International Women's Network Against Militarism

Beginnings

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The International Women’s Network Against Militarism started in 1997 when 40 women activists, policy-makers, teachers and students from South Korea, Okinawa, mainland Japan, the Philippines, and continental USA gathered to share information and to strategize together about the negative effects of US military operations and high military spending in all our countries. Since then, women from Guam, Hawai’i, and Puerto Rico have joined. Women for Genuine Security is the US-based partner in the Network. Together we envision a world of genuine security based on justice, respect for others across national boundaries, economies that meet people’s needs, meaningful opportunities for our children.  

Women in these diverse communities are working on similar issues: military violence against women/trafficking, appropriation of land for US military operations, and health effects of environmental contamination caused by preparations for war. In the USA, low-income communities face aggressive military recruiting and inadequate services due to inflated government spending on the military rather than socially useful programs. The militarization of the police and the southern border has intensified.

Militarism’s central distortion is that organized state violence is essential to providing security. On the contrary, we believe that militarism creates insecurity for people and for the planet.
 

Activities

Activities vary from country to country and include services and support to victims/survivors, 
public education and protest, research, lobbying, litigation, and promoting alternative economic development. 

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Network members link these separate efforts through:

  • International meetings.

  • Links among country groups.

  • Supporting each others’ individual activities and campaigns.

  • Education about how US militarism impacts people and the environment in all Network countries.

  • Using art for social change.

Here is a list of resources related to women and militarism (Asia-Pacific), and organizations working for peace and justice in this region.