Top Campaigns

Historic NY Philharmonic Concert in Pyongyang

The unprecedented recent performance in Pyongyang by the New York Philharmonic has been hailed as a potentially historic step in the path towards rapprochement on the Korean peninsula. Over two thousand audience members, mostly made up of North Korea's communist elite, gave America's oldest orchestra a standing ovation after a rousing set that concluded with a Korean folk song, Arirang, an unofficial national anthem in both North and South Korea. Some of the musicians were so overcome with emotion they left the stage in tears.

Postcards from Iran: Towards an Axis of Understanding

World War III? "Serious Consequences". "Nuclear Option". For anybody watching the news lately it's become clear that a concerted, coordinated, and well-funded propaganda campaign has been unleashed to demonize Iran, to scare and confuse the American people, and to lay the groundwork for a preemptive U.S. attack on that country. Incredible as it might seem, history is repeating itself. But only if we let them repeat it.

The Folly of Attacking Iran National Tour

Join Stephen Kinzer, renowned longtime New York Times correspondent and author of the book All the Shah's Men, as he travels across the nation in February to make the case against a U.S. attack on Iran and for real diplomacy.

Ban Cluster Munitions

Cluster munitions kill and injure civilians at the time of use, AND long after a conflict, because they indiscriminately scatter explosives over such a wide area and many of the bomblets or submunitions fail to explode on impact. They have been used extensively to devastating effect during recent conflicts in Kosovo, Iraq, and Lebanon. A powerful movement of NGOs and governments of countries most affected by the scourge of cluster munitions has come together to push a binding international ban on these weapons. The Cultures of Resistance Network is proud to support a number of the groups doing the most cutting edge work on this issue. Find here some additional info on this critical campaign.

• This Holiday Season Urge Congress to Protect Civilians from Cluster Bombs
• Cluster Munitions Coalition
• 'Continuous War': Cluster Bombs in South Lebanon
• Action Toolkit to Ban Cluster Bombs from Mines Action Canada
• Sign the Petition to Ban Cluster Bombs

Screenpeace: an Anti-war Film Festival

Make Films Not War, along with likeminded collaborators around the globe, is producing an international traveling film festival to showcase the very best of narrative and documentary films from around the world that promote peace with justice and oppose war and those who wage them. As conceived by the War Resisters League, the oldest pacifist organization in the United States, ScreenPeace will unite peace-loving filmmakers and filmgoers from Beirut to Washington, New Delhi to Pyongyang, in the belief that only through dialogue and a commitment to nonviolence we can develop solutions to the political, economic, and social problems of our increasingly shrinking planet.

Supporting International Education as a Means Towards Peace and Reconciliation

The Pyongang University of Science and Technology (PUST), slated to matriculate its first group of students in 2008, is North Korea's first and only full-fledged institution of higher education whose faculty will be entirely composed of international scholars and academics, with all instruction in English. The Cultures of Resistance Network is excited to support this bold experiment. For many of the North Korean students who will enroll in PUST, this will be their first opportunity to meet citizens of other nations.

The Lee & Gund Foundation is funding a Lecture Hall at the University, and will be facilitating an international lecture series that will bring avariety of international scholars, scientists, technology experts, and members of the business world to speak to the students of PUST. This is an unprecedented opportunity not only for North Korean students to hear from some of the best minds around the world, but also for visiting lecturers to experience life in North Korea and meet the citizens and future leaders of this so-called "Hermit Kingdom".

Building Energy Efficiency in North Korea

The Lee & Gund Foundation is funding the Nautilus Institute training of a delegation of engineers and technicians from the DPRK on energy efficiency evaluation and analysis. This training is currently scheduled for March of 2008. Nautilus will also work with that group of trainees to identify energy efficiency measures in a building in the DPRK, and we hope to oversee the installation of a limited set of energy efficiency and related measures in that building later in 2008.

The Cultures of Resistance Network urges you to join all global citizens for an international day of action to highlight 40 years of civilian deaths and injuries caused by cluster bombs.Read More

Resistance in the News

Angola to host landmine pageant

03.27.08 • Angola to host landmine pageant By Mary Harper BBC News / March 26, 2008 Landmine victims are to take part in a beauty contest in Angola, where tens of thousands have been injured by mines. The pageant has been organised by Angola's de-mining commission, and aims to restore the confidence of victims and raise awareness of their plight. Millions of mines were planted in Angola during a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002. The "Miss Landmine Survivor" contest will be held on 2 April in a luxury hotel in the Angolan capital, Luanda. Eighteen women will take part, one from every province in the country. All of the contestants have been maimed by landmines.

Can women find unique ways out of war?

03.06.08 • Can women find unique ways out of war? Women leaders from 45 nations meet in India this week to discuss their role in conflict resolution Christian Science Monitor. Mark Sappenfield. March 7, 2008 Sakena Yacoobi well knows the hardships of Afghan women, caught between a war and the hopelessness of poverty and illiteracy. Yet on International Women's Day Saturday, the Afghan educator will not ask the world to help Afghan women. Instead, she will ask Afghan women to help the world. In a time of growing conflict around the world, she believes the wisdom and compassion of women can offer a way out. "Women bring tolerance and patience," she says. "Women can bring solutions – we cannot accomplish that with weapons."

URUGUAY: SPIRIT OF AFRO RESISTANCE ALIVE IN CANDOMBE

02.22.08 • URUGUAY: SPIRIT OF AFRO RESISTANCE ALIVE IN CANDOMBEWritten by Marie Trigona for www.upsidedownworld.orgThursday, 21 February 2In the streets of Montevideo, Uruguay, Afro-Uruguayans celebrate an often-ignored part of their history – Candombe and resistance. For more than 200 years Afro descendants have maintained the tradition of Candombe, a rhythm that traveled from Africa to Uruguay with African slaves. The music carries centuries of resistance and liberation.

Nobel Peace Laureate Says US Trying to Stall Cluster Bomb Agreement

02.21.08 • Nobel Peace Laureate Says US Trying to Stall Cluster Bomb Agreement Thursday, February 21, 2008 Wellington, New Zealand - Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams accused the United States on Wednesday of trying to stall negotiations on an international agreement to ban cluster bombs - without even attending talks on the treaty.

INTERVIEW: "If the WSF Didn't Exist, It Would Be Necessary To Create It"

01.23.08 • INTERVIEW: "If the WSF Didn't Exist, It Would Be Necessary to Create It" January 23, 2008 / IPS / BamakoAminata Dramane Traoré -- a writer and former minister of Culture in Mali -- is one of the leaders of the anti-globalisation movement in Mali, says that the World Social Forum (WSF) is a representative movement that is essential to the common struggle of people oppressed by a "violent world economy" which often flouts fundamental rights. Traoré spoke with the IPS correspondent Almahady Cissé about international economic relationships and the future of the WSF. There is still much to be done to shed light on the relationship "between the destructive nature of neoliberalism and armed conflicts," Traoré said.

MORE ARTICLES