Dear John,

You're invited to join us for our annual virtual conference, #NoWar2025: Exploring Abolition Movements, this October 24-26 on Zoom.

This year's conference tackles the challenging theme of abolition. When the world is facing such militarized violence, how we can envision a world beyond bombs, police, and prisons? And what do we tangibly replace these systems with?

Through 3 days of online panels and trainings, the #NoWar2025 Conference will make the case for abolition and highlight case studies of restorative & transformative justice models around the world. Costa Rica abolished its military. South Africa ended apartheid but work continues for reconciliation and reparations. Communities around the world are modeling violence interruption programs, nonviolent deescalation, community self-policing, and much more. Join us at the #NoWar2025 Conference to learn from these examples and how we can implement these practices in more communities worldwide.

Register for our annual conference, #NoWar2025: Exploring Abolition Movements, on October 24-26 on Zoom

Our featured speakers will include:

Renowned organizer, writer, and teacher Dean Spade
Ray Acheson, author of Abolishing State Violence: A World Beyond Bombs, Borders, and Cages
B. Arneson, Program Director at the World Peace Foundation (WPF)
Reem Abbas, Sudanese writer, journalist and feminist activist
Shirley Gunn, Executive Director of the South African Coalition for Transitional Justice
Hajera Begum, an organiser with Abolitionist Futures, a collaboration of community organisers and activists in the UK and Ireland working together to build a future without prisons, police and punishment
Lance Ryan (Tūhoe and Ngāti Maniapoto), a lecturer at AUT Law School and former prison inmate, whose PhD dissertation will examine how tikanga Māori can be meaningfully centred in post-sentence restorative justice processes
Rachelle Friesen of Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), who will lead a training on "Preparing for Arrests and Building Communities of Abolition"
Sal Corbin of DC Peace Team, who will lead an active bystander intervention and deescalation training
David Swanson, World BEYOND War Executive Director
Kathy Kelly, World BEYOND War Board President
And many more speakers to be announced soon!

Abolition can be a daunting concept. But dismantling violent and oppressive systems does not mean that we are left in a vacuum without support. On the contrary, abolition necessitates creating community-led nonviolent systems that support common security, meaning “no one is safe until all are safe.” These models already exist and can be learned from and replicated.

It's important to dare to imagine abolition and that's what's behind our name, World BEYOND War. Otherwise, we can get stuck in cycles of piecemeal reforms that never address root causes and upend the institutions that perpetuate violence.

I invite you to join us for the #NoWar2025 Conference to engage in challenging conversations about what abolition means and how we can get there.

Sign up to join us at #NoWar2025: Exploring Abolition Movements on October 24-26 on Zoom

In solidarity,

Greta Zarro
Organizing Director
World BEYOND War
[email protected]

World BEYOND War is a global network of volunteers, chapters, and affiliated organizations advocating for the abolition of the institution of war.
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