No More War: Antimilitarism in Conversation and Action
PROJECT DURATION
January – December 2025
The background
We are witnessing a massive resurgence in militarism. The normalization of brutal genocides, the ongoing global arms race, defence budgets at record highs, the resurgence of conscription in several countries, and conflicts causing devastating humanitarian crises are clear signs of this.
We also see militarism as inseparable from other forms of injustice that are happening. There are strong connections between militarism and violent border regimes, militarised masculinities, the rise of fascism in the Western World, climate catastrophe, pinkwashing, and others – and sometimes, it feels like we don’t know how to tackle all these at the same time.
Young people are at the forefront of antimilitarist movements, but often experience burnout, isolation and hopelessness. Many work mainly online, and don’t have a physical community where they live. Others feel the need to meet more fellow activists and are interested in building global solidarity.
Who organised this?
No More War is a diverse group of antimilitarist political educators, writers, artists and activists based in SWANA and Europe. We are empowering young people to get active in their struggle against war and imperialism through educational workshops, youth exchanges, training courses, volunteering camps, film screenings, online talks, campaigns, and solidarity actions.
What was the project?
No More War: Antimilitarism in conversation and action brought together young activists from Europe and beyond, to grow the No More War community and bring antimilitarist actions to local realties. This happened through a 5-day Open Forum and Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria, and 10 actions organised in local communities from Barcelona to Bethlehem, Nottingham to Tunis. See and read more about them below!
The objectives
The activities
The project included 2 main activities:
International Activity “No More War: Antimilitarism in Conversation and Action”
Sofia, Bulgaria | 28 April – 5 May 2025
No More War organised a Festival and an Open Forum to allow people who were interested in antimilitarism to meet, network and come up with follow-up actions. The participants created, shared and built a community together through panels, screenings and hands-on creative activities.
Follow-up Actions
Following the activity in Bulgaria, No More War has distributed microgrants to young people who wanted to organise antimilitarist actions in their local realities. In total, we have supported 10 actions across multiple countries.
Funders
No More War: Antimilitarism in Conversation and Action was co-funded by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe and the CERV Programme of the European Union.
