Veterans For Peace

Operation Roll Call was a success, veterans showed out in Fayetteville to Demand an End to Forever Wars and to Defend Free and Fair Elections.

Organizing for democracy and election protection will continue throughout October, with another campaign highlight happening on October 3 in Wilmington, NC, at the completion of the 22-day women-veteran-led march across North Carolina.

We must continue to demand an immediate end to the U.S./Israeli war on Iran, and make visible the connection between that demand and our call for free and fair elections.

Organize in your communities Local actions that can include protests at military bases, National Guard armories, and military recruiting stations. Additional support actions that will help amplify the campaign include social media posts, letters to the editor, window signs, and the like.

Conscientious objector trans activist Deniz Hikmet Hazer was arrested following simultaneous police operations targeting LGBTQI+ associations and activists in .

As part of an investigation conducted under the name "My Family is Safe", police raids were carried out last weekend across various cities in Turkey, targeting the homes of LGBTQI+ individuals, association offices, and local businesses. The Ministry of Justice announced that legal proceedings have been initiated against 162 people, 9 associations, and 13 businesses in 15 cities. Recent data show that a journalist and 7 board and audit members of Kaos GL Association were arrested in Ankara, 27 people in Mersin, and 5 people in Aydın. In İstanbul, over 100 people remain in police custody.

Among those arrested is trans activist Deniz Hikmet Hazer, who declared conscientious objection last year on December 10, Human Rights Day, stating: "The state demands that I obey, remain silent, and hand over my body and identity to military purposes. But I do not obey. I refuse violence. I refuse militarism." We are deeply concerned by this arrest which we learned about through our member organization Conscientious Objection Watch in Turkey and by the escalating wave of repression.

Militarism and the heteronormative state logic always walk hand in hand. These operations, carried out under the guise of "security", are an extension of militarist control mechanisms into homes and streets; their aim is to fuel hatred while establishing control over bodies, identities, and living spaces. As Deniz highlighted in their conscientious objection declaration, conscientious objection is not only a rejection of militarist violence, but also an objection to the patriarchal control regime surrounding our bodies and identities.

The stigmatisation of detained and arrested activists is an alarming attack on civic space and freedom of association. We demand the immediate release of all detained and arrested human rights defenders.

As War Resisters’ International, we express our solidarity with the LGBTQI+ movement and all human rights defenders in Turkey, and we support the international call for solidarity on September 18 against this climate of repression. Defending existence and freedom against violence, militarism, and hatred is not a crime.

We stand with conscientious objector trans activist Deniz Hikmet Hazer, arrested in these operations in Turkey, and with all those resisting policies of hatred.

Read our statement on our website here: https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2026/solidarity-against-crackdown-lgbtqi-people-turkey-conscientious-objector-trans-activist

URGENT: Cilia Flores is critically ill in U.S. detention.

After she had a possible heart attack in July, doctors consulted by her defense warned that another cardiac episode could be fatal.

Flores' attorneys have proposed an extraordinarily restrictive home detention in the U.S. to allow her to better manage her health as her trial process proceeds.

Join us in urging U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to grant it: https://www.codepink.org/cilia2026

In Chicago, Sheri Mecklenburg, the former lead prosecutor assigned to a high-profile case against six anti-ICE activists, has resigned in protest. In a letter obtained by the Chicago Tribune, Mecklenburg accused the Trump administration of ignoring her legal advice as it pushed for unwarranted felony charges against the “Broadview Six.”

The Broadview Six were indicted for protesting outside an ICE jail just outside of Chicago last year during President Trump's immigration crackdown in the city known as Operation Midway Blitz. They faced felony charges for allegedly blocking an ICE vehicle, with a maximum sentence of six years in prison. The case was eventually thrown out by a U.S. district judge who cited gross misconduct by prosecutors during grand jury proceedings.

We put up a new billboard outside the Marine Corps base in San Diego! End the war, bring our troops home NOW

The list of 75 countries that WALKED OUT before Netanyahu's United Nations speech yesterday. (List might be missing a few.)

1. Afghanistan 🇦🇫
2. Algeria 🇩🇿
3. Angola 🇦🇴
4. Antigua and Barbuda 🇦🇬
5. The Bahamas 🇧🇸
6. Bangladesh 🇧🇩
7. Barbados 🇧🇧
8. Bolivia 🇧🇴
9. Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦
10. Botswana 🇧🇼
11. Brazil 🇧🇷
12. Brunei Darussalam 🇧🇳
13. Central African Republic 🇨🇫
14. Chad 🇹🇩
15. Chile 🇨🇱
16. Colombia 🇨🇴
17. Comoros 🇰🇲
18. Cuba 🇨🇺
19. Democratic Republic of the Congo 🇨🇩
20. Djibouti 🇩🇯
21. Dominica 🇩🇲
22. Egypt 🇪🇬
23. Equatorial Guinea 🇬🇶
24. Eritrea 🇪🇷
25. Eswatini 🇸🇿
26. Guyana 🇬🇾
27. Indonesia 🇮🇩
28. Iran
29. Iraq 🇮🇶
30. Ireland 🇮🇪
31. Jordan 🇯🇴
32. Kenya 🇰🇪
33. Kuwait 🇰🇼
34. Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬
35. Lebanon 🇱🇧
36. Lesotho 🇱🇸
37. Liberia 🇱🇷
38. Libya 🇱🇾
39. Madagascar 🇲🇬
40. Malaysia 🇲🇾
41. Maldives 🇲🇻
42. Mauritania 🇲🇷
43. Mozambique 🇲🇿
44. Myanmar 🇲🇲
45. Namibia 🇳🇦
46. Nicaragua 🇳🇮
47. Niger 🇳🇪
48. North Korea 🇰🇵
49. North Macedonia 🇲🇰
50. Oman 🇴🇲
51. Pakistan 🇵🇰
52. Palestine 🇵🇸
53. Panama 🇵🇦
54. Peru 🇵🇪
55. Qatar 🇶🇦
56. Republic of the Congo 🇨🇬
57. Saint Lucia 🇱🇨
58. San Marino 🇸🇲
59. Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦
60. Senegal 🇸🇳
61. Slovenia 🇸🇮
62. Somalia 🇸🇴
63. South Africa 🇿🇦
64. Spain 🇪🇸
65. Sudan 🇸🇩
66. Syria 🇸🇾
67. Tonga 🇹🇴
68. Tunisia 🇹🇳
69. Türkiye 🇹🇷
70. Turkmenistan 🇹🇲
71. Tuvalu 🇹🇻
72. Uganda 🇺🇬
73. Uzbekistan 🇺🇿
74. Venezuela 🇻🇪
75. Yemen 🇾🇪