Conscientious Objection: A Practical Companion for Movements is now available online here.

You can also buy a paperback version.

This book is intended as a practical companion for conscientious objection movements and all those whose work forms part of the continuum of war resistance. 

It has been written by activists who are campaigning against all kinds of injustice, all over the world.  Learning from the lived experience of these activists, the aim is to help movements work together, surmount the external challenges they face, and enhance the concept of conscientious objection, using it in new and innovative ways - such as against war profiteering, or the militarisation of youth.  The book also has a specific focus on gender, and the often invisible role of gender, both in the war machine, and in the movements which oppose it. 

To read this book is to be encouraged, not just to notice gender and the other power structures upholding militarism, but to actively work to undermine them - and in doing so, to start dismantling militarism itself.

Conscientious Objection: A Practical Companion for Movements is now available online here.

You can also buy a paperback version.

This book is intended as a practical companion for conscientious objection movements and all those whose work forms part of the continuum of war resistance. 

It has been written by activists who are campaigning against all kinds of injustice, all over the world.  Learning from the lived experience of these activists, the aim is to help movements work together, surmount the external challenges they face, and enhance the concept of conscientious objection, using it in new and innovative ways - such as against war profiteering, or the militarisation of youth.  The book also has a specific focus on gender, and the often invisible role of gender, both in the war machine, and in the movements which oppose it. 

To read this book is to be encouraged, not just to notice gender and the other power structures upholding militarism, but to actively work to undermine them - and in doing so, to start dismantling militarism itself.

Return to Conscientious Objection: A Practical Companion for Movements

Why this Book?

Conscientious objection to military service is most often viewed, and written about, as a moral stand that an individual takes against an injustice in a particular conflict, or against the injustice that is war itself. But conscientious objection is also a form of political action, and a focus for campaigning and organising. As such, it has its particular strengths, and faces particular challenges.

This book has been created by and for organisers and campaigners working on conscientious objection all over the world. It contains short articles, brief case studies written by conscientious objectors and experienced activists from five continents, who tell about their actions and campaigns, share tips for successful campaigning, and discuss the difficulties their movements are facing. The chapters of the book cover a broad variety of political and social contexts in which conscientious objection movements operate and address the specific features of conscientious objection on different ideological grounds. They also pose some tough questions conscientious objectors have to face if they want their movements to be sustainable and to avoid reproducing the very same militarised and patriarchal social structures that created the injustice to which they respond.

A new book from War Resisters' International has been published this week. Written by and for activists all over the world who are campaigning against war, militarism, and all kinds of injustice, it will be of use not only to conscientious objector movements.

Conscientious Objection: A Practical Companion for Movements is full of ideas to help groups work together, deal with power dynamics, surmount the external challenges they face, and enhance the concept of conscientious objection, using it in new and innovative ways — like resistance to war profiteering, or the militarisation of youth.  The book pays particular attention to the question of gender and the often invisible role of gender, both in the war machine and in the movements that oppose it. We believe this is the first book of its kind, we know it has lots of original content, and we hope it will become an invaluable resource in the worldwide peace movement. 

It will soon be available online, and you can purchase a copy here. Thank you to the many people who contributed to our crowdfunder, which made this book possible, and to all those who contributed to the book through writing articles and translations.

Translations into Thai and Spanish are already planned. If you would like to translate the book into your own language, please write to hannah@wri-irg.org

Buy it here.