Children are the future, right? So why have we constructed a world which requires children to: live short, difficult lives and to die in poverty; to be recruited into our militaries and to engage in conflict; to be raped, tortured and mutilated?
Before she began her prison sentence for taking nonviolent action at the School of the Americas, Clare Hanrahan sent this report about the legal process and her commitment to standing on the side of truth.
In July, activists gathered in Duluth, USA, with the message “F-16s Kill,” in a nonviolent response to the Air National Guard 148th Fighter Wing's F-16 Fighting Falcon, which was on display all weekend at a shopping centre.
In June, the 44th international aeronautics and space show took place in Paris at Le Bourget: shorts, ice- creams, air displays and tanned pilots. But that's not all. There were also fighter planes, helicopters and antimilitarists opposed to the arms trade. Francois Maliet reports.
“Ultimately these Summits must be judged by the benefits they deliver to the world's poor. The result this year was an anti-poor trade plan, nothing on debt and a feeble fund.” Jessica Woodroffe, Head of Policy at the World Development Movement
Several young Israeli men are refusing to participate in military service and a number continue to be imprisoned for their principled stance. As we went to press at least three were serving short sentences in military prisons.
Carlo Giuliani was a young man killed by another young man: a conscript policeman who was travelling in a vehicle which was being attacked by protesters during the G8 protests in Genoa. In so many ways his death was inevitable – not the death of him personally, but of one or more protesters taking part in mass and chaotic action against the dominant political and economic institutions, set against the repressive and violent response of the forces of “law and order”.
In recent months, Genoa, Gothenburg and Quebec have seen mass protest against globalisation—timed to coincide with the formal meetings of the G8, EU and the Americas trade talks. We reprint a discussion article written after the Quebec protests by US-based activist and author Starhawk, which presents ideas for moving the eternal violence/nonviolence debate forward into new territory.
Following on from Peace News 2439 on noviolence and social empowerment (NVSE), Andreas Speck and Julia Kraft report on the War Resisters' International NVSE conference, which took place earlier this year in Puri, India.
In this examination of their work providing nonviolence training for teachers and pupils in the German state education system, Andreas Peters and Milan ask whether they are taking part in a great opportunity to encourage social change, or merely providing a fig-leaf for a totalitarian institution engaged in supplying resources to economic interests?
The torture and ill-treatment of children in the home, at work, and in conflict is commonplace. Amnesty International expose this "hidden scandal" and report on the work they are doing to combat it.
In 1998, Denis Halliday, the then Chief UN relief co-ordinator for Iraq, resigned his post in protest at the impact of continued economic sanctions on the civilian population. Kathy Kelly is a veteran US peace campaigner, currently best known for her role as joint co-ordinator of the sanctions-busting group Voices in the Wilderness (US). In July both visited Britain to speak at the "Re-energise" anti-sanctions conference held in London. Peace News caught up with them for a chat.
Matt Mahlen examines concepts such as "duty", "liberty" and "responsibility" and the relationship between the French military and the education system.
In attempting to apply European values to educational needs, and with notions of protecting the "innocence" of children in non-European countries, do we undermine the one opportunity by which children can survive in their own communities? Julia Guest met child mechanics in Burkina Faso.
More than 120,000 children, some no more than seven or eight years old, are currently fighting in armed conflicts around the world. Judit Arenas reports on the experience of child soldiers and the work being carried out to put an end to this abuse.
Children are the future, right? So why have we constructed a world which requires children to: live short, difficult lives and to die in poverty; to be recruited into our militaries and to engage in conflict; to be raped, tortured and mutilated?
