counter-recruitment

Thu
14
May
2015
New translation available
Submitted by antimili-youth

Countering the Militarisation of Youth Programme (CMoY) at WRI is launching the first issue of its new periodical which will specifically focus on the issues surrounding youth militarisation. In the CMoY bulletin, you'll find articles addressing...

Sun
16
Apr

Veterans Push Back Against Military Recruitment in Schools

Image: US Department of Defense

The branches of the U.S. military have long seen high schools as optimal recruiting grounds. Some veterans are beginning to fight the propaganda and tell students the truth about military service.

Fri
04
Nov

Mennonites Against Militarism seeks volunteers interested in counter-recruitment efforts

Mennonites Against Militarism – a collaboration of Mennonite Central Committee, U.S. (MCC) and Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) – is seeking to launch an initiative to counter military recruitment of U.S. youth. The vision for the project, Alternatives to Military Enlistment Network (AMEN), is to connect young people with volunteer advisors who can help them find non-military career, service and training opportunities.

Thu
07
Nov

New Publication: Counter-Recruitment Campaigns Internationally

WRI's new booklet, Countering Military Recruitment: Learning the lessons of counter-recruitment campaigns internationally, is out now. The booklet includes examples of campaigning against youth militarisation across different countries with the contribution of grassroot activists.

You can order a paperback version here.

‘Countering the militarisation of youth’ is one of WRI’s major areas of work. In making this booklet, we set out to investigate one part of this activism: campaigns to counter the recruitment of young people by armed forces and armed groups.

Thu
07
Nov

Join the action: 6th International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth, 23-29 November

Week of Action

On 23-29 November this year, activists from across the world are taking action against the militarisation of young people in their countries, cities and towns.

Join us this November in the International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth with your own nonviolent actions and events!

The International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth is a concerted effort of antimilitarist actions across the world to raise awareness of, and challenge, the ways young people are militarised, and to give voice to alternatives. The week is coordinated by War Resisters' International.

Thu
26
Sep

The Defector

Rory Fanning at his home outside Chicago, IL.

How Rory Fanning went from Army Ranger to war resister (and counter-recruiter).

Alex N. Press / Jacobin - In a high school classroom on the South Side of Chicago, Rory Fanning is telling students about the time he and his fellow Army Rangers occupied a school in Afghanistan. “We walked in and said, ‘School’s canceled, we’re going to use this as a military base for the next six weeks.’ There was nothing they could do about it.”

Sometimes, after abducting locals for reasons as thin as not showing enough deference to soldiers, his superiors would place their detainees in separate classrooms and fire a gun somewhere out of sight so that each detainee would think the other had been shot. At that point, says Fanning, “We’d walk into the rooms where each person was and say, ‘Your friend didn’t tell us what we wanted to hear. Do you have anything we want to hear?’ This is how we got information. These are things I watched.”

Tue
31
Jul

Protests across Germany and the UK in response to public military days

Activists protesting at a military site in Mannheim, Germany, on the Bundeswehr Day

Activists in Germany and the UK organised actions during public military days in their countries.

In many Western countries, militaries recruit on a voluntary basis. This requires those militaries to pay more attention than ever to their 'public relations' (PR), to reach out to as many young people as possible and convince them to join their ranks. 'National days', or similar public days linked with the military, have been an effective component of this strategy. Last month, two examples of this occurred in two European countries: Germany and the UK.

Mon
25
Jun

WRI Training on countering youth militarisation held in Cyprus

On 26-28 May, activists from Greece, Israel, Russia, Turkey, and Cyprus (both south and north) gathered in Nicosia (Cyprus) for a 3-day training, Gender and Countering Youth Militarisation, organised by War Resisters' International. During the training, participants explored gendered dimensions of youth militarisation within their societies as well as discussing how to work internationally to counter these processes. We're grateful to Turning the Tide(UK), Nonviolent Education and Research Association (Turkey) and Queer Cyprus Association (Cyprus) for supporting our event.

Mon
07
May

5th International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth to take place between 12-18 November

On 12-18 November this year, activists from across the world are taking action against the militarisation of young people in their countries, cities and towns.

Join us this November in this global action with your own nonviolent actions and events!

The International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth is a concerted effort of antimilitarist actions across the world to raise awareness of, and challenge, the ways young people are militarised, and to give voice to alternatives. The week is coordinated by War Resisters' International.

Fri
09
Feb

Activists countering youth militarisation gather in London

In February, activists from different European countries met in London as part of a War Resisters' International training on countering youth militarisation and its gendered dimensions.

The gathering was held on 2-4 February, and included activists from AKL (Union of Conscientious Objectors) and Committee of 100 from Finland, Nesehnuti from Czech Republic, DFG-VK and BSV from Germany, Movimento Nonviolento from Italy, Centre Delàs from Catalonia, and the Peace Pledge Union and ForcesWatch from the UK.

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