the broken rifle, 80

No 80, December 2008

On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests,their co-worker and her teenage daughterwere massacred in El Salvador. A U.S. Con-gressional Task Force verified that thoseresponsible were trained at the U.S. ArmySchool of the Americas (SOA) at FortBenning, Columbus, Georgia, USA. This isonly the most notorious incident in theschool's history of providing special training toLatin American military personnel known tohave committed atrocities and engaged intorture.

In 1990 Father Roy Bourgeois, who hadlived for many years in Latin America, movedinto an apartment outside the main gate ofFort Benning and founded the School of theAmericas Watch (SOAW). That year 10people fasted for 35 days outside the gate ofFort Benning. However, from this smallbeginning, SOA Watch grew quickly, drawingon the knowledge and experience of many inthe U.S. who had worked either in LatinAmerica or in solidarity with movements therein the 1970s and '80s.

At the latest Fort Benning demonstration --on November 23, 2008 -- 20,000 peoplejoined a solemn funeral procession at theFort's gates commemorating those whosuffered and were martyred by the graduatesof the School of the Americas. Thousands ofpeople came to Columbus, Georgia for thewhole weekend to attend workshops, a Satur-day rally, and evening concerts as well as theannual Sunday vigil. Six people were arrestedfor going into Fort Benning.

Today, the SOA Watch is a large, diverse,grassroots campaign rooted in solidarity withthe people of Latin America. Its goal is toclose the SOA and to change U.S. foreignpolicy in Latin America by educating the pu-blic, and participating in creative, nonviolentprotest, as well as media and legislative workto urge Congress to cut off funds for thetraining. The last Congressional vote to endfunding lost by only 6 votes. With a newCongress and new president, the chances ofclosing the SOA have improved.

EditorialWelcome to the first issue of

The Broken Rifle in electronicformat only. For you to receiveour quarterly publication youneed to subscribe by going tohttp://lists.wri-irg.org/sympa/subscribe/thebrokenrifle or by sending and email [email protected].

This issue of The BrokenRifle is dedicated to the topic ofnonviolence training.Nonviolence training has differentformats and it answers todifferent needs. However mosttrainings have in common thatthey are a participatory place forlearning from each other on thedifferent aspects of nonviolence.It contributes to building healthygroup dynamics and explores ina practical way the differentaspects of nonviolence. In thisBR we look at three cases oftrainings – training for preparingfor an action as part of a longterm campaign; training ongender and nonviolence; andtraining for democracy building.

What training do we need? Inmany ways the most effectiveform of training is when we trainourselves. We are the ones whounderstand what is the aim of ourwork, what is the context wherewe are based. Training togetherallows us to develop our skills,remain independent and canguarantee continuity as we shareour skills with the rest of thegroup. Especially in preparing foran action, it's important tounderstand the limitations oftrainings: no matter how manyroleplays you do, during anactual action your reaction willnever be quite the same as whenyou are confronted with a violentor an unexpected situation.

In this issue we announceour latest publication the“Handbook for NonviolentCampaigns” a resource to helpyou dealing with the challengeswe face while working in a longterm campaign or for a standalone action.

Javier Gáratecontinued on page 2

Demonstration at the School of the Americas in 2007

Nonviolence TrainingsAnd the Campaign to Stop the School of the Americas

Nonviolence

The Broken Rifle No 80, December 2008

Work has also taken place in LatinAmerica, with SOAW activists visitingcountries to encourage them towithdraw their troops from the school. InFebruary Bolivia become the fifthcountry after Costa Rica, Argentina,Uruguay and Venezuela to announce itwill no longer send its police or militaryto be trained in the U.S.

The Pentagon has responded to thispressure with a public relationscampaign to give the SOA a new image,renaming it in January 2001 as theWestern Hemis- phere Institute forSecurity Cooperation (WHINSEC). Butthe campaign continues to call it SOA –“School of Assassins”.

NonviolenceThe campaign to close SOA has

always been rooted in a commitment tononviolence. All who participate in thenonviolent direct action and all whoattend the vigils and demonstrationsmake a commitment to the nonviolenceguide- lines. The guidelines, which havegone through a process of revision overthe years, are distributed to allparticipants, and are read collectivelythroughout the annual Novemberdemonstrations at Ft. Benning.

In the 1990s hundreds and thenthousands engaged in mass nonviolentaction by crossing the boundary line andwalking onto the base where they werestopped and removed. Preparation con-sisted simply of a large orientation se-ssion. Many were handed 'ban and bar'letters, warning them they would be arres-ted if they returned. Of course, most didreturn and to prepare for their arrest, therewere no direct action preparation mee-tings for these 'Second Timers' along withthose planning higher risk actions -- suchas hanging banners or planting gravemarkers on the base. In 2000 about10,000 people attended the demons-tration, 3,600 crossed the line, and ofthose, 2,100 were given 'ban and barletters warning them not to return. 26 wereput on trial, their sentenced ranged fromprobation to 6 months in federal prison.

After 9/11 (2001) a fence was builtaround Fort Benning and it was no longerpossible for large numbers to walk downthe road onto the base. That year 31 werearrested for blocking traffic.

In 2002 three hour nonviolencetraining sessions were offered for an

increasing numbers of people coming toColumbus early to participate in weekendworkshops. That year there was a parti-cular struggle prior to the action becausethe city police set up checkpoints tosearch demonstrators and their bags.Nonviolence trainings included role playsto prepare people to deal with the pro-cess, which included stating “I do notconsent to this search.”

A year later, a week before the SOAWdemonstration, Miami police attacked 'anti-globalisation' protesters, injuring dozens.Many groups attending Miami planned tocome to the SOAW protest for the firsttime. When SOAW lawyers challenged thelegality of police searches of protesters,the police convince the judge that this wasnecessary as so many 'anarchists' werecoming from the Miami protests. So aspeople went to the vigil, we distributedarmbands with the anarchist symbol – agreat sight to see thousands of people,from college students to grey-haired Ca-tholic nuns wearing the anarchist symbolon Fort Benning road. The searches werelater ruled unconstitutional and discon-tinued before the 2004 demonstrations.

Some training participants in 2003were afraid of those who were comingfrom Miami, blaming them for the violencewith the police and fearing the same inGeorgia. This gave the opportunity todiscuss police tactics and the real story,

and to help people deal with their fearsthrough role playing and discussion. Onthe other hand, some of the Miamidemonstrators were surprised the policedid not attack the SOA demonstrators:from their experience of anti-globalisationdemonstrations, they thought police vio-lence was inevitable. They had neverparticipated in a demonstration with non-violent guidelines and a history of nonvio-lence.

The 2004 Sunday vigil was attendedby 16,000, while in 2006 the numbersreached 20,000. This growth is a result oforganizing. Fr. Roy speaks around thecountry and several videos about SOA arebeing shown. Work has been done todevelop allies from unions, Veterans forPeace, colleges, community and religiousgroups who organise vans, buses andplanes to bring people to the weekend ofevents.

The Role of TrainingsOver the seven years we've been

doing the Friday nonviolence trainings,we've had to take into consideration anumber of situations. The police have setup fences, increasingly restricting accessto adjacent property. One year FortBenning blasted “patriotic” music at us,attempting to drown out the speeches andmusic from our stage. “God Bless FortBenning Day” has become a counter-

2

continued from page 1

Training at SOA, group looking at a picture of Dorthy Day

Nonviolence

The Broken Rifle Nr 80, December 2008 3

event which has also grown over the pastyears. Fort Benning has also become amajor base for soldiers going to andreturning from Iraq, raising local people'sopposition to the presence of demons-trators.

Since lots of new folks are coming,the Introductory Nonviolence Training isfor people who are new to largedemonstrations such as this and whohave never participated in a nonviolencetraining. The agenda includes anexploration of what is meant bynonviolence and nonviolent actions, howwe can prepare ourselves to maintainour commitment to nonviolence, anoverview of the scenario for the legalaction, knowing our rights andunderstanding the risks andconsequences of nonviolent civildisobedience.

Most of those who attend this trainingare young people who have never beento a demonstration. This poses certainchallenges to the trainers. I realised I wasmaking assumptions while facilitating ahassle line when I asked one side to “beyourself at a demonstration” and was toldthat none of them had ever been at ademonstration. More preparation wasneeded. We now begin that process by

setting up a potential “hassle” betweenthemselves and someone in their liveswho is opposed to them going to thedemonstration. We then escalate it fromthere. It's also a challenge to have only 3hours with a group that can be 50 or morepeople, coming with differing needs.Some challenge the very idea of a“hassle”, others fear we are not preparingthem for the worst. But over the years wehave found that this demonstration is asan entry point to the movement for peaceand justice for many, the nonviolencetrainings are a helpful foundation.

When we noticed that people werecoming back to the introductory trainingthe next year, we added a training onBuilding Skills that includes learningframeworks for developing nonviolentcampaigns, and tools to help groupsdeepen their analysis, identify their allies,and develop effective nonviolent actionsso they can continue their work whenthey go home. A third training option isbeing planned for next year.

Trainings also take place to preparepeople for roles such as Peacekeepersand Legal Observers. For those whoengage in civil disobedience, sentenceshave been from 3 to 6 months. Thereforea strong support system has beencreated for those considering that risk ,tohelp them through the discernment

process and during and after their time asprisoners.

Nonviolence training and goodcampaign strategies, along withgrassroots organizing, can develop thepeople power to create a climate andculture that will make the existence ofinstitutions like the SOA/WHINSECimpossible.

Joanne Sheehan

Handbook for Nonviolent CampaignsIn January 2009 WRI will launch its latest publication the “Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns”.WRI has been often been asked for material on nonviolence training, or for introductory workshops. And finally decided it wastime to produce its own training resource, where we could present an approach to nonviolence based on participatory forms oforganising and reflecting what has been learnt from years of international work.This handbook is envisaged as an introductory resource, though a number of the texts go beyond an introductory level. Theidea is that groups starting to work in nonviolence can be inspired from what other groups have done in different parts of theworld, learning from the rich history of the nonviolence movement.The Handbook includes sections on introduction to nonviolence and the history of nonviolent action, how to plan strategicnonviolent campaigns, how to prepare for nonviolent actions, tools for working in groups, the connection between gender andnonviolence, a series of stories from the work in nonviolence from groups all over the world, a long list of practical trainingexercises, and a list of related resources. A number of these resources were 'road-tested' in early October when the WRINonviolence Programme conducted a nonviolence training with Irish activists, hosted by WRI's affiliate INNATE. It was also testedand promoted during WRI's International Nonviolence Training Gathering held in Bilbao, Basque Country. We plan for theseresources to be used by grassroots groups around the world,.One of the main challenge for an international organisation is how to produce resources that can manifest its internationalnature. In this handbook we have tried to incorporate how people work on nonviolence in different contexts, yet still we recognisean Anglo-American dominance. So this handbook is a resource to be adapted to your own context, if you do adapt any section ofthe handbook please let us know so we can share it with the rest of the WRI network. That is why it has a section Do it Yourself,giving tips on how to produce your own resource.This handbook was produced in a Wiki - a web system for collaborative editing. It has two version a printed and a web one.We hope to regularly update de web version, which will continue to exist in a Wiki format. You can go on to http://wri-irg.org/node/3855 and make your own posting. Therefore adaptations of parts of the handbook or variations on particularexercises can still appear there. For WRI what is more important is that the handbook gets used and gets to the streets, so pleasehelp us promoting it and distributing it. Please contact the WRI office if you want copies of the Handbook for NonviolentCampaigns.

Nonviolence


Gender and NonviolenceIncorporating a gender perspective in our trainings in nonviolence

It may seem simple and obvious thatwe want both men and women involved inour struggles against war and injustice.However, if we want to fully utilisepeople's talents, energy, and insights, weneed to apply gender awareness to howwe organise ourselves, how we designour campaigns, and how we conduct ourtrainings for action.

Why? Because gender, our societies'definitions of male and female roles, ofmasculinity and femininity, influences allof us. And the social traditions that haveconstructed masculinity as dominant,aggressive, and controlling and femininityas weak, submissive, and serving havedeeply affected each of us. Genderawareness helps us to make sure that inour nonviolent actions and campaigns,we don't perpetuate the same injusticeswe are trying to stop.

In antimilitarist campaigns, genderawareness and gender-based analysisare also valuable tools for creating aneffective strategy. Gender is an elementin every conflict. It may not be theimmediate cause of a conflict, butdifferent ideas of masculinity andfemininity are at the heart of why and howpeople fight. Military systems are built tofunction on certain ideas andassumptions about male and femaleroles. To create nonviolent structures andsystems for resolving conflict, we willneed to create new assumptions andexpectations about gender.

Why should peace movements dealwith the issue of gender violence?

A gender perspective gives importantinsights into the work for peace andjustice. Ideas about masculinity andfemininity lie at the roots of violence andare used to support armed conflicts. Thelevel of violence against women and girlsin peacetime is an important indicatorabout how just and peaceful a societyreally is. Peace and justice organisationsthat want to end the violence of war willbe more effective if they understand thefull spectrum of violence in their societyand challenge it.

Survivors of gender violence duringwar know that reconciliation is impossible

without gender justice. The silencearound sexual violence against menand boys during war must also bebroken. Peace movements cannotignore issues related to gender andwar, such as the increasedmilitarisation of women, the skillsand leadership that women and girlscould bring to peace-building, andhow gender expectations encouragemen to fight.

Why is a gender perspectiveimportant in our work?

People who work for socialchange often assume that we arefree from internalised assumptionsabout gender and thus do not needto learn and change ourselves.Creating awareness and changingourselves and the dynamics withinour organisations on gender issuesis an important personal andorganisational transformation that initself acts to dismantle structuralviolence in the society.

It is difficult to work on gender issuesbecause it is about everyone of us, andwe cannot avoid it. Because we aredirectly affected, we often face fear whenthe issue is raised. We don't know how todeal with it or don't want to, and we areafraid of more conflict and division. Oftenit is easier to say that this is not ourpriority. To encourage ourselves, we canlook for examples where other groupsand movements have begun to raisethese questions.

Why should gender be a part ofnonviolence training?

Because women are half of everycommunity and the tasks ofpeacebuilding are so great, women andmen must be partners in the process ofpeacebuilding and nonviolence struggle.

Because sexism, racism, class ism,ethnic and religious discriminationoriginate from the same set of beliefs thatsome people are inherently ”better” thanothers, women’s empowerment should beseen as inherent to the process ofbuilding peace. Like other socialstructures that set up some people assuperior to others, the sexist belief that

women's lives are less valuable thanmen's lives leads to violence againstwomen. When women engage inpeacebuilding, they often challenge thesesexist beliefs along with other structuresthat discriminate against people.

Because women are the centralcaretakers of families in many cultures,everyone suffers when women areoppressed, victimised, and excluded frompeacebuilding. Their centrality tocommunal life makes their inclusion inpeacebuilding essential.

Because women have the capacityfor both violence and peace, women mustbe encouraged to use their gifts inbuilding peace.

Because women many times areexcluded from public decision-making,leadership, and educational opportunitiesin many communities around the world, itis important to create special training toempower women to use their gifts in thetasks of building peace.

Because women and men havedifferent experiences of violence andpeace, women must be allowed andencouraged to bring their unique insightsand gifts to the process of peacebuilding.

Because women have proved allover the world that they are successfulpeacebuilders, more women need to beencouraged to become involved in

This article is the result of material published in the Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns and a session on gender andnonviolence at WRI's International Nonviolence Training Gathering, in Bilbao, Basque Country in October 2008.

Statues exercise at the Nonviolence TrainingExchange in Bilbao, 2008.

Nonviolence


peacebuilding processes as stipulated bythe United Nation’s Security CouncilResolution 1325.

List of tools/exercises that you canuse for trainings in gender andnonviolence

Names of famous people 10/10categories

Ask people in a group to offer namesfor statues in a new park that is huge andwill have many important famous people.Politicians, musicians, films actors, etc.Then look at gender balance.

Family dinnerDivide into small groups of 5-6 people.

The groups are asked to give a scenefrom their childhood where all the familymembers were present. Make a drawingof the scene, where everybody is in theroom, what is everyone doing, who hasthe control. After sharing the scenes,create a discussion on the different rolesthat different genders played in the scene.Follow up the discussion on de-militarising those scenes.

Messages on being the "right" men /women

Divide the group into men andwomen, ask them to write in a box all themessages they get from society about

how to be a man or how to be a woman.Each group then is asked to write all thenames they will be called if they won't bemen and women as they should and alsothe list of names they will be called if youwant to "get out of the box". It is followedup in a discussion about the feelings thatcame up while writing

The dark roomPossible when you know each other

well inside the group. You cover youreyes and choose someone withoutknowing who it is and give that person amassage all over the body. You switchcouples. In the end you talk about notknowing if you are giving the massage tomen / women and how did it make youfeel, about pleasure and sexuality.

Keep track by speaker/statementDuring a meeting one person takes

notes on who is talking and what kind ofstatements is. If a statement is giving ananswer or if they are questions andreflections. At the end read it out and tryto understand the power structure insidethe group.

Fish bowlA group divides into men and women

and have a separate conversation, givethem the topic of how gender affects themin their activism. After that do a fish-bowldiscussion when one side is talking and

the others can only listen. Note what arethe difference and similarities betweenboth groups.

Short film - Socio-dramaShow part of a short film. Stopping it

in the middle and playing out what wethink the end is going to be. After thatwatch the end of the film and discuss whydo we assumed a specific ending inassociation to gender roles.

StatuesA man and a woman are being seated

in different positions one being in controland the other submissive. The groupsays what it looks like. What are theythinking, why standing/sitting like that?

Than they switch positions and thegroup is being asked again.

BusPut up chairs as if in a bus and ask

people to sit. See the differencesbetween men and women. Then askpeople to try and act as the oppositegender

Asking the Right Questions: Nonviolence Training and Gender, Thailand, 2004

Nonviolence


Nonviolence training is usually associatedwith preparing ourselves for our work againstoppression - racism, occupation, war, humanrights abuses, etc. But also for stimulating theprocess of building alternatives, in our orga-nisational structures, in our ways of dealingwith power, building alternative economicventures, etc. Nonviolence training is one ofthe primary ways the nonviolent movementshares its knowledge -- by learning from eachother's work and our own expertise. Trainingscan increase the impact your group has onothers, help you to function better in action andcope better with the risks and problems posed,and expand your action horizons. Basically,nonviolence training helps to create a safespace to test out and develop new ideas or toanalyse and evaluate experiences.In the present, trainings have many diffe-rent forms. If you have taken part in one, pro-bably it was as preparation for an action, tohelp you in your campaign development ormaybe to introduce you to nonviolence. In thisarticle I want to focus on a specific focus ofnonviolence training that has developedthrough the courses of the years and whichhas some conflictive dimensions.

It's not all about strategies and tacticsTo look at this problem I will focus on twoorganisations - the International Center forNonviolent Conflict (ICNC) in Washinton DCand the Center for Applied Nonviolent Actionand Strategies (CANVAS) in Belgrade. TheICNC was founded in 2001 by Peter Ackermanand Jack DuVall, the authors of A Force MorePowerful, a far-reaching study of the use of

nonviolent action to bring social change. Itsmain funder seems to be Peter Ackermanhimself. ICNC describes itself as "an indepen-dent, nonprofit educational foundation thatdevelops and encourages the study and use ofcivilian-based, nonmilitary strategies to esta-blish and defend human rights, democracyand justice worldwide”. It has three main areasof work to promote nonviolence:• to educate the general public;• to influence policies and media coverageand• to educate activists.Its training comes up as part of the work ofeducating activists. They provide on requestsupport for workshops in nonviolent conflict.For a number of years ICNC has worked inclose cooperation with trainers who came fromOTPOR, the most dynamic group in the move-ment that brought down Slobodan Milošević.This group of trainers formed the Center forApplied Nonviolent Action and Strategies(CANVAS). Their vision is a “world free ofviolence, with every single political conflictsolved by nonviolent struggle... CANVAStrainers and consultants support nonviolentdemocratic movements through transfer ofknowledge on strategies and tactics of non-violent struggle. CANVAS Supporting ActiveNetwork in four countries advocates andpromotes battles for democracy worldwide”.The main aim of these organisations is tobring democracy through nonviolent means allover the world. Democracy in terms of right toelections, freedom of speech, human rights

6

Documentationon conscien-tious objectionin the EuropeanUnionPublished by WRICouncil member andMEP Tobias PflügerProfessional soldiers andthe right to conscientious ob-jection in the EuropeanUnion in November 2008,WRI Council member andMEP Tobias Pflüger publi-shed a new publication on"Professional soldiers andthe right to conscientiousobjection in the EuropeanUnion", based on research ofWar Resisters' International.The publication provides anoverview of the present stateof the right to conscientiousobjection in the EuropeanUnion. It was produced inclose co-operation with WarResisters' International(WRI). It builts on the globalsurvey on the situation ofconscientious objectors byWar Resisters' Internationalfrom 1998 and their updateby Quaker Council for Euro-pean Affairs (QCEA) from2005. For the first time this pu-blication attempts to systema-tically also provide informa-tion on the right to conscien-tious objection for contractand professional soldiers. Inbecame clear that on thisissue there is a lack ofinformation. With the trend towardsthe professionalisation of themilitary in Europe, anotherdevelopment occurs mainlyunnoticed: the right to con-scientious objection, whichhas been widely recognisedin the European Union, isbeing weakened. With theincreased use of a professio-nalised military within theframework of NATO, the EUor the United Nations (orwithin ad-hoc coalitions), theright to conscientious objec-tion is more important thanever for those soldiers whoneed it. The publication is availa-ble free of charge from WarResisters' International andthe office of Tobias PflügerMEP. However, there will bea charge for postage andpackaging. Please contactthe WRI office for more infor-mation at [email protected].

Training for what?With the new electronic format of The Broken Rifle we want to use the opportunity to also getthe WRI network using the forums in our re-developed website. This article will be posted on theWRI forum, we invite people to react to it.

It is not all about strategies and tactics

OTPOR action in Serbia

Nonviolence


WRI's revampedwebsiteOn 26 November 2008,

War Resisters' Internationallaunched its revamped web-site, after more than sixmonths of development work.The site includes a new onlineConscientious Objection Infor-mation System (COBIS),which combines WRI's co-alert system in cases of impri-soned conscientious objec-tors, a conscientious objectorand activist database, the co-update e-newsletter, and theworld survey on conscientiousobjection and recruitment. Thesystem also includes a perma-nent Prisoners for Peace list,which will strengthen oursupport for imprisoned con-scientious objectors andpeace activists.

War Resisters' Internatio-nal's use of email and theinternet goes back to the mid-1980s. In 1987, War Resis-ters' International started touse email to communicatewith groups all over the world,and from 1989 until about1996 WRI had its own onlineconference on the APC net-work, called wri.news.

War Resisters' Internatio-nal's website goes back to1997, when it started as anonline brochure for the 1998Triennial Conference in Croa-tia.

In March 2001, War Resis-ters' International launched itsown domain wri-irg.org, whichwas accompanied by a rede-sign of the website. The WRIpublication "Refusing to beararms", the world-wide surveyon conscription and conscien-tious objection published origi-nally in 1998, was added tothe site in July 2001, originallyas a password-protected sub-site. CO-alerts have laterbeen added to it.

The following years sawmore additions, and more e-newsletters to be archived onthe WRI website. A Wiki wasadded too.

The revamped website,which has been developed byNetuxo Ltd, a workerscooperative, and themed bySimo Hellsten, now brings allthese elements together, andintegrates them.

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and in some cases also freedom of market.Both organisations say that their agenda is notpolitical, only pro-democracy and for humanrights. But at the same time the main move-ments they use as an example for their modelare the so-called 'colour revolutions' in Serbia,Georgia and Ukraine. In these people powerstruggles, there were clear plans on how to getrid of undoubtedly corrupt regimes, but when itwas time to build the new society, the newpower-holders have not turned out to be modeldemocrats. Indeed in Ukraine, one faction ofPora - the youth group active in the 'OrangeRevolution' - has not only been been pushingfor Ukraine to join NATO but to again havenuclear weapons bases (as in Soviet days, butthis time pointing in the other direction!).The strategic model for nonviolent conflictincludes understanding your enemy, buildinglarge groups of activists, a major focus on yourcommunication strategies, demanding elec-tions, running an election campaign and moni-toring the election itself as to avoid fraud. It'salso all about the branding of nonviolence,making it attractive and saleable to gain su-pport. It does not, however, include much aboutnonviolent values or how we envision a non-violent society. This strategy can be very effec-tive in terms of bringing down regimes, butnonviolence should also be about what youwant to build next. As these organisations saythat their work is not political, they are happy tosupport initiatives that oppose these regimes,

but they seem less concerned about what is tofollow.The focus of the materials produced byCANVAS are all about effective tactics. If yougo to the CANVAS site you might be struck bysome of the terms they use: battlefield, toexplain where nonviolent movements haveconfronted dictatorial regimes; weaponry,which consists of what they call 'conventionalarsenal' -- Group/movement building, commu-nication and action -- and an 'unconventionalarsenal' including 'How to act in virtual space'(using the internet) and how to act with limitedhuman and material resources (use of guerrillaapproach in propaganda when sending yourmessage) .I question this perspective of 'winning anonviolent war'. Yes, we do want to make ourcampaigns successful, but not at any cost. Ourfinal goal is to work to build the society wewant to live in, where there is justice and equa-lity. We can learn a lot from the huge expe-rience on developing strategies for nonviolentconflict, but we also need to see its limitationsand remember the fundamental insistence ofnonviolence on the consistency between themeans used and the ends desired. Is whathappened after the 'colour revolutions' whatwe understand by a nonviolent revolution? Idon't think so.

Javier Gárate

Nonviolence


The Broken RifleThe Broken Rifle is the

newsletter of War Resisters'International, and ispublished in English,Spanish, French andGerman. This is issue 80,December 2008.

This issue of The BrokenRifle was produced by JavierGárate. Special thanks go toJoanne Sheehan, KerstinBergea and Howard Clark.

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