News and Media

For interviews and all other media inquiries, please call our office at 212.228.0450, or contact us by email at wrl [at] warresisters.org or via our Contact page.

A Letter on the Current Iraq Crisis from the Right to Heal Initiative

Ahlam: Kites and Shattered Dreams by Maysaloun Faraj

 

 

 

June 19, 2014

U.S. Department of State
Attention: Secretary John Kerry
2201 C Street NW
Washington DC 20520

Dear Secretary Kerry:

The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 incited a previously unimaginable deepening of sectarian divisions among the people of Iraq following the overthrow of the repressive Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein. The US government and its occupation forces set in place the most serious sectarian and ethnic tensions in Iraq’s modern history and have yet to address the humanitarian catastrophe set in motion by the war. On the 10-year commemoration of the US invasion in March 2013, the Right to Heal initiative brought together Iraqi social justice organizers and unionists with US military veterans opposed to the war and our group of politically-aligned organizations to call for reparations for the people of Iraq for the disastrous legacy US forces left behind.

Join WRL in South Africa this summer!

WRI Poster: Small Actions - Big Movements, the Continuum of Nonviolence

Registration deadline extended to 31 May 2014!

Seven months after the passing of South African independence leader Nelson Mandela, War Resisters International will be hosting a momentous conference in Cape Town, South Africa: "Small Actions - Big Movements: the Continuum of Nonviolence."

Rooted in the historic struggle against apartheid in South Africa, this conference will bring together a gathering of activists from across the African continent as well as other places internationally--and you are invited!

Tear gas is NOT nonlethal: ways to resist US tear gas shipments

Berkin Elvan

Since last week, the streets of Turkey have again been filled with tear gas following the death of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan, who was in a coma since June 2013 after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister while buying bread during the government repression of last summer's Gezi Park uprising.

March 13th was also the fifth anniversary of US solidarity activist Tristan Anderson's critical injury due to a tear gas canister fired at his head in a demonstration against the construction of the annexation wall through the village of Ni’lin’s land in Palestine. Tear gas is used regularly against Palestinians protesting Israeli occupation. In recent years, Israeli tear gas (made in the USA) has resulted in the deaths of Jawaher Abu Rahmah, Bassem Abu Rahmah, and Mustafa Tamimi.

We wonder how many people will be hurt and killed before we stop calling tear gas a “nonlethal” weapon?

WRL sponsors the GI Coffeehouse West Coast tour

GI Coffeehouse West Coast Tour poster

Join Under the Hood Cafe and Outreach Center (Killeen, TX), Coffee Strong (Lakewood, WA), and The Clearing Barrel (Kaiserslautern, Germany) for the first-ever GI Coffeehouse West Coast Tour! With stops in more than a dozen cities, coffeehouse organizers will meet with local activists and supporters, sharing information and stories from the coffeehouses, which over the years have been on the frontlines of support for service members and military families near Fort Hood, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and the central US base in Europe.

Welcoming Our New National Committee

2013 National Committee Ballots

February 2014

We are thrilled to share the results of War Resisters League's National Committee (NC) election with you all, and delighted to welcome new and incumbent members to our leadership structure.

Nearly 200 WRL members participated in our most recent election online or by mail, sending ballots from Alaska to Puerto Rico, and contributing to a process that will guide the organization's work in the coming years.

Historic Protest Settlement from 2004 RNC: WRL Speaks

Ruth Benn of the WRL NYC Local

January 16th's historic settlement awarded to protesters at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City was the largest in U.S. history - and many a WRL'er was in the mix! At the press conference, Ed Hedemann of the WRL - NYC local said: "The government can place FBI agents behind every mailbox and cops behind every potted plant but we will not be intimidated by their efforts to crush dissent and muzzle opposition to its policies."

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