REFUSING WAR
Since 2003, when the war in Iraq broke out, Payday has organized or joined a number of international campaigns working with some organisations in the Global Women's Strike (GWS) to support soldiers and conscientious objectors who refuse to fight or men and women who refuse conscription.
We have supported individual campaigns in many countries including Turkey, Greece, Israel the US and the UK. These campaigns were almost always led by women - partners, mothers, sisters, relatives. For many years, with Queer Strike, we joined an international and successful campaign to free Chelsea Manning, a transexual army analyst who leaked thousands of classified military files to Wikileaks.
We have also worked to defeat legislations that punish refuseniks or that exonerate war crimes. We have also opposed rape within the military and military families as well as the mistreatment of soldiers and veterans.
FOR MORE INFORMATION on our support to past campaigns by & with refuseniks, visit www.refusingtokill.net, our former website. For an overview, watch our 2005 video Refusing to Kill - Refuseniks around the world speak out
Israeli conscientious objectors
Despite a ban on protests and ongoing repression by the Israeli government since the start of the ongoing war on Palestinians, conscientious objectors have spoken out against the genocide of Palestinian women, children and men.
By No Borders groups in Germany
In a time where it has become illegal in Germany to say “Free Palestine” and solidarity demos have been banned, it is essential for the No Borders movement to speak up, not just against some forms of racism, but against all racism!
By Pjotr Sauer, The Guardian
Nearly 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war in Ukraine (…) the war in Ukraine had become the leading cause of death for young Russian men.
By Mao Valpiana MANIFESTO
‘Helping conscientious objectors and deserters is very challenging. They are not welcome anywhere, even if supporting them costs less than any missile and saves lives.’ – Olga Karatch, Belarus activist
By international organisations
On 10 December 2023, International Human Rights Day, more than 30 organisations from Europe are calling for weeks of action for protection for all those who refuse military service in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
By Connection e.V.
Ukrainian human rights defender, conscientious objector, pacifist, human rights defender and the Executive Secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, has been placed under partial house arrest being accused of ‘justifying the Russian aggression’.
Mothers Against Violence (Israel)
We, Mothers Against Violence, call on our children to refuse regular and reserve army service in the occupied territories…
By Payday men’s network
On 15 May 2023, Payday and War Resisters International delivered a petition to the EU delegation in London demanding protection and asylum for the hundreds of thousands refuseniks from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.