On October 19, 1923, New York City educator and queer activist* Jessie Wallace Hughan wrote in her diary: “Tracy [Mygatt] to dinner—had hair done—organized real War Resisters League.” That was 97 years ago today. At WRL resisting war has always meant addressing the root causes of violence by forging relationships and building movements that empower…
October 12th, 2020 In honor of Indigenous People’s Day we are amplifying visionary, Indigenous-led leadership today from our friends at the NDN Collective, who are launching the LANDBACK Campaign. LANDBACK is a movement that has existed for generations with a long legacy of organizing and sacrifice to get Indigenous lands back into Indigenous hands — and…
October 6th, 2020 At least 150 people have been killed so far from the fighting between Turkey-backed Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh (also known as Artsakh and Karabagh) which began last week on September 27th when Azeri forces shelled the area. This conflict, with roots in Russian-drawn borders, Soviet-era imperialism and propped up by the modern…
October 3rd, 2020 Friends, I’m excited to share with you the first call for submissions from War Resisters League’s newest committee, the Editorial Committee. We are comprised of writers and organizers based across the Americas with ties to Black, Indigenous, MENA, Latin American, and white communities of resistance. Every month, we meet to discuss pressing issues…
We are happy to be emailing with great news: all five activists are home and we’ve successfully fundraised the total bond amount to reimburse those who stepped up to help get our folks to safety. We’re blown away by your support. 167 people came together and through large and small gifts, got us to our…
On Monday August 17th five WRL members blockaded the entrance to Combined Systems International — the largest tear gas manufacturer in the U.S. Our group successfully deterred a shipment from entering Combined Systems Inc. and had many meaningful conversations with neighbors and folks driving by. All five members of the blockade were arrested and kept overnight at…
Monday, August 17th, 2020 Right now, 5 activists are blockading the entrance of Combined Systems Inc. with giant tear gas cans and gas masks, refusing to move. These five are with a group of 40 activists from cities across the U.S. who are onsite in Jamestown, PA with the goal of shutting down operations at Combined…
August 6, 2020 August 6th and August 9th this week mark the 75th year since the United States used nuclear weapons on civilians living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings killed over 200,000 people. To this day, survivors are #stillhere and fighting for the abolition of nuclear weapons. As we remember the incredible violence of…
July 20, 2020 We are filled with gratitude for the wisdom and leadership of Rep. John Lewis and Rev. CT Vivian, two people who dedicated their lives to racial justice in the United States and made incredible contributions towards collective freedom, nonviolent struggle, and Black liberation. Both Lewis and Vivian were active in the 1960’s civil rights movement…
In a continued effort to crush the Black Lives Matter movement, Trump sent Federal agents to the streets of Portland to “quell” the weeks of rallies to defund the police. Civilians in Portland, a majority-white city, have reported cases of unmarked vans “snatching” protestors off the streets and tear gassing civilians (even while a federal…
War Resisters League is creating a space for accessible antiwar analysis that pushes forward the viewpoints of people struggling for justice around the world in a way that creates more and new opportunities for solidarity. Building on the War Resisters League’s long history as a home for open and honest debate and much-needed analysis of…
July 10, 2020 At the same time that we are facing tremendous horrors, we are experiencing the powerful accumulation of years of abolitionist organizing led by Black feminists. The future we want feels so much more possible than it ever has. The state has been doing everything in its power to keep that from becoming…
Previously published on Waging Nonviolence We are activists, we are practitioners of revolutionary nonviolence, and we are outraged. Outraged at the 400-year long history of violence against Black people in this country; outraged at the racist and murderous system that founded police, who kill Black people with impunity; outraged at the state-sanctioned brutality meeting Black…
From 2012 to 2014, War Resisters League ran the Facing Tear Gas campaign aimed at exposing the tear gas industry: who’s making it, who’s buying it, and where it’s used. Tear Gas, unsurprisingly, was found to be a common tool for state oppression from the United States to Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, and elsewhere. Now in 2020,…
Sunday May 31st, 2020 We’re heartbroken and outraged and like so many of you, refuse to allow the systematic killing of Black people in the United States to continue without a fight for justice. There is a lot to be outraged about: from how the politics of COVID-19 pandemic put the lives of Black and…
Friday May 25th Over the last month, under the cover of COVID, a new series of Arms Sales were proposed by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the section of the Pentagon responsible for handling major arms sales. According to US law, there is a 30 day period to mount a legislative challenge to these sales before…
April 16th, 2020 Dear friends, We knew this was going to be a tough and pivotal year politically, but few predicted the extent to which it would be so. Constant updates from the COVID-19 pandemic to the Democratic Primaries to chaos from within the Trump administration are alarming and hyperstimulating. For many young people, this…
Tuesday, March 17th, 2020 Dear friends, We’re writing to touch base during this time of crisis and uncertainty, to offer an update on WRL’s operations and to share a few resources on what we can be doing to love and protect each other in these strange and difficult times. Like many of our peer organizations,…
Every move towards a world free of warfare is a move worth taking. That’s why I spoke on behalf of War Resisters League at New York City Council on Tuesday – to voice our support for Resolution 0976 and Introduction 1621. These proposals reaffirm New York City as a nuclear-free zone, and instruct the pension…
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