Habrá interpretación inglés<>español en todas las sesiones de la conferencia.
English<>Spanish interpretation will be available for all conference sessions.

#NoWar2024 Conference: Resisting the USA’s Military Empire

Friday, Sept. 20-Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024

A global 3-day conference, streamed virtually, with in-person events in Sydney, Australia; Wanfried, Germany; Bogotá, Colombia; and Washington, DC, U.S.

Ending all wars means closing all military bases. The United States of America, unlike any other nation, maintains a massive network of foreign military bases around the world, over 900 bases in more than 90 countries and territories.

These bases are costly in a number of ways: financially, politically, socially, and environmentally. U.S. bases in foreign lands often raise geopolitical tensions, support undemocratic regimes, and serve as a recruiting tool for militant groups opposed to the U.S. presence and the governments its presence bolsters. In other cases, foreign bases are being used and have made it easier for the United States to launch and execute disastrous wars, including those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya. Across the political spectrum and even within the U.S. military there is growing recognition that many overseas bases should have been closed decades ago, but bureaucratic inertia and misguided political interests have kept them open.

Join us virtually – or in-person in Australia, Germany, Colombia, and the U.S. – for the 3-day #NoWar2024 Conference to learn about the impact of the USA’s military base empire and how to resist it. The conference will travel virtually across the globe, visiting sites near U.S. military bases, from Australia, to Germany, to Colombia, with the concluding event in Washington, DC, the heart of the U.S. military base empire.

#NoWar2024 Schedule

All events will be livestreamed onto the Zoom platform. Session details coming soon!

Friday, September 20, 2024

#NoWar2024 kicks off at the Henry Carmichael Theatre, Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street in Sydney, Australia at 9:00am-1:00pm on Saturday, September 21 Sydney Local Time / 7:00pm-11:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4) on Friday, September 20. Find the time in your time zone. Details to come!

The venue is located on Pitt St between Park and Bathurst Streets and is a short walk from Town Hall train and light rail stations and many bus routes. Parking is available in nearby parking stations.

This section of the conference is hosted by Raising Peace, an Australian alliance of more than 30 organisations that together are working to share ideas, knowledge and inspiration for a peaceful world.

Saturday, September 21, 2024 - International Day of Peace

Events take place in Wanfried, Germany, from 2:00pm-6:00pm Germany Local Time / 8:00am-12:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4). Find the time in your time zone. This section of the conference is hosted by the World BEYOND War International Peace Factory Wanfried chapter. Located at the former border between the eastern and western part of Germany, the International Peace Factory Wanfried is an old factory building that has been transformed into a gathering space for the peace movement. Details to come!

Events continue at the Auditorio de la Unión Nacional de Empleados Bancarios, Diagonal calle 34 #18-21, in Bogotá, Colombia from 2:00pm-6:00pm Bogotá Local Time / 3:00pm-7:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4). Find the time in your time zone.

Welcome by World BEYOND War’s Latin America Organizer Gabriel Aguirre and introduction to the conference theme.

This session will explore the U.S. military’s infiltration into Latin America. Panelists will detail the impacts of the network of U.S. military bases across the region, through the lens of gender and environmental justice. Featuring Diana Salcedo López, president of LIMPAL, the Colombia section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF); Alejandra Rodríguez Peña, member of the Olga Castillo Collective, an organization that works for justice and reparations for victims of sexual violence by U.S. military personnel in Colombia; Laura Benítez, a marine biologist and activist opposing the construction of a U.S. base on Gorgona Island in Colombia; and Paola Renata Gallo Pelaez, Co-President of Mopassol, a movement opposing the construction of a U.S. military base in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

In this session, front-line organizers from across Latin America will share examples of effective nonviolent strategies and tactics used for successfully preventing or closing military bases across the region, including in Vieques, Puerto Rico; Providencia Island, Colombia; and Manta, Ecuador. Featuring Edgar Jay Stephens, leader of the Providencia Fishermen’s Cooperative, and Ricardo Armando Patiño Aroca, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense of Ecuador during the government of Rafael Correa. More speakers to be announced!

Meet other conference participants! We’ll have time for virtual networking for those joining on Zoom and in-person networking for attendees in Bogotá. 

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Events conclude at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, 1313 New York Avenue NW, in Washington, DC, the heart of the empire, from 1:00pm-5:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4). Find the time in your time zone.

After traveling the globe and exploring the impacts of U.S. military bases in different regions of the world, we conclude the conference in Washington, DC, the heart of the empire. In this session, we will map out the extent of the empire using World BEYOND War’s bases mapping tool and examine the local and global impacts of these bases. Featuring World BEYOND War’s Co-Founder and Executive Director David Swanson; Dr. Cynthia Enloe, author of Bananas, Beaches and Bases; and
Khury Petersen-Smith, the Michael Ratner Middle East Fellow at Institute for Policy Studies, whose research focuses on U.S. empire, borders, and migration.

Meet other conference participants! We’ll have time for virtual networking for those joining on Zoom and in-person networking for attendees in Washington, DC, including browsing the expo booths of our sponsoring organizations. 

New York Avenue Presbyterian Church is conveniently located near to the McPherson Square Metro Station (Orange/Blue/Silver Lines) and the Metro Center Metro Station (Red/Orange/Blue/Silver Lines). There is also free street parking.

Sponsors & Endorsers

Individuals and organizations are invited to sponsor the conference. Sponsorship is available on a sliding scale, with various perks such as tabling space, social media ads, and more, for each sponsorship tier. Learn more & sponsor here.

Organizations are invited to endorse the conference, at no financial cost. Endorsers are listed on the conference website and help to promote the event through their networks. Endorse #NoWar2024 here.

Sponsors

War Abolisher Sponsors:

Endorsers