By World BEYOND War, February 16, 2025
World BEYOND War’s 2024 annual report is now available as a PDF here.
World BEYOND War has continued to grow. We now have 46 volunteer-led chapters, 20 Board members, 21 Advisory Board members, 10 paid staff people, and over 1,000 organizations endorsing our Declaration of Peace along with individuals in 202 countries. We are a member of numerous coalitions, and often take the lead in organizing broad peace efforts regionally and globally, and in moving people to educational and creative nonviolent action work aimed at the elimination of war, preparations for war, and cultural acceptance of war.
Through education, media / communications, and activism, we have pushed back, during hard times, against warmaking in Palestine, Sudan, Ukraine, and elsewhere, promoting the rule of law and the use of diplomacy. We have played a significant role in urging nations to charge Israel with genocide in the International Court of Justice, urging the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for leading architects of that genocide, and building pressure on elected officials and institutions around the world to divest from, disarm, and oppose the slaughter.
We’ve seen successes in 2024 in our campaigns against military bases and in support of divestment from weapons companies. The government of Montenegro finally committed to not building a NATO training ground on the beloved plateau of the brave people of Sinjajevina, while other growing campaigns continued to resist the creation or demand the closure of bases. Divestment campaigns grew as well, as part of the movement against the destruction of Gaza. Our annual War Abolisher Awardees included a student group that had persuaded Trinity College in Dublin to divest.
We offered numerous online courses in 2024, including a new one on Unarmed Civilian Defense. Our online courses, book clubs, hosted webinars, in-person conferences, speakers at events hosted elsewhere, books, factsheets, videos, social media posts, and online tools and resources reached many thousands. We led the organization of a counter-summit during NATO’s annual summit. We held our own annual conference online and in-person on four continents, increasing attendance for that as for various other annual activities, such as our film fest, the 24-hour global peace wave for which we partner with the International Peace Bureau, our Africa conference, and our protests of weapons fairs and military air shows. We were a lead organizer of many events, including the first Congress on Neutrality, which celebrated the benefits nations have found in being neutral and peacemaking.
We also paused for a moment in our frantic work for peace to mark our 10th anniversary, to recognize all that has been done, and to renew our energy for the tremendous work needed for the survival of life on our planet.
One Response
Thank you so much that you exist. You offer me hope by showing another way, practical way exists. I like the effort of producing a solid core of speech and practices.
Love from Greece.