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Refuseniks and military families speak out in London
An exciting new video Refusing to Kill made by the men’s network, Payday, was premiered in London on 12 March as part of Global Women's Strike events in London. An audience of 80 riveted people were delighted to see how refuseniks, with their families’ support, from many countries and many wars refuse military orders to kill or to act without humanity. Veterans describe how they resisted abuse from fellow soldiers, while others talked about how they organized against their health and lives being destroyed – including by Gulf War Syndrome. The video also highlighted the anti-draft movement so prominent during the Vietnam war. Keynote speaker Sue Webster spoke movingly in defence of her husband Abdullah, a US soldier jailed for 14 months for refusing on religious grounds to serve in the illegal and immoral war in Iraq. Mr Webster, an Afro-American and a soldier for 20 years, is a devout Muslim. Ms Webster is campaigning to get public support to over-turn her husband’s sentence and win conscientious objector status, and to have his pension earned with 20 years’ work, returned to him. Amnesty International has declared him a prisoner of conscience. The whole family is being punished financially and emtionally, including his three children and his mother on the US east coast while he is imprisoned on the west coast. Guest speaker Kai Dahwani from the Philippines told the true story of how the US-backed Marcos dictatorship was brought down. Millions took to the streets and women took the lead in convincing the grassroots of the military to put down their guns and join the popular protest. Speakers from the Strike, co-ordinated globally from London, spoke about Strike actions all around the world -- highlights included a march of 4-5,000 in India and a historic gathering of 300 Afro-, Indo- and Indigenous Guyanese women – all under the banner of “Invest in Caring not Killing.” Messages of support were read from George Solomou, the first UK soldier to publicly call on other soldiers to refuse to fight in Iraq, and from Matan Kaminer in Jerusalem who spent two years in prison before he won the right not to serve in the Israeli army. Last year he and other young Israeli refuseniks were guests of Payday at the Crossroads Women’s Centre. Copies
of the video available in VHS/DVD £7 plus p&p. Payday 0207 209 4751 payday@paydaynet.org www.refusingtokill.net |
