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Stop the War on Ukraine: Calls to Action

War Is A Crime Against Humanity (lettering by Liz McAlister)

War Resisters League believes that war is a crime against humanity; we are clear that war is never the answer. As an antimilitarist organization we refuse to take sides between the armed camps. We do recognize and oppose what the U.S. does and is doing to feed this conflict, and other conflicts. We stand with others in War Resisters' International in opposition to war over Ukraine, and support those who refuse to fight.

Escalating tensions between the world's two largest nuclear powers once again points out the pressing need for disarmament, and the dismantling of NATO and other military alliances. Instead of the U.S. building new nuclear weapons, we urge it and others to ratify and implement the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear weapons now signed by 86 countries.

War Resisters League knows that the conflict over Ukraine benefits the weapons suppliers, expanding militaries, and a handful of political elites. Ukranians, caught in the middle, will be first ones to suffer.

We share these statements from others involved in War Resisters' International.

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SOLIDARITY WITH ALL THOSE NONVIOLENTLY RESISTING THE WAR IN UKRAINE (March 11, 2022 - War Resisters' International)

War Resisters' International expresses solidarity with all those resisting war and its causes.

As War Resisters, we stress that we do not support any kind of war and, at the same time, we strive for removal of all causes of war.

We want to express our support and solidarity for those nonviolently resisting the war in Ukraine. In particular, we would like to acknowledge the bravery of all those arrested in Russia recently.

I

The nature of the war in Ukraine is clearly that of a foreign military invasion that is being met with both armed and non-violent resistance. War Resisters’ International demands an immediate end to all military actions in Ukraine, and the immediate return of all Russian troops back to Russia.

We strongly condemn any war activities, especially those that are directed towards civilians throughout Ukraine, including those against civilians in the Russian-controlled Donbass region.

We stand with those in Ukraine who decided to nonviolently resist military activity in Ukraine, as well with those in Russia who took the stand against the war and openly oppose the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. We are glad to see that some members of the Russian and Belarusian militaries have refused to fight, or hindered their ability to do so.

II

We call upon the governments of the world to open their borders to anyone who refuses to participate in the war in Ukraine. Asylum should be granted to anyone whose conscience does not allow them to kill another person – regardless of which side of a conflict they find themselves on.

The same right should be granted to anyone who risks persecution for advocating and/or working against its own governments’ military policies in Ukraine, Russia, NATO countries and elsewhere.

The right to conscientious objection – in all countries, but particularly those in a state of war - must be protected and upheld, and no state should resort to conscription as a means of bolstering their forces.

III

We believe that the causes of the war in Ukraine are much more an object of a debate than the nature of that war itself. The specific conflict we see now is rooted in a much longer, highly militarised history.

Unfortunately, the mainstream media refuses to organize and maintain a serious debate about how we got here in the first place, and what should be done in order to deescalate the conflict as soon as possible.

No one should be forcefully excluded from the debate because they doubt their governments’ policies and actions towards the war in Ukraine. The absence of such a debate is a characteristic of the binary logic of war. We’re talking about a possible nuclear threat and people have the right to know all the aspects and positions towards the situation in Ukraine.

Those who criticize the NATO policies of expanding eastwards or those who criticize the shipment of the NATO military aid to Ukraine, arguing such action adds fuel to the fire, have the right to speak and to be heard.

V

We call upon people everywhere to express their opposition to war in any way they consider it possible. From a single post on social media or a small symbolic action, to organizing or participating in a protest against the war, every action creates a mosaic of the war resistance throughout the world.

STOP THE RUSSIAN INVASION IN UKRAINE!

STOP THE NATO EXPANSION!

STOP ALL THE WARS, INVASIONS AND OCCUPATIONS WORLDWIDE!

Store Update: We are closed from June 24th until July 19th

War Resisters League Store Update: We Are Temporarily Closing!

The  WRL Store is moving to our New England Office as the National office moves out of the office on Canal St in NY and work is done remotely. The Store will be closed from the end of day on June 24th until July 19th. You can still place orders at our online store but shipments won’t go out until July  19th. Shipments will then resume on a regular basis. Please email us at orders [at] warresisters.org. All orders received by June 24 will be shipped by then.

Applicants have until July 5th to apply for Development & Membership Coordinator position

War Resisters League is extending the deadline to submit applications for the Development and Membership Coordinator Position to July 5th. 

Job posting:

The War Resisters League seeks to hire a passionate and dedicated individual to create and implement a development and membership program to continue supporting nearly 100 years of challenging all wars.

She Wove Us Together: Linda Marie Thurston, 1958-2021

Linda with raised fist

Linda Marie Thurston, who spent a lifetime forging connections between and among people, organizations, and ideas in peace and justice movements, passed away in her Brooklyn, NY home due to natural causes. She was 62 years young.

Linda was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 7, 1958, the oldest child of James Thurston Sr. and Barbara Thurston (née Oliver). She attended Classical High School and excelled academically, where, as she liked to tell it, a bet between guidance counselors led to Linda applying and being accepted to Harvard University. Linda graduated from Harvard in 1980 with a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology where she was a student organizer against South African apartheid and was the president of the Black Community and Student Theater. After working for some years at the American Friends Service Committee, Linda took time out to attend grad school at Temple University where she obtained an M.A. in Sociology in 1994. 

Linda was a visionary, intellectual, activist, and social weaver who committed her life towards ending the violence of policing, imprisonment, and militarism, and building systems that promote community restoration, reconciliation, accessibility, and invest in life-affirming resources. Her contributions to the movement to abolish the prison industrial complex are vast and significant. As Director of the American Friends Service Committee’s National Criminal Justice Program, Linda worked with advocates and former prisoners on developing curriculum and organizing conferences, community forums, and workshops promoting prisoner rights and alternatives to imprisonment. Serving in this capacity, Linda edited the 1993 book A Call to Action, by the National Commission on Crime and Justice. As Director of Amnesty International’s Program to Abolish the Death Penalty, she coordinated their strategy to abolish the death penalty, and toured the U.S. to build their campaign. In addition to this advocacy, Linda steadfastly supported campaigns to acknowledge and free U.S.-held political prisoners, including her involvement in co-founding the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal in 1992. Linda also participated in the founding of Critical Resistance, a national organization working to abolish the prison industrial complex, supporting their work nationally and in New York City in the late 90’s and 2000s and, most recently, serving on their Community Advisory Board.  

One of Linda’s skills was effortlessly communicating her capacious vision across a wide variety of audiences: as a radio host at W.I.L.D, giving testimony on C-SPAN, and meeting with religious congregations, to name a few. But even deeper than public speaking, Linda communicated her abolitionist vision through the way she treated others, every single day. She held firmly to the understanding that people were “not all good, and not all bad,” and was able to hold the complexity of what it meant to be human without romanticization nor disposability. And it’s this energy that brought people together around her, and sustained relationships for decades, and in some cases helped cross-pollinate political ideas, such as the necessity to be both abolitionist and antimilitarist. As her cousin, Kristine Keeling, said, "Linda was committed, she was committed to her community, to the disenfranchised, the displaced, and those who struggled to be heard. She moved with grace, integrity and joy, regardless of the heavy mantle she carried."

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