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WRI has welcomed VİCDANİ RET DERNEĞİ (VR-DER) -  the Conscientious Objection Association in Turkey - as an associate member.

You can find their details on the list of affiliates here.

This weekend VR-DER issued the below statement, on the situation in Kobane, and the Turkish government's response to ISIS

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Conscientious Objection Association: We have neither a second nor a life to give to war!

The authorities initiated a “peace process” after the Turkish state and military conducted a thirty-year-old war which left thousands of casualties. The process was conceptualized as a step towards constructive dialogue with the Kurdish movement. However, the state did not abandon its long lived habit of providing peace with its arms, tanks and bombs. Families lost their children and funerals never stopped although a ceasefire was announced and armed groups left the Turkish borders.

Planned for the week of the Small Actions, Big Movements WRI conference, this installation in the middle of Cape Town's grand parade was delayed due to the inclement weather. Three months on, we're delighted to see it finally take shape! The broken AK-47 is covered in money, to highlight the corruption amongst those who profit from war.

Description from the artists: "Resistance" is a giant wheat paste public art installation; a world record spanning more than 100 meters. The image is of a broken AK -47. Resistance was born from a conversation between Ralph Ziman and (anti-arms activist) and Terry Crawford-Browne (one of the organisers of the Small Actions, Big Movements WRI conference).

Resistance was inspired by War Resisters' International - an anti-war organization founded in the wake of the First World War. War Resisters has existed for almost a century and has branches all around the world. The logo has always been a rifle, broken in half by a pair of hands.

Photos and footage thanks to the Resistance project and MUTI films.

War Resisters' International held its first quadrennial International Conference in Africa 4-8 July 2014, in Cape Town's City Hall. The conference we co-hosted by the Ceasefire Campaign.

The meeting brought together 220 activists, researchers, and campaigners doing peace and nonviolence work from around the world for five days. Of the 220 participants, over half were African. The public conference followed meetings of the Pan-African Nonviolence and Peacebuilding Network and the Women Peacemakers Program. Before and afterwards WRI's Council and Assembly meetings took place. The meeting will have impacts on WRI as a network for years to come.

Christine Schweitzer

This hundredth issue of the Broken Rifle reprints articles that relate to the strategies affiliates of WRI are using and and issues they are dealing with. There are articles on direct nonviolent actions and on civil disobedience, articles discussing gender, conscientious objection, land grabbing, peace-building and antimilitarist trends in various regions. They reflect discussions we have had in WRI over the last 20 years.

Militaries across the world gain access to young people through education systems.

It gives them an extraordinary chance to shape every generation's perception of military violence and lay the groundwork for future recruitment.

25 - 31 October sees the first international week of action for military-free education and research: a concerted effort of antimilitarist action across the world to raise awareness and challenge of the role the military have in education, and to give voice to alternatives.

Dear Friends,

Looking back over the months since I last wrote, I'm realising it has been quite action-packed, without much time for reflection, but sometimes this is where life and work leads you!  Writing a letter is a great way of taking half a step back from the email inbox and to-do list, so I'm very grateful for that.  It was a privilege to travel to Cape Town in South Africa for three weeks in July, to attend the War Resisters' International (WRI) international conference, where the printed version of the 'Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns' I have been editing was released. There have also been several actions at Burghfield Atomic Weapons Establishment, and we've been getting on with the final preparations for the 'Wool Against Weapons' event on the 9th August.

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Trident Ploughshares Press Release
 
22 September 2014
 
This morning, four days after the historic referendum Trident Ploughshares [1] and Faslane Peace Camp [2] have partially blocked the north gate to Faslane Naval Base, homeport of the UK Trident nuclear weapons system, sending a strong message that the overwhelming desire of Scotland to be rid of nuclear weapons must be honoured.

Position paper originating at the women’s workshop at the Counter Summit “No new Wars - No to NATO”

Newport, 1 September, 2014

As women of the No to War, No to NATO international action network we join in wholehearted condemnation of NATO as an aggressive, expansionist, nuclear armed military alliance. Its creation fostered decades of Cold War, its continued existence has perpetuated armed conflicts and wars, and its intention is clearly to assure long-term worldwide control by the USA and its allies in the interests of global corporate capital.

One of the most effective ways to prepare for war is to prepare the minds and bodies of young people to take part in it.

War Resisters' International's Countering the Militarisation of Youth project has launched antimili-youth.net - a great resource for anyone who wants to find out more about how young people are taught to regard armed violence, and the military and its values, as positive and uncontroversial. It is the first international site giving an overview of these issues.

It allows groups and individuals to easily upload their own information on the strategies used in different contexts to militarise young people, as well as reports on their work to disrupt these processes.

City Hall,

Cape Town, South Africa Videos and photos from the conference Report Plenaries Report Theme Groups 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