South Africa

WRI International Conference, co-hosted by Ceasefire Campaign, Cape Town

This July, in an historic conference to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, War Resisters International will be convening a conference on Small Actions, Big Movements: the Continuum of Nonviolence. While we recognize that at times our demonstrations and campaigns start small, they can have wide effects when we work together.

Videos and photos from the conference Conference Reader Calendar of events Practical Information about the conference Conference programme Info on related Events Exhibitions during the conference Resources: prepare for the conference

Dear friends,

People power in South Africa – mass nonviolent direct action –

helped end the scourge of apartheid and vicious, politically-sanctioned racism.

Today, twenty years since our first democratic elections, South Africa still faces many problems - including street violence, small arms, xenophobia, economic injustice – and opposition to these ills are mounting, with civil society again using creative, unarmed methods. Throughout the continent, we see increasing militarism too often supported by powerful politicians, and this year’s South African elections suggest that people all over are tired of business as usual.

It is in this context that we are welcoming War Resisters' International to Cape Town, for the first ever WRI International Conference in Africa.

We'd like your help to make this possible.

With less than three months to go, join those (from Africa, Oceania, Europe, Asia and North America) who have already registered to join us at WRI's first International Conference in Africa, co-hosted by the Ceasefire Campaign! Registration is open until 10th May. If you need any help with the form, please just contact us at info@wri-irg.org.

Mlu Dywili

Registration is open for the War Resisters' International Conference, co-hosted by Ceasefire Campaign, taking place from 4 – 8 July 2014, Cape Town, South Africa: /seminars/registrations/southafrica2014 

Please register by 30 May.

Cape Town City Hall

On 11 February 1990, only hours after his release from Robben Island, Nelson Mandela made his first public speech after leaving prison from the balcony of the City Hall in Cape Town.

This July, the same venue plays host to an International Conference that will bring together over 200 grassroots nonviolent activists from Asia, Latin America, Oceania and the Pacific, North America and Europe – and particularly from Africa.

Registration is now open for the War Resisters' International Conference, co-hosted by Ceasefire Campaign, taking place from 4 – 8 July 2014, Cape Town, South Africa: /seminars/registrations/southafrica2014 

Cape Town City Hall

On 11 February 1990, only hours after his release from Robben Island, Nelson Mandela made his first public speech after leaving prison from the balcony of the City Hall in Cape Town.

This July, the same venue plays host to an International Conference that will bring together over 200 grassroots nonviolent activists from Asia, Latin America, Oceania and the Pacific, North America and Europe – and particularly from Africa.

[video:https://vimeo.com/88437755 width:400 height:300 align:centre]

This webinar, led by Geoff Harris, was the first in a series of webinars by and for the African Nonviolence and Peacebuilding Network. It took place on the 6 March, 2014. 

This series is open to all, and leading up to the July 2014 international conference: Small Actions, Big Movements: The Continuum of Nonviolence, taking place in Cape Town.

Please note: after Geoff starts speaking (3 minutes in), you may need to turn up your volume because there is a volume difference between when Javier and Geoff are speaking!

Mining is one of the most important economic activities in South Africa. With the inequalities that Apartheid perpetuated, the distribution of mineral wealth and the unrest within the labour force have increased. The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2002(1) was an attempt

to redress these issues.

War Resisters' International joins the world in mourning the passing of Nelson Mandela – a statesman and an activist, a lawyer and a political prisoner, an advocate of direct action and reconciliation. Mandela’s life symbolizes, as few others have ever done, the long road to freedom, peace, and justice which can nevertheless be won (at least in part) through determined commitment and struggle. He lived his convictions, spending 27 years behind bars without wavering from his core convictions, ready still to play a crucial role upon release to ensure a transition away from formal apartheid through compromise and negotiation. That the transition which ended white minority rule took place with a minimum of bloodshed is one of the great victories of modern times, a victory Mandela helped lead by example.

Embrace Dignity is a South African human rights organization advocating for legal and social reform. We campaign for reforms recognising prostitution as violence and aim to reduce demand for commercial sex. Recognising the harms of prostitution, we offer support to women seeking exit through a self-led system. We look forward to welcoming and collaborating with international and local nonviolent activists embodying the conference’s theme: “small actions can contribute to building big movements for change”.

Terry Crawford-Browne

After more than a decade of cover-ups and denials, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma in September 2011 told the national executive council of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) that he would lose the case I had brought against him in the Constitutional Court (CC). Zuma reportedly only agreed to my demand for a commission of inquiry into the arms deal scandal to avoid having the CC dictate to him.

Small Actions, Big Movements: The Continuum of Nonviolence, the WRI's International Conference co-hosted by the Ceasefire Campaign, will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, 4 - 8 July 2014. The other supporting organisations in South Africa are Embrace Dignity, working against the exploitation of prostitution and sex-trafficking, and the Action Support Centre, based in Soweto, which is the African regional hub of a global network of organisations and individuals committed to transforming conflict.