Most antimilitarists like to imagine deserters and COs as heroic - if desperate - young men who stand up for what they believe and refuse to bear arms. But in reality they are as flawed as young men everywhere. Bojan Aleskov recalls the challenges of organising with deserters from former Yugoslavia, including the arguments about the washing-up!
The dominant image of the US response to the events of 11 September 2001 has been one of a people wanting vengeance, of an inevitable cycle of "justified" violence - manifesting as the "war on terror". Being visible against war and violence is not a popular position and may get you labelled as "unpatriotic" or as a "traitor". But what about when the people calling for a halt to the violence are those who lost the most - the families of the 11 September victims? Peace News talks with Ryan Amundson from the Peaceful Tomorrows group about turning grief into action.
In recent years militaries have tried to carve out a new role for themselves by engaging in "peacekeeping" duties in conflict areas around the world. This is the acceptable face of militarism. PN spoke with Bobi from the Group for Anti-Militarist Action in Macedonia about life with NATO.
In this article looking at the development of the "selective refusal" (to military service) movement, Peretz Kidron argues that the Israeli experience proves it to be a valuable tool of protest.
Siân Jones examines the "feminisation" of western militaries and argues that the gendered view of peacekeeping and peacebuilding, by both militaries and mainstream feminists, has created new challenges for antimilitarists.
