World BEYOND War

Workshop: How to Block a Military Training Ground & Preserve the Balkans’ Biggest Mountain Grassland: An Update from the Save Sinjajevina Campaign, led by Milan Sekulović Held on July 9 2022 at the #NoWar2022 conference.

Training: Nonviolent Communication Skills with trainers Nick Rea and Saadia Qureshi. Preemptive Love Coalition’s mission is to end war and stop the spread of violence. But what does that actually look like on a granular level? What does it take for you, as a citizen of this world, to create a snowball effect of love and peacemaking in your local community? Join Nick and Saadia for a 1.5 hour interactive workshop where we will share what it means to be a peacemaker, learn tips on how to communicate with others when you often don’t agree, and to love anyway in the context of your own world. Held on July 9 2022 as part of the #NoWar2022 conference.

Workshop: Demilitarisation and Beyond – Leading the World Forward in Peace Education & Innovation with Phill Gittins of World BEYOND War and Carmen Wilson of Demilitarise Education. Empowering young people and intergenerational collaboration to lead impactful community actions towards building sustainable institutional change and the development of peace education and innovations. Held on July 9 2022 at the #NoWar2022 conference.

Panel: Resisting & Regenerating in the Aftermath of War, Sanctions, & Violent Conflict ENGLISH VERSION This unique bilingual panel explores ways that communities around the world — from Afghan permaculture refugees to the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in Colombia to Mayan survivors of genocide in Guatemala — are both “resisting & regenerating”. We heard inspiring stories of how these communities have revealed the hidden truths about militarized violence they’ve faced, risen up nonviolently to war, sanctions, and violence, and forged new ways of peacefully rebuilding and co-existing in community rooted in cooperation and social-ecological sustainability. Featuring Rosemary Morrow, Eunice Neves, José Roviro Lopez, and Jesús Tecú Osorio. Moderator: Rachel Small. Held on July 10 2022 as part of the #NoWar2022 conference.

#NoWar2022 Panel: Resistiendo y regenerando después de la guerra y los conflictos violentos (VERSION EN ESPAÑOL)

Workshop: How to Shut Down & Transform a Military Base Site with Thea Valentina Gardellin and Myrna Pagán. The United States maintains around 750 military bases abroad in 80 foreign countries and colonies (territories). These bases are the central feature of U.S. foreign policy which is one of coercion and threat of military aggression. The U.S. uses these bases in a tangible way to preposition troops and weaponry in the event they are “needed” at a moment’s notice, and also as a manifestation of U.S. imperialism and global domination, and as a constant implicit threat. In this workshop, we will hear from activists in Italy and Vieques who are actively working to resist U.S. military bases in their communities and to regenerate by working towards the transformation of the military base sites towards peaceful purposes. Held on July 10 2022 as part of the #NoWar2022 conference.

Workshop: Demilitarizing the Police & Community-Based Alternatives to Policing with David Swanson and Stuart Schussler. Modeling the conference theme of “resistance & regeneration,” this workshop explored how to both demilitarize the police and implement community-centered alternatives to policing. World BEYOND War’s David Swanson describes the successful campaign to end militarized policing in Charlottesville, Virginia by passing a city council resolution to ban military-style training of police and the acquisition by police of military-grade weapons. The resolution also requires training in conflict de-escalation and limited use of force for law enforcement. Beyond banning militarized policing, Stuart Schussler explains how the Zapatistas’ system of autonomous justice is an alternative to policing. After reclaiming hundreds of plantations during their uprising in 1994, this indigenous movement has created a very “otherly” system of justice. Instead of punishing the poor, it works to bind communities together as they elaborate projects for cooperative agriculture, health, education, and equality across genders. Held on July 10 2022 at the #NoWar2022 conference.

Workshop: How to Challenge Mainstream Media Bias & Promote Peace Journalism with Jeff Cohen of FAIR.org, Steven Youngblood of the Center for Global Peace Journalism, and Dru Oja Jay of The Breach. Modeling the conference theme of “resistance and regeneration,” this workshop will begin with a media literacy primer, vis-à-vis FAIR.org’s techniques to expose and critique mainstream media bias. Then we will lay out a framework for the alternative — principles of counternarrative storytelling from a peace journalism perspective. We will conclude with a discussion of practical applications of these principles, such as through independent media outlets like The Breach, whose mission is focused on “journalism for transformation.” Held on July 10 2022 as part of the #NoWar2022 conference.

#NoWar2022 Conference Closing: Performance, closing remarks, call to action Featuring a performance by Guatemalan hip-hop artist Rebeca Lane. Closing remarks by WBW Board President Kathy Kelly & Petar Glomazić and Milan Sekulović of the Save Sinjajevina campaign. A colelctive call to action in support of Save Sinjajevina.

In working towards the abolition of the institution of war, this panel highlights that demilitarization alone is not enough; we need a just transition to a peace economy that works for all. Especially throughout the past 2.5 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been ever more apparent that there is an urgent need for a reorientation of government spending towards vital human needs. We talk about the practicality of economic conversion by sharing real-world successful examples and models for the future. Featuring Miriam Pemberton of the Peace Economy Transitions Project and Sam Mason of The New Lucas Plan. Moderator: David Swanson.

In this session, we focused on what it really means to live in a world beyond war on a very practical and local level. We shared ways we can unplug from the extractive economy, while emphasizing the vital importance of learning how to work together, resolving and transforming conflict with each other and doing our own personal work necessary to step out of the conflict mindset. After all, it is the human tendency towards conflict that compounds into war. Can we find ways to live and work together in new systems based on peace? There are many trying to do this and lean into this great transition.

Public Banking can help keep millions of public dollars local every year, invested in the world we want, instead of going out of state to Wall Street banks that invest in war, weapons, climate-damaging extractive industries, and lobbyists who support profiteering. We say: In Women’s Ways of Knowing Money, No One Need Make a Killing.

This session explored Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP), a nonviolent safety model emergent in recent decades. Communities worldwide suffering from violence in spite of the alleged protection of armed police and military forces are seeking alternatives. Many envision UCP replacing armed protection altogether – but how exactly does it work? What are its strengths and limitations? We discussed methods used in South Sudan, the U.S., and beyond to explore this grassroots, weaponless safety model.

Featuring a live performance by Samara Jade, followed by opening remarks by Greta Zarro of World BEYOND War & Petar Glomazić of the Save Sinjajevina campaign. WBW Board Member Yurii Sheliazhenko, based in Ukraine, provided an update on the current crisis in Ukraine, situating the conference within the larger geopolitical context and highlighting the importance of anti-war activism at this time. Additionally, WBW chapter coordinators around the world provided brief reports about their work, including Eamon Rafter (WBW Ireland), Lucas Sichardt (WBW Wanfried), Darienne Hetherman (WBW California), Liz Remmerswaal (WBW New Zealand), Cymry Gomery (WBW Montréal), Guy Feugap (WBW Cameroon), and Juan Pablo Lazo Ureta (WBW Bioregión Aconcagua).

July 22, 2022: Learn from representatives from across the Pacific in their fight for peace and an end to destructive war games: Hawai'i, Jeju Island, Okinawa, Philippines, Aotearoa/NZ, West Papua, Australia, the Marianas Islands, and more. Sign the petition: https://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/cancel-largest-naval-war-maneuvers-dangerous-rimpac-2022

Cancel RIMPAC: https://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/cancel-largest-naval-war-maneuvers-dangerous-rimpac-2022

https://worldbeyondwar.org/wave Author Linda Hansen will talk about Peacemakers in these Islands – from Rēkohu and Parihaka to the Nuclear Ban Treaty and Nobel Peace Prize (2017) and beyond. Former Minister of Disarmament Matt Robson will speak on the dangers of NZ supporting NATO. Clare Woodham, Tara dancer and Buddhist. Matt Brennan, Aotearoa 4 Assange.

Funding is needed for accomodations and travel for youth to study peace and nonviolent resistance to new military bases, where people have successfully prevented a new base (thus far!) in Montenegro.

June 2022 marks the 55th anniversary of the Israeli military's attack on the USS Liberty, which happened on June 8, 1967. The Central Florida World BEYOND War and Veterans For Peace local chapters hosted a Zoom presentation about the attack, which killed 34 Americans on board and wounded over 100 US sailors. At the time of the attack, the US government largely swept the incident under the rug, so as not to embarrass its geopolitical ally, Israel. On this webinar, we were joined by 2 survivors of the attack, Ernest Gallo and Mickey LeMay, who shared their personal stories and answered questions about that fateful day.

https://24hourpeacewave.org

https://24hourpeacewave.org

https://24hourpeacewave.org

https://24hourpeacewave.org