). You can read the accompanying statement from WRI here.
• The militarisation of youth work was also really important in an online conversation we co-hosted last week with New Tactics. You can still read the conversation here, and a summary will be posted soon. Topics included How can we raise critical awareness about the militarisation of culture? How can we challenge the military's influence in the education system? And a Castellano stream: Tácticas de desmilitarización: Estrategias, desafios y oportunidades.