South Africa

Tue

Sep

2014

Young Soldiers: Why they choose to fight

New translation available

Submitted by hannah

A report from 2004: This publication seeks to better understand the realities facing boys and girls who “volunteer” for participation in armed conflict, highlighting personal, socio-economic and political factors that motivate their decisions to...

Wed

Aug

LETTER FROM LONDON: British army’s adverts sell dreams of adventure

Submitted by hannah on Wed, 20/08/2014 - 10:19

FOR a South African unused to it, it’s startling to see the number of gung-ho military recruitment advertisements flighted on British television. Targeted at youths who have grown up playing Call of Duty on their gaming consoles, the adverts make military life look like a scene from a video game.

There’s much fun to be had and skills to acquire. It’s like the Boy Scouts, but you get to play with real tanks, shoot real guns, blow stuff up, build bridges over rivers in far-flung locations. Kwaai, ek sê.

Join the Royal Marines and you could stalk and capture baddies with the sharp skills they’ll teach you.

The advert for the reserves must get a special mention. That particular message can be summed up thus: you might be a stationery salesman in a digital age, so why not ditch the daily drudgery for camouflage on the weekends and be more than a pencil pusher?

Fri

Aug

Day of Action images

Images from 2013's first ever International Day of Action for Military-Free Education and Research. Join us for 2014's Week of Action for Military-Free Educatiuon and Research in October!

Tue

Aug

Stop drift towards militarization of brave new democracy

Submitted by hannah on Tue, 12/08/2014 - 11:25

On 27 April the Defence Review Committee appointed by the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans published its Defence Review draft report. The last time South Africa undertook a Defence Review was in the late 1990s and it was in the context of a new democratic dispensation. However, those civil society organizations who participated in the 1996-98 review were disappointed and felt compromised by the final outcome. Although we already feel that civil society’s contribution has already been trivialized, the Ceasefire Campaign has made a submission to the Committee in the hope that the greater militarization the review promotes can at least be tempered.

Fri

Mar

The Ceasefire Campaign

Works to promote peace, non-violence and campaigns against the arms trade. Has active youth groups, and took part in the first International Day of Action for Military-Free Education and Research.

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

Fri

Mar

Quotes from WRI's Countering the Militarisation of Youth conference: Public discourse and Education

Submitted by hannah on Fri, 07/03/2014 - 14:22

Public discourse

They are constantly selling the idea that Venezuela is going to be invaded by the United States and in the face of this external threat...there is a permanent feeling of being on the verge of war or armed conflict...They always say that the United State wants Venezuela’s oil, however our president Chávez negotiated with transnational energy companies for 30 to 40 years. This means that that argument is invalid... - Rafael Uzcategui, Venezuela

Mon

Jan

Small Actions, Big Movements: the Continuum of Nonviolence

In July, War Resisters' International are hosting an international conference in South Africa, along with the Ceasfire Campaign.

Find out more information about the conference here.

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.