*[Enwl-eng] War Abolisher of 2021 Award Announcement

[ENWL]

                        Today, September 27, 2021, World BEYOND War 
announces as the recipient of the War Abolisher of 2021 Award: Civic 
Initiative Save Sinjajevina.


                        As already announced, the Lifetime Organizational 
War Abolisher Award of 2021 will be presented to Peace Boat, and the David 
Hartsough Lifetime Individual War Abolisher Award of 2021 will be presented 
to Mel Duncan.

                        An online presentation and acceptance event, with 
remarks from representatives of all three 2021 award recipients will take 
place on October 6, 2021, at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, 8 a.m. Eastern Time, 2 
p.m. Central European Time, and 9 p.m. Japan Standard Time. The event is 
open to the public and will include presentations of three awards, a musical 
performance by Ron Korb, and three breakout rooms in which participants can 
meet and talk with the award recipients. Participation is free. Register 
here for Zoom link.

                        World BEYOND War is a global nonviolent movement, 
founded in 2014, to end war and establish a just and sustainable peace. 
(See: https://worldbeyondwar.org ) In 2021 World BEYOND War is announcing 
its first-ever annual War Abolisher Awards.

                        The purpose of the awards is to honor and encourage 
support for those working to abolish the institution of war itself. With the 
Nobel Peace Prize and other nominally peace-focused institutions so 
frequently honoring other good causes or, in fact, wagers of war, World 
BEYOND War intends its award to go to educators or activists intentionally 
and effectively advancing the cause of war abolition, accomplishing 
reductions in war-making, war preparations, or war culture. Between June 1 
and July 31, World BEYOND War received hundreds of impressive nominations. 
The World BEYOND War Board, with assistance from its Advisory Board, made 
the selections.

                        The awardees are honored for their body of work 
directly supporting one or more of the three segments of World BEYOND War’s 
strategy for reducing and eliminating war as outlined in the book “A Global 
Security System, An Alternative to War.” They are: Demilitarizing Security, 
Managing Conflict Without Violence, and Building a Culture of Peace.

                        Civic Initiative Save Sinjajevina (Građanska 
inicijativa Sačuvajmo Sinjajevinu in Serbian) is a popular movement in 
Montenegro that has prevented the implementation of a planned NATO military 
training ground, blocking military expansion while protecting a natural 
environment, a culture, and a way of life. Save Sinjajevina remains vigilant 
to the danger of ongoing efforts to impose a base on their treasured land. 
(See https://sinjajevina.org)

                        Montenegro joined NATO in 2017 and the rumors began 
in 2018 of plans to impose a military (including artillery) training ground 
on the grasslands of Sinjajevina Mountain, the biggest mountain pasture in 
the Balkans and the second largest in Europe, a unique landscape of immense 
natural and cultural value, part of the Tara River Canyon Biosphere Reserve 
and surrounded by two UNESCO World Heritage sites. It is used by more than 
250 families of farmers and nearly 2,000 people, while many of its pastures 
are used and managed communally by eight different Montenegrin tribes.

                        Public demonstrations against the militarization of 
Sinjajevina gradually arose from 2018 onwards. In September 2019, ignoring 
over 6,000 signatures of Montenegrin citizens that should have compelled a 
debate in the Montenegrin Parliament, the parliament announced the creation 
of a military training ground without any environmental, socio-economic, or 
health-impact assessments, and NATO forces arrived to train. In November 
2019, an international scientific research team presented its works to 
UNESCO, the European Parliament, and the European Commission, explaining the 
bio-cultural value of Sinjajevina. In December 2019 the Save Sinjajevina 
association was officially launched. On October 6, 2020, Save Sinjajevina 
launched a petition to stop the creation of the military training ground. On 
October 9, 2020, farmers demonstrated at the doors of Parliament when they 
knew that the EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement was at that 
moment in the country’s capital. Beginning October 19th, rumors started to 
appear about a new military training on Sinjajevina.

                        On October 10th, 2020, news broke and the rumors of 
a new military training being planned were confirmed by the Minister of the 
Defence. About 150 farmers and their allies set up a protest camp in the 
highland pastures to block soldiers’ access to the area. They formed a human 
chain in the grasslands and used their bodies as shields against the live 
ammunition of the planned military exercise. For months they stood in the 
way of the military moving from one side of the plateau to another, in order 
to prevent the military from firing and executing their drill. Whenever the 
military moved, so did the resisters. When Covid hit and national 
restrictions on gatherings were implemented, they took turns in four-person 
groups set in strategic spots to stop the guns from firing. When the high 
mountains turned cold in November, they bundled up and held their ground. 
They resisted for more than 50 days in freezing conditions until the new 
Montenegrin Minister of Defense, who was appointed on the 2nd of December, 
announced that the training would be cancelled.

                        The Save Sinjajevina movement — including farmers, 
NGOs, scientists, politicians, and ordinary citizens — has continued to 
develop local democratic control over the future of the mountains threatened 
by NATO, has continued to engage in public education and lobbying of elected 
officials, and has offered its insights through numerous fora to those 
working in other parts of the world to prevent the construction of, or to 
close existing, military bases.

                        Opposing military bases is very difficult, but 
absolutely crucial to abolishing war. Bases destroy indigenous people’s and 
local communities’ ways of life and healthier ways to make a living. 
Stopping the harm done by bases is central to the work of World BEYOND War. 
The Civic Initiative Save Sinjajevina is doing the educational and 
nonviolent activist work that is most needed, and with stunning success and 
influence. Save Sinjajevina is also making necessary connections between 
peace, environmental protection, and local community promotion, and between 
peace and democratic self-governance. If war is ever fully ended, it will be 
because of work like that being done by the Civic Initiative Save 
Sinjajevina. We should all offer them our support and solidarity.

                        The movement has launched a new global petition at 
https://bit.ly/sinjajevina


                        ADD YOUR NAME.

                        Taking part in the online event on October 6, 2021, 
will be these representatives of the Save Sinjajevina Movement:

                        Milan Sekulovic, a Montenegrin journalist and 
civic-environmental activist, and the founder of the Save Sinjajevina 
movement;

                        Pablo Dominguez, an eco-anthropologist who 
specialized on pastoral mountain commons and how they work bio-ecologically 
and socio-culturally.

                        Petar Glomazic, an aeronautical engineer and 
aviation consultant, documentary film maker, translator, alpinist, 
ecological and civic rights activist, and a Steering Committee Member of 
Save Sinjajevina.

                        Persida Jovanović is currently pursuing a Master’s 
degree in political science and international relations, and she spent most 
of her life in Sinjajevina. She is now working together with local 
communities and the Save Sinjajevina association to preserve the traditional 
way of life and ecosystem of the mountain.



                        ##



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                        From: World BEYOND War via ActionNetwork.org
                        Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 7:10 PM
                        Subject: War Abolisher of 2021 Award Announcement







 
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