The Broken Rifle

What happens to our anti-war movements when we broaden our understanding of conflict to the extractive zones that make war possible? Can we throw more grains of sand into the machines of the military-industrial complex by beginning our analysis with the struggles of the communities whose lands and resources are exploited to materialise war?

Australia’s largest weapons expo, Land Forces, was held in the city of Melbourne from September 11 to 13 last week, with several thousands of us showing up to protest and disrupt the event as much as possible.

Palestinians have been able to steadfastly face Israeli attempts at obliterating the knowledge and skills that Palestinians draw on to maintain a sustainable attachment to the land. I call this the act of eco-sumud, meaning eco-steadfastness.

This article is part of our "Short Primer on Militarism and the Climate Crisis", which you can find in full here: https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2024/new-resource-short-primer-militarism-and-climate-crisis

When the US military detonated the most powerful bomb they had ever tested over Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands - a hydrogen bomb code-named "Castle Bravo", with 1000 times the explosive power of the Hiroshima bomb - Lijon Eknilang and the inhabitants of Rongelap Atoll and neighbouring atolls could not have known the impact it would have.

Oops, what are Berlin ad posters doing in Helsinki? And why are they campaigning for asylum for conscientious objectors? The "adbusted" posters are calling for asylum for conscientious objectors from Belarus and Russia.

I started writing this blog post after reading an article about another bombing in Gaza... but I’m also writing this after sitting in front of my computer for years, reading what feels like the same story again and again.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming central in newly produced weapons, like fighter aircraft and sensors.

Following the horrendous attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7th, and the reciprocal violence by the Israeli Defence Force and settlers in the West Bank, we met with Tarteel Al Junaidi, a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams based in Hebron, to find out more about the situation there, and the work her organisation is doing.

Global headlines are once again seized by the outbreak of armed conflict, detailing indescribable suffering and destruction. War, it feels, is everywhere and always. To some, this means business. Many of the facilitators and profiteers of armed conflict globally attended the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) in London, September 2023.

On 30th May, peace activists in Germany will begin a peace hike from from Büchel Air Force Base in the Eifel hills, to the Wöllstein prison in Rhineland-Palatinate.

For the past twenty years, the EU has been deploying military-mandated missions overseas that have gone virtually under the radar and generally evaded public scrutiny. The Transnational Institute’s new report ‘Under the Radar: Twenty years of EU military missions’ sheds light on these missions.