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War Resisters International, a ninety-three year old antiwar/pacifist organization, after having gathered from over 60 countries at its Quadrennial conference in Cape Town, South Africa, expresses its deep sorrow over the self-immolation on 29 June of the Japanese man, and its deeper sorrow over the cause of that drastic action.

In the wake of the terrible suffering in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as victims of the world's first, and to date only, use of nuclear weapons in war, the Japanese adopted as Article 9 of their Constitution a prohibition against maintaining army for deployment outside the country's borders.

It seems to us terrible and tragic that, knowing what it collectively knows, Japan is now facing the repudiation of Article 9's prohibition on overseas war, and we entreat the nation and its legislators to reject this move, and maintain Article 9 as a beacon of nonviolence and non-aggression for the rest of the world.

10 July, 2014

On Behalf of the WRI assembly

The Assembly of the War Resisters’ International, gathered in the City Hall of Cape Town, South Africa, strongly condemns the ongoing assault by the Israeli military on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. War Resisters’ International considers all war a crime against humanity, and we therefore call for the immediate end of hostilities, and in particular the repeated aggression by the State of Israel against Palestinians.

As opponents of war, we also oppose the causes of war, and stand in solidarity with oppressed people all over the world. We therefore call for the end of the occupation of Palestine and—especially gathered at the building from which Nelson Mandela made his first speech after release from prison—we call for the end of all forms of Apartheid everywhere.

At the WRI International Conference in Cape Town in July 2014, WRI Assembly appointed Individual Members of WRI Council, and a new WRI Executive.

WRI Council also welcome a new affiliate into membership.

We'd like to announce the Individual Members of WRI Council, and WRI Executive, appointed at the WRI Assembly.

WRI Executive
Chair: Christine Schweitzer Treasurer: Dominique Saillard Cattis Laska Jungmin Choi Hülya Üçpinar Sergeiy Sandler
Individual Council Members     Carlos Barranco, State of Spain     Albert Beale, Britain     Jungmin Choi, South Korea     Moses John, South Sudan     Subhash Chandra Kattel, Nepal     Cattis Laska, Sweden     Lexys Rendón, Venezuela     Miles Rutendo Tanhira, Zimbabwe/Sweden     Igor Seke, Serbia/Mexico     Hülya Üçpinar, Turkey     Sergeiy Sandler, Israel     Stellan Vinthagen, Sweden

WRI Council also includes a representative from each section and a non-voting observer from each associate organisation or publication. See affiliates here.

For more information about the role of WRI's Council, visit: /members/councilduties-en.htm

New affiliate

WRI Council was pleased to approve the application from Peace News Ltd to be an associate publication to WRI. Peace News used to be affiliated to WRI, and only stopped being so when Peace News and WRI worked as the same organisation, so this is a reaffiliation.

The Peace News summer camp is coming up in a few weeks (31 July - 4 August)!

A list of all WRI affiliates is here.

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

1. Introduction

In this report, we present the work that War Resisters' International has been involved in since the international conference in January 2010 in India, and the challenges WRI faces. It describes the staffed programmes, the work in the regions and the work of the WRI bodies – executive and council. Last but not least, it deals with WRI’s finances – an issue of continued concern and worry.

PRESS RELEASE

30 June 2014

For immediate release

Cape Town’s City Hall will host an international conference gathering voices and movements standing against violence and conflict from July 4 to 8.

London-based War Resisters International (WRI), founded in 1921 by conscientious objectors to the First World War, will host the conference with local partner Ceasefire Campaign. Other local partners include Embrace Dignity, Goedgedacht Forum and Action Support Centre.

On 27 June, representatives of the Moroccan government have prohibited entry to 4 representatives of the Basque Support Network to the National Union of Saharawi Women. These were Rosa Baltar Cabo, Amaia Cabero Saizar and two colleagues from the United Kingdom. They travelled with the objective of building networks between the women of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic,territory illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975, and those residing in the refugee camps. In this visit they planned to exchange and share common learning about feminist solidarity.

The delegation from the Basque network denouces this ill-treatment of solidarity and friendship with the Saharawi people. “They were waiting for us, they knew we were travelling and they didn't even let us off the plane nor did they explain why they denied us entry.” Today is a clear example of how Morocco is opposed to the rights of women, and they intend to remain so. The Basque Support Network to the National Union of Saharawi Women affirms it will continue to work with women on both sides of the wall and makes a call to the international community to work together to put an end to Morocco's Occupation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Telephone contact: +34 619988945 (Rosa)

Letter to The Times (see all signatories below)

On this day 100 years ago, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo in an action that led to the First World War. Unchecked militarism in Europe was also a major factor. 

Today is also Armed Forces Day, one of the clearest indications of the re-militarisation of British society. Established in 2009 to increase public support for the forces, there are over 200 public events, many billed as 'family fun days'. This week also saw Uniform to Work Day promoting the reserve forces and 'Camo Day' in schools. 

Behind this PR offensive is a raft of policy that is embedding 'public support' for the military within our civilian institutions - from the promotion of 'military ethos' in schools, to the Armed Forces Community Covenant and Corporate Covenant that aim to enlist every local authority and major business to support the armed forces and aid recruitment. 

Over 453 UK service personnel have died in Afghanistan; 34 were just 18 or 19 years old. Thousands more have to cope with long-term physical and mental problems. With so many military casualties - not to mention uncounted numbers of civilians deaths - and new security threats that waging war has created, surely it is time to reflect on the longer-term impact of our military culture and to ask what steps we might take to prevent war itself. 

Today it is obvious that unarmed popular movements are able to overthrow authoritarian regimes, even militarized and dictatorial regimes that have controlled countries for decades. Through mass demonstrations, civil disobedience, noncooperation, strikes and boycotts some 30 dictatorships have fallen during the last decades. We have more recently seen how entrenched authoritarian regimes have fallen within “the Arab Spring” in Egypt and Tunisia, and previously similar dramatic transitions have happened throughout Latin America, Easter Europe, Western Africa, as well as in South Africa, Iran, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc. All these examples point towards the people power or nonviolent revolution that Gandhi was instrumental in developing during the struggle in South Africa and India. However, it is also obvious today that these regime changes point towards a number of problems and challenges, some of which our theme group want to engage with.

The James Lawson Awards are named after and presented in person by James Lawson, a leader in US Civil Rights movement who led the Nashville Lunch Counter sit-ins of 1960 and who Martin Luther King, Jr. called, “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world."