Wars do not start from nothing. They are planned, equipped and trained years or even decades in advance. Neither can peace come from nothing. Last year saw the birth of a new form of peace exercise. Amidst large war games – Aurora 17 and Zapad 17 – two dozen Russian and Swedish writers, artists, politicians and activists met on the island of Åland. For two days they prepared tactics to fight militarization and rising tensions.

Although small and but a first experiment Åland 17 was a success. This years we take the peace exercise to the next level. Baltic Glory 18 will include more people (75 participants and 10 volunteers) from more countries (Sweden, Russia and Finland with observers from at least another three countries) staying a longer time (four days).

To get a broad representation we are both sending directed invitation to people that are already strongly involved in the struggle against militarization and publishing this open call for everyone with the intention of getting involved. To answer the open call please send a written presentation of yourself and your motivation to balticglory18@gmail.com before June 15. Apart from participants we need volunteers helping with everything from cooking to interpretation to logistics.

The exercise has been granted money from AKL (Union of conscientious objectors in Finland) and Kulturfonden för Sverige och Finland (Finnish-Swedish Cultural Foundation).

Baltic Glory is co-organized by groups from Sweden, Russia and Finland.

From Sweden

Lisa Behrenfeldt works as a project manager for ”Integration and sustainable development through outdoor life”. The project helps young newcomers to Sweden. Is active in the board of Skydda skogen (protect the forrest), in the antimilitarist network Ofog and the group around the magazine Väglöst. Has a master in the science of outdoor education.

Sara Mossberg is a drama teacher employed at a folk high school outside Umeå and is currently taking a course in non-violence and peace. She is active in Kristna fredsföreningen, Svenska freds- och skiljedomsföreningen och Röda korset.

Pelle Sunvisson was responsible for the very first peace exercise Åland 17. He has previously arranged nationwide campaigns against the military exercises Aurora and ACE, led peace youth camps on Åland, been president for Stockholms freds and Folket i Bild/Kulturfront and repeatedly been convicted for acts of civil disobedience. He currently works as a journalist with focus on peace issues and as a teacher in one of Stockholms Southern suburbs.

From Russia

Daria Apakhonchich is a teacher and an artist. She teaches Russian to migrants and refugees and is a member of {rodina} group that makes social and political art. With other participants of the group she has organized mobile anti-war exhibition [NE MIR] ([NOT PEACE], 2015-16) and an exhibition on censorship and self-censorship in contemporary art (“One can not be too careful”, 2017-18). They have made more than a dozen of anti-war and anti-militarist actions and performances.

Andrej Sjtjukin when drafted at the age of 20 applied for alternative civilian service at Commissariat of Nizhny Tagil with the motivation that ”There are so many wars already and military training will only increase the risk for more. I’m ready to do my civic duty, but not with a gun in my hand. He is now active in Perm NGO Memorial and provide legal advice for other conscientious objectors.

From Finland

Esa Noresvuo is a coordinator in AKL – The Finnish Union of Conscientious Objectors. He is a board member of EBCO, European Bureau for Conscientious Objection. He has taken part in several nonviolent peace campaigns in Europe.

Kaj Raninen has been active in The Finnish Union of Conscientous Objectors since the early 1990´s. He´s very interested in nonviolence as a strategy for social change.- updating

Meena Lindroos studies visual arts in Tuusula and has been active in The Finnish Union of Conscientous Objectors.

Timo Virtala is a specialist in nonviolence, a primary school teacher and a writer. He lives in Lapinjärvi not far from Lovisa and the site of the exercise.

Much like a war exercise or a war game prepares its participants to fight in wars the peace exercise prepares its participants to fight against war and solve conflicts by peaceful, political means. We do it by the same mix of reality and fiction. The real is the participants. They are activists, writers, artists, students and politicians and will act as such. The fiction is in the scenario. The participants will have to react to a number of events of escalating tension risking to lead to open war. The exercise will both prepare the participants and expose the strengths and weaknesses of the current peace movement.

To make this work all participants and volunteers will have to agree with the following:

1. We counter militarization of our societies as well as of the relationship between our countries.
2. Our resistance is primarily directed against the military of our own country and its allies.
3. We use a wide range of methods, strategies and tactics. Violence is not one of them.