Most antimilitarists like to imagine deserters and COs as heroic - if desperate - young men who stand up for what they believe and refuse to bear arms. But in reality they are as flawed as young men everywhere. Bojan Aleskov recalls the challenges of organising with deserters from former Yugoslavia, including the arguments about the washing-up!
The dominant image of the US response to the events of 11 September 2001 has been one of a people wanting vengeance, of an inevitable cycle of "justified" violence - manifesting as the "war on terror". Being visible against war and violence is not a popular position and may get you labelled as "unpatriotic" or as a "traitor". But what about when the people calling for a halt to the violence are those who lost the most - the families of the 11 September victims? Peace News talks with Ryan Amundson from the Peaceful Tomorrows group about turning grief into action.
In recent years militaries have tried to carve out a new role for themselves by engaging in "peacekeeping" duties in conflict areas around the world. This is the acceptable face of militarism. PN spoke with Bobi from the Group for Anti-Militarist Action in Macedonia about life with NATO.
Siân Jones examines the "feminisation" of western militaries and argues that the gendered view of peacekeeping and peacebuilding, by both militaries and mainstream feminists, has created new challenges for antimilitarists.
In this article looking at calls for conscientious objection and against war made more than 100 years ago, Wolfram Beyer highlights an ongoing tension between the traditional leftist position on war and violence and that of libertarian anti-militarists.
Since 11 September the militarist rhetoric spewing out of the US and Europe has reached new heights. Ekkehart Krippendorff looks at the intrinsic relationship between state formations and the military in the post 11 September political environment.
