The Harrop A. and Ruth S. Freeman Peace Internship Endowment was created in 1996 by a bequest from life-long peace activists Ruth and Harrop Freeman to provide stipends to interns in the War Resisters League’s national office. The Freemans were close personal associates of WRL co-founder A.J. Muste, and Harrop — a radical lawyer and World War II conscientious objector — was one of the founding board members of the Muste Institute.
Freeman Internships are based in the War Resisters League National Office in New York City. Internships generally run for a twelve-week period. Interns work 20 hours a week, primarily with one of WRL's Organizing Staff on a number of organizing projects and administrative tasks.
Recent Freeman Internships have included:
- Promotion and logistical planning for the War Resisters Organizing Training Institute, a week of skills training for antiwar activists and organizers
- Assisting in the preparation, production and promotion of the report from WRL’s Listening Process, which interviewed a diverse cross-section of grassroots organizers to assess the work of WRL and the broader movement, including strategy, opportunities, constraints, race, base building and nonviolent organizing.
- Working with WRL Organizing Staff on programmatic work, including counter-military recruitment, challenging war profiteers, and supporting GI resistance.
- Office and administrative tasks including sorting and organizing historical materials in preparation for shipment to WRL's archives at the Swarthmore Peace Collection.
The Freeman Internship is an opportunity for young people to become involved with a variety of tasks in a national antiwar organization, and to develop as leaders. Applicants with experience in youth organizing, popular education/training, and campaign work are especially encouraged to apply. Web and design skills are a plus. There is a stipend provided. Arrangements for room and board are possible for those who could not participate otherwise. College credit can be arranged. There is an office cat.
The War Resisters League is actively committed to seeking the full representation and participation of people of color, women, lesbians, bisexuals and gay men, and people with disabilities (the office is not wheelchair accessible), as well as people representing various ages, classes, and cultural backgrounds. Such diversity is sought throughout WRL's staff and decision-making bodies.
The War Resisters League affirms that all war is a crime against humanity. We therefore are determined not to support any kind of war, international or civil, and to strive nonviolently for the removal of the causes of war, including racism, sexism, and all forms of human exploitation.
