resistance

Thu

Sep

2014

Pot-banging protests set the background music to a military parade

New translation available

Submitted by Gary

El Ciudadano

Despite the widespread police forces deployed during the military parade in the Parque O’Higgins, hundreds of people protested by banging pots near...

Mon

Oct

Scotland: SNP Youth motion to raise Army recruitment age passes at conference

Submitted by antimili-youth on Mon, 09/10/2017 - 14:58

The youth wing of the Scottish National Party (SNP) secured a landmark victory at the party's annual conference on Sunday (8 October) as members voted in favour of raising the army recruitment age from 16 to 18.

SNP Youth have long-campaigned for the Ministry of Defence to ban the enlistment of 16- and 17-year-olds into the armed forces and yesterday a majority of party members agreed as the motion passed with a significant majority.

Rhiannon Spear, Glasgow councillor and SNP Youth national convenor, told the conference: “This is about what society that we want to be, it is about how we value our young people. We believe that the interests and health of Scotland’s young people must come before the demands of British military recruiters.”

The passing of the motion, which was publicly backed by 17 MSPs, one MP and 12 local branches before Sunday's debate, means that the SNP as a whole will now actively push for an increase in recruitment age.

Fri

Sep

A call to action: 4th International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth, November 20-26

Submitted by antimili-youth on Fri, 22/09/2017 - 14:19

This November, activists from all around the world are taking action against the militarisation of young people in their countries, cities and towns.

Join us in this week with your own nonviolent actions, and be part of this global movement resisting the recruitment of young people's minds and bodies into violence.

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

Tue

Sep

International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth, 20-26 November

Submitted by antimili-youth on Tue, 05/09/2017 - 15:20

Between 20-26 November, activists from around the world will take action as part of the International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth.

The week, held for the fourth time this year, is a concerted effort of antimilitarist activists across the world to expose and challenge the ways violence is promoted to young people, and raise awareness about alternatives.

In previous years, many groups from all around the world participated in the week with autonomous events, including direct actions, talks, workshops, vigils and social media campaigns.

Tue

Aug

Junior Nzita, ex child soldier: defeat the evil with the good

Submitted by antimili-youth on Tue, 08/08/2017 - 16:38

The foundation „die schwelle“ in Bremen, Germany, has declared Junior Nzita to one of its laureates of the Bremen Peace Prize. Nzita is a former child soldier in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and today he is a honorary UN ambassador for the topic of child soldiers. He was proposed for the Peace Prize by the german branch of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). The Price exists since 2003 and is endowed with 5000,- Euro.

Mon

Aug

Israel: Conscientious objector Noa Gur Golan imprisoned

Submitted by antimili-youth on Mon, 07/08/2017 - 17:05

Conscientious objector Noa Gur Golan, 19, from Israel was sentenced to 30 days in military prison for her refusal to serve in the military. She has already spent 14 days behind bars last month, after refusing to enlist for the first time.

When her sentence will be over, Gur-Golan will refuse again and probably be sentenced to another term in prison.

Tue

Jul

Israel: Atalia Ben-Abba exempted from conscription

Submitted by antimili-youth on Tue, 04/07/2017 - 14:59

Conscientious objector Atalia Ben-Abba has been exempted from military service after spending 110 days in military prison for her refusal to join army. Ben-Abba's release was on grounds of unsuitability, after her request to be recognized as a conscientious objector was rejected.

In her statement following her release, Ben-Abba said “The army can call the waiver [from mandatory conscription] whatever it wants, but the fact of the matter remains that it gave me a waiver as a result of my simple refusal to participate in a system that uses violent means to oppress another people, which has imposed an occupation upon it for 50 years, and is imposing a siege, the consequences of which are yet to be seen.”

Mon

Jun

Russia: The Case of the Tenth-Grade Pacifist from Tatarstan

Submitted by hannah on Mon, 19/06/2017 - 12:24

Natalia Vasilieva, The Evening Kazan

They threatened to mess up his permanent record if the tenth grader at a village school in the Arsky region did not take military training classes. The classes are required for boys as part of OBZh — a health and safety course taught in all Russian schools. “I’m a pacifist. I think it’s just not right for me to assemble and disassemble automatic weapons. I don’t want to spend beautiful days in May playing war,” explained 17-year-old Kamil Sh. to newspaper Evening Kazan. Staff at the human rights organization “For Our Sons” note that this is the first case in Tatarstan where a student has openly refused to take part in the OBZh classes out of conviction. Up until now, if young people asked to be excused from the training, it was on grounds of poor health.

Thu

Jun

ISRAEL: Conscientious objector Atalia Ben-Abba imprisoned again!

Submitted by antimili-youth on Thu, 01/06/2017 - 12:58

Conscientious objector Atalia Ben-Abba, 19, has been imprisoned for the fourth time for her refusal to serve in the IDF. With this final sentence, Atalia will spend 30 more days behind bars, adding to the 80 days she has already served in military prison.

Send your protest emails to the Israeli authorities here.

Atalia's declaration

In her declaration Atalia states:

My social responsibility as a stakeholder in our society is important to me. The people living here are important to me, all of the people living here, and it's my responsibility and the responsibility of all of us to act for a better life here. My refusal to be drafted doesn't come out of a renunciation of this responsibility, but out of the understanding that our present reality needs to be changed, and that my refusal is my way to change it.

Wed

Apr

Protests at Israel's leading university for its marketing course on the arms trade

Submitted by antimili-youth on Wed, 19/04/2017 - 15:20

As part of the Global Day of Action on Military Spending, Hamushim activists from Israel delivered hundreds of protest letters to the Technion, a public research university based in Haifa and Tel Aviv, calling on the university authorities to stop their course on arms trade, “Defense Strategy for International Markets”.

The Technion, Israel's leading academic institution, now offers this course for arms exporters and executives in the defense industry. It's designed to upgrade their knowledge and expertise specifically regarding the international arms trade, and to teach them how to form a strategy for arms exports for international markets. After demonstrating at the Tel Aviv campus where the course takes place, activists delivered protest letters signed by hundreds to the Technion on Monday this week.

The letter reads as follows:

Fri

Apr

After 130 days in prison, IDF frees conscientious objector Tamar Alon

Submitted by antimili-youth on Fri, 07/04/2017 - 12:59

After 130 days in military prison, the Israeli army on Wednesday released conscientious objector Tamar Alon from mandatory service. Alon served six terms in military prison for her refusal to be conscripted, which she said would have contributed to the oppression of the Palestinian people. She had expressed her willingness to instead perform civilian national service, an alternative the army rejected.

“The price I paid is small compared to the price millions of Palestinians have been paying for 50 years, whose basic rights are violated on a daily basis and whose freedom has yet to be returned to them like mine was returned to me,” Alon said upon being released from prison and military service.

Read the full article here.

This is an article by Yael Marom which appears on +972 Magazine.

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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.