War Resisters' International Conference
Schloss Eringerfeld
Paderborn, Germany [see map]
23-27 July 2006
Are you interested in both nonviolence and
globalisation?
Are you campaigning against war?
Are you involved in nonviolent direct action or
curious to learn more?
The War Resisters' International conference
Globalising Nonviolence will be a great opportunity to
meet activists from all over the world, to get to know
what makes them tick, and to see how you can help each
make another world possible. Around the world, a
movement of movements is converging. This movement
seeks to counterpose the perspective and values of
people's power to those of global financial
institutions, transnational corporations or
governments. This is a movement of globalisation from
below.
WRI believes that this movement of movements has a
major role to play in this globalisation from below.
Hence the theme of our upcoming international
conference - Globalising Nonviolence.
Conference discussions will:
• Analyse the contemporary situation of economic,
cultural and political globalisation. How are
capitalist globalisation and militarism related?
• Develop strategies for nonviolent resistance
towards the unjust aspects of globalisation. How do we
create nonviolent social change?
• Bring together people from the globalisation
critical movement and WRI's network of pacifists and
anti-militarists for mutual exchange of ideas on
nonviolent opportunities for resistance.
• Strengthen networks and create new links between
activists from all over the world.
Conference structure
Each day of the conference will begin with a short
plenary session on the day's major topic. Then
participants will divide into theme and activity
groups, where the same people will meet every day
during the conference to discuss a specific theme in
depth. The afternoons will include one-time workshops
and plenary sessions.
Day Topics
1. Globalising Nonviolence
We aim to make this a highly participatory conference
and that will begin with the opening session.
2. Militarism and globalisation
The morning plenary will ask: How do economic
globalisation, militarism and war relate? The evening
plenary will address issues arising from the
"privatisation" of war, by the increase in
"outsourcing" to private companies.
3. Learning from globalisation from below
Investigating nonviolent actions already taking place
against the negative aspects of globalisation, the
morning plenary will focus on how German and East
African groups have worked together against the
trade/traffic in small arms. The evening plenary will
concentrate on the strategies pursued by the movements
involved in globalisation from below to support
citizens' peace processes in Palestine as a specific
case study.
4. For a nonviolent strategic framework
What does a nonviolent strategy have to contribute to
the movement for globalisation from below? What does
involvement in the movement for globalisation from
below have to contribute to a nonviolent
antimilitarist strategy?
5. From protest to social change
Discussing alliances and goals, and reviewing the
plans and ideas developed during the conference.
Theme and Activity Groups
Militarism in a global economy
Military industry tends to be privatised, diversified,
and globalised, and yet still - compared to other
industries - privileged. This group will analyse the
strategy and the practice of the global
military-industrial complex.
Military presence
The military has a profound impact on society and
culture through processes of militarisation. It
occupies space, both physical and cultural. This group
will examine possible nonviolent strategies for
demilitarising society.
Nonviolent citizens' interventions
Nonviolent citizens' intervention is a practical
example of globalisation from below, making links
globally and supporting peace building and resistance
to oppression in other parts of the world.
Nonviolent strategy and globalisation
What are the strategies and objectives of
globalisation-critical movement and the place of
nonviolence within these? How do the activities of the
international anti-war movements fit with this?
The right to refuse to kill
Themes for discussion will include conscientious
objection, war tax resistance, deserters, and/or war
resistance without conscription. "The Right to Refuse
to Kill" is one of WRI's major programmes.
War profiteers
This theme group will name some of the biggest
transnational corporations that make a profit through
war, and seek ways to direct nonviolent actions
against these companies.
Nonviolence training for beginners
Through games, role plays, exercises and discussions,
the participants in this group will be introduced to
various aspects of the field of nonviolence.
Video activism
This group is both about practical introduction to the
technical aspects of video and about how to use video
as a political tool. This group will produce a video
of the conference!
War Resisters' International
WRI believes that "war is a crime against humanity"
and works "to refuse war and to remove the causes of
war". Founded in 1921, it is now a network of
pacifists, anti-militarists and nonviolent activists
on every continent. Throughout its history, members of
WRI have taken a lead not only in movements against
war but in applying nonviolence to a wide range of
other social issues, both in their own countries and
internationally.
German Conference Hosts
The Conference will be hosted by and organised in
cooperation with all WRI's German affiliates,
participating in the WRI-Förderverein as a legal
framework:
• Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft - Vereinigte
KriegsdienstgegnerInnen (DFG-VK)
• Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft - Internationale der
Kriegsdienstgegner (DFG-IdK) Hamburg
• Internationale der KriegsdienstgegnerInnen (IdK)
Berlin
• Institut für Frieden und Gewaltfreie
Konfliktbearbeitung (IFGK)
• Archiv Aktiv
• Graswurzelrevolution
Travel information
The venue is Schloss Eringerfeld, near Paderborn,
Westphalia. Further travel information will shortly be
available on this website.
Visa requirements
Please check visa requirements on the website of the
German Foreign office at
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/willkommen/einreisebestimmungen/
index_
html.
If you need a visa to come to Germany, please contact
WRI after registration for the conference. We will
provide you with an invitation after payment for
participation in the conference has been received.
Registration information
War Resisters' International, 5 Caledonian Road,
London N1 9DX, Britain
+44 20 72784040
registration@???
www.globalisingnonviolence.org/regform-en.html
War Resisters' International, 5 Caledonian Road,
London N1 9DX, Britain infowri-irg.org
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