Andreas Speck
“We got rid of the dictator, but not of the dictatorship”. Maikel Nabil Sanad wrote this in a post on his blog, in which he analysed the role of the Egyptian military during and after the revolution that toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak. Three weeks later, on 28 March, he was arrested by military police. A judge then ordered his imprisonment for 15 days, pending the investigation on charges of “insulting the military” and “obstructing public security”.
The trial itself was adjourned…
No doubt, this World Social Forum is different. Africa - Kenya & - makes its presence felt. Kenyan and African culture and music are present everywhere at the forum, to the extent that the drums and music do not always have a positive impact on discussions.
But Africa also makes its presence felt in terms of participation and content: on the one hand negatively , as participation from European and Latin American social movements is poor , compared to previous World Social Forums…
In These Strange Criminals, Peter Brock collects stories of imprisoned conscientious objectors since the First World War, and - with one exception - from the English speaking world; Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA. While at times repetitive - but that's the nature of prison life - the different stories manage to capture the experience of imprisoned COs, their thinking, and also the changes to prison over the course of 50 years.
Brock chose prison memoirs from a…
Let's start with the good news: currently, the British armed forces are under-staffed. They are 5,170 soldiers short, which is equivalent to 2.7%. However, this isn't much of a shortfall, and does not endanger the military's ability to wage war. My question is: why is this so, and what can we do to change that?
An understanding of the way the armed forces recruit is crucial to the development of a successful counter-recruitment strategy. There are several key factors in armed forces…
In last month's issue of Peace News (PN2472) Eddy Canfor-Dumas made the case for a Ministry for Peace as part of the government. However, it seems he is so deeply rooted in government thinking that he didn't even feel the need to explain why a ministry should be a good idea.
We have ministries for everything that we (we? Or the government?) think is important, and obviously, peace is important, so we need a ministry as “part of government dedicated to pursuing and…
On 10 August, gay Turkish conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment on two charges of insubordination.
Mehmet Tarhan declared his conscientious objection in 2001, and was arrested in April 2005 (see PN 2461), and transferred to the military prison in Sivas. In protest against maltreatment by other prisoners, encouraged by the prison authorities, he went on hunger strike for 28 days until his demands were met.
Tarhan was released from…
On 15 May -- International Conscientious Objectors' Day -- activists from more than 10 countries (Bosnia-Hercegovina, Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Israel,Macedonia, Spain, Serbia, Montenegro, USA) demonstrated in Thessaloniki against the treatment of conscientious objectors in Greece.
The demonstration started atthe monument of Grigoris Lambrakis -- a Greek anti-nuclear campaigner who was murdered by fascists linked tothe military at that precise location in 1963 (…
Mehmet Tarhan, a gay activist, anarchist, and declared conscientious objector, was arrested on 8 April and taken to “his” military unit in Tokat in eastern Turkey by force.
Tarhan declared his objection to military service on 27 October 2001, and has never hidden.
On 20 April 2005 he was transferred to a military hospital after the prosecutor ordered an “examination of his homosexuality” - something which the Turkish military considers an illness, and “rotten”. A positive…
In Russia, 23 February is traditionally the “Day of the Defenders of the Fatherland” — converted from the Soviet “Red Army Day”.
But for the Chechens and Ingush it is the anniversary of the deportation of their entire people from the Caucasus to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzistan by Stalin back in 1944. They were only allowed to return in 1956, to a country which was then populated by Russians and neighbouring people — one of the sources of today's conflicts in the North…
It's 15 May, 10.45am: a group of four Chilean activists approaches Alameda and the Altar de la Patria with its eternal flame of Chilean “nationhood”. They position themselves “incognito” in the middle of Alameda, on the green in the middle of this dual carriageway, opposite La Moneda, the presidential palace. They communicate what they see to several small groups of activists from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain, Britain, Uruguay, and Venezuela, waiting at Universidad de…
“If there is anything to be learnt we will learn it, because safety is our number one concern”, said energy secretary Chris Huhne on 14 March, after the horrendous nuclear accident at Fukushima in Japan following the devastating earthquake and tsunami.
While this is being written, the worst has not happened, and hopefully it will not. It is highly likely that a partial meltdown of the reactor core is underway at one of the three reactors, and possibly at all three. But so far, the…
This book is a collection of interviews with Israeli soldiers who at some stage decided to refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories.
Some of these soldiers are familiar to readers of WRI's co-alert email lists, as their imprisonment was reported to generate support. Others were lucky and didn't spent time behind bars (so far). None of the soldiers interviewed in this book is a pacifist. All of them continue to serve in the IDF. Still, this book gives some insights into their moral…
In July 2003, the European Convention presented a draft European Union Constitution, consisting of 260 pages, divided into four chapters, plus several appendices and additional agreements which will also have constitutional status. While this constitution puts all the different EU treaties (with the exception of Euratom) into one huge document, that's not all it is.
Even the European Commission had to admit that it “completely rewrites the originals”, as far as foreign actions and…
When WRI planned a visit to the South Caucasus, to develop co-operation with local groups on antimilitarism and conscientious objection, it was clear that this wouldn't be an easy task. However, it proved even more difficult than expected.
I arrived in Tbilisi in Georgia on 26 July, on an Aeroflot flight from Moscow. Georgia, which suffered a civil war in the early 1990s, still has two unresolved conflicts - Abkhazia and South Ossetia. While there is no war at present, neither is…
It's 15 May 2003, Tel Aviv, Israel: a military wedding, groom, bride, and the rabbi in uniform, as are the guests. The pair march up to the rabbi, get married, and then march out, followed by their marching guests.
Fast forward: the pair march through the streets, the uniformed pregnant wife gives birth to a baby dressed in uniform, while the uniformed husband stands next to her, saluting. Again, fast forward: child'splay (again - the children wear uniform) turns violent, and the…
