inspiration

Fri

Aug

2014

Direct Action against Militarism

New translation available

Submitted by Gary

Based on a piece by Cecil Arndt -

In different countries, war and militarisation take on very different meanings and have different effects, depending not only on the presence or absence of direct acts of war but also on country's...

Fri

Jul

Conscientious objection declaration: Thailand's first CO

Submitted by hannah on Fri, 08/07/2016 - 12:10

We're supporting Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, ‪‎Thailand‬'s first conscientious objector. He'll be appearing in the next edition of The Broken Rifle [subscribe here: http://lists.wri-irg.org/sympa/subscribe/wri-info]

Watch Netiwit's declaration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuPOtZGkyTw

Conscientious objection declaration: Thailand's first CO

Thu

May

University of Southampton ends its investment in arms companies

Submitted by hannah on Thu, 26/05/2016 - 11:42

Last week, the University of Southampton joined the growing list of Universities who have decided to take a stance against investments in the arms trade. In this article Sebastian, Odell of Southampton University explains what’s happened and how students forced the university into taking action.

Wed

Feb

Practical guide to video activism

Submitted by antimili-youth on Wed, 24/02/2016 - 18:09

By Taya Govreen-Segal*

Last week I wrote on the practicality of video activism for activists (see the first part of this two-part article series here). Now that you know why one should do video activism, I collected here 10 practical tips for video activism that I learned through my work in Israel Social TV, accompanied by examples. These are not rules set in stone, so if any of the things written here are a set back, you are welcome to disregard them.

*The examples are from a variety of fields of activism, mainly from Palestine-Israel, but all have English subtitles.

Tue

Feb

German Armed Forces Recruiting Minors on the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers

Submitted by antimili-youth on Tue, 16/02/2016 - 15:16

By Antimili-Youth

Last week the Bundeswehr (the German Armed Forces), had a stall at a school's job fair in Bad Saulgau, Germany. The event took place on 12 February 2016, the very same day which marks the anniversary of the signing of a protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that forbids the use of children in conflict, and is being commemorated as Red Hand Day, or the International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers.

Mon

Feb

Video as a Tool for Activism

Submitted by antimili-youth on Mon, 15/02/2016 - 16:39

By Taya Govreen-Segal*

Have you ever invested yourself in an action? Planned, organized, coordinated, and then did the action, only to discover that hardly anyone heard of it? In this two-part article I will propose a possible solution for this problem: video activism.

Video activism is a way of expanding activism beyond the streets and into virtual spaces. In the first part I will try and explain why I find video a useful tool for activism, and in the second part, I will give a few more practical tips for creating your own videos.

Disclaimer: My knowledge and understanding of both activism and video are based on my experience in Israel-Palestine. Different cultural and legal situations in other places may make some of this not relevant in other regions.

Fri

Oct

Protesters disrupt conference on military space law

Submitted by hannah on Fri, 31/10/2014 - 10:02

This action took place as part of the International Week of Action for Military-Free Education and Research #milifreeedu

“A rational dialogue with the administration will not solve the issues at hand.”

These were the words of a protester at the disturbance of McGill’s Institute of Air and Space Law (IASL)’s five-day Strategic Space Law Intensive Program on October 28. The program is meant to train lawyers in how to navigate space law. About ten people, mostly McGill students, disrupted the conference taking place at the Best Western hotel with chanting and condemnations of the program before pushing past security and escaping arrest.

Wed

Sep

Ideas for action: take part in our week of action for military-free education and research

Submitted by hannah on Wed, 17/09/2014 - 10:16

Would you like to take action for military-free education and research?

You can join War Resisters' International's week of action from 25 - 31 October (as an individual or as a group). Find out more here.

Here are some ideas for actions:

Tue

Sep

Subvertisers' gallery

In this gallery we're collecting examples of the military's messages being 'improved' / changed by those who want to undermine their attempts to make war sounds good!

Some people call this billboard improvement, some people call it graffiti, some call it subvertising. Whatever you call it - we think it's a good idea!

Also see this video of an action in Belgium to alter the army's messages on Valentine's day...http://antimili-youth.net/videos/2014/09/make-love-not-war

Tue

Mar

Counter-recruitment and School Demilitarization Activism: From Past Victories to the Challenges Ahead

Submitted by Gary on Tue, 18/03/2014 - 21:01

Education Not Arms Coalition: In the audience are about 70 students, parents and others showing their support for the policy

Rick Jahnkow -

Counter-recruitment and school demilitarization work in the U.S. has gone through several cycles of expansion and contraction during the last few decades. The first expansion was during the early 1980s when it was supported by a small number of national organizations, such as the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), War Resisters League, Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) and National Lawyers Guild. Most grassroots activities at the time were carried out by chapters of these organizations and a number of independent community peace groups (including COMD and, eventually, Project YANO).

Fri

Mar

Quotes from WRI's Countering the Militarisation of Youth conference: Resistance

Submitted by hannah on Fri, 07/03/2014 - 14:33

I as Director of the Vocational Training Centre for former Child Soldiers implemented programmes for UNICEF including how to get children who were caught up in the war back into the mainstream of life – to get them back into school or vocational activities...Reduce or eliminate all sort of inequalities and violence will be reduced. If there is no violence, there would be no need for child soldiers... - Domino Frank Suleiman, Liberia

Pages

Languages

Countering Military Recruitment

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.