War Resisters' International

War Resisters' International (WRI), an international secular pacifist organization with close to 100 associates in 30 countries, was founded in 1921. As an antimilitarist organization, it adopted a declaration in its founding year that has not been changed since. It states that “War is a crime against Humanity. I am therefore determined not to support any kind of war and to strive for the removal of all causes of war.” With roots in the socialist antimilitaristic resistance to World War I, the founders saw the need for a global movement to oppose all forms of wars. WRI has been central in coordinating support for conscientious objections in countries with compulsory military service. The individual acts of resistance were turned into a political movement through international solidarity.

During World War II, many members of WRI were active in the nonviolent resistance and hid wanted persons from persecution. During the first wave of antinuclear campaigning in the 1960s, members of WRI were active in preparation and implementation of civil disobedience and other forms of resistance. The U.S. section, War Resisters League, played an important role in the opposition to the war in Vietnam and also actively took part in the civil rights movement.

During the Cold War, WRI worked closely with the opposition in the Warsaw Pact countries and took part in the broader movement against nuclear weapons. Confronted with accusations for not taking sides in wars of liberation or when someone took up arms in defense against a cruel invader, many individuals in WRI have faced difficult times with their principled opposition to all wars. WRI and its associates gave active support to groups in these conflicts who themselves used nonviolent means.

Being among the first within the peace movement, WRI early began exploring the possibilities for more active interventions in war zones. In 1968, it organized demonstrations in Warsaw Pact capitals to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Operation Omega was aimed to support Bangladesh with emergency aid under the Pakistani blockade in 1971. In 1991, WRI supported the Gulf Peace Team, who set up a peace camp between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. During the wars in the Balkans at the end of the 20th century, WRI and its associates took part in several interventions, among them Balkan Peace Team, which supported local activists in Croatia, Serbia, and Kosovo. A number of WRI activists now support the [Page 1451]Nonviolent Peaceforce, which aims at large-scale nonviolent interventions in zones of conflict.

In addition to continuing its traditional work with conscientious objectors and deserters, the organization has taken on work on women and war, social defense, nonviolent social empowerment, and nonviolence in a broad sense. With its center of gravity in Western Europe and North America, WRI is actively widening its network to Asia, South America, and countries of the former Soviet Union. In world and regional social forums, WRI has been contributing with their agenda of opposing all wars and promoting nonviolence.

There is a long tradition in WRI to function as a bridge between academia and the radical peace movement. International conferences have been meeting points where personal links have been built and cooperation founded.

...