Responding to calls to end US-made tear gas exports from movements in Egypt, Bahrain, as well as Oakland, War Resisters League began building a campaign against tear gas in early 2012. The cross-movement potential of this focus was made clear when WRL organizers partook in an Occupy Wall St. Global Justice Working group event on January 19th that connected US-backed police repression in Egypt to the racist policy of Stop and Frisk of the NYPD. This event spurred us into a phase of heavy research and strategizing. Next on June 12th, WRL launched its ongoing story telling project, Facing Tear Gas, and began gathering personal stories of repression and resilience, gathering several dozen from numerous movements. In August, in direct coordination with the movement in Quebec, we released an infographic naming Defense Technology as the source of the tear gas used there. We continued making connections by honoring the Egyptian port worker Asma Mohammed with our 2012 Peace Award in November, exactly one year after she refused to process a massive shipment of US-tear in Suez. In December, we began outreaching directly to prisoners connected to Decarcerate PA to gather and spread their experiences of chemical weapons in prison.
