Kick off the new year by starting a World BEYOND War chapter! Hear from 3 of our chapter coordinators and our WBW organizing staff to learn about starting a chapter of your own!

In this 1-hour online info session, we'll talk about the nuts & bolts of starting a chapter, and hear examples of what our chapter coordinators are working on around the world. We'll be ready to answer your questions about launching a chapter in your area!

Featuring:

• Cym Gomery (WBW Montréal) is a community organizer and activist who founded Montréal for a World BEYOND War in November 2021, after attending the inspiring WBW NoWar101 training. This fledgling Canadian chapter came into being just on the cusp of the Russia-Ukraine war, the Canadian government's decision to purchase bombers and so much more—our members have had no shortage of actions in which to participate! Cymry is passionate about nature and the rights of nature, the environment, anti-speciesism, anti-racism and social justice. She cares deeply about the cause of peace because our ability to live in peace is the barometer by which we can judge the success of all human endeavor, and without peace it is impossible for humans or other species to flourish.
• Janet Parker (WBW Madison) is a mother, gardener and war abolition activist in Madison, Wisconsin. Before and during the Iraq War, Janet led civil resistance anti-war actions in Madison and joined actions at the Pentagon and the White House. She loves long anti-war walks and has done them with Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, and Pledge of Resistance. For the last 15 years, Janet led holiday fundraising events to make evergreen peace-sign wreaths. In the activist Forward Marching Band, she played tenor saxophone for peace and justice demonstrations from 2012 - 2019. With friends, in 2022 Janet launched the Madison for a World BEYOND War chapter. The chapter conducts regular War Abolition Walks and calls on elected officials to reduce military spending, stop F-35 warplanes from coming to Wisconsin, and push for diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine.
• Barry Sweeney (WBW Ireland) qualified as a primary school teacher in 2006 and subsequently taught in Ireland until he lost his post in the financial crisis of 2008-2009. He then moved to Sicily to teach English and while he was there he realised how important it was for him to become involved in sustainable education. In 2014 he stepped back from teaching so he could upskill. He is currently back in Sicily and is involved in English language teaching, and global citizenship education. Through his love for the planet and his desire to help to protect it, he came to realise how war, and all its aspects, were responsible for vast ecological degradation and so he joined World BEYOND War in 2016. More recent work has seen him teaching on a number of World BEYOND War’s courses. In his role as country coordinator for World BEYOND War in Ireland he has organised a number of conferences and events in Ireland.
• Maya Garfinkel (she/they) is World BEYOND War's Canada Organizer. She is a community and student organizer based in Montreal, Canada on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka Territory. She is currently finishing up her BA in Political Science and Geography (Urban Systems) at McGill University. As an undergraduate, Maya has organized at the intersection of the climate and peace movements with Divest McGill, Students for Peace and Disarmament at McGill and the Divest for Human Rights campaign. They have also worked on mobilizations around decolonization, anti-racism, and democratization across North America. Outside of political work, Maya can often be found cooking communally, engaging with multifaith collaboration, or exploring a new city park.
• Greta Zarro (she/her) is World BEYOND War's Organizing Director. She manages WBW's chapters and affiliates around the world. Greta has a background in issue-based community organizing. Her experience includes volunteer recruitment and engagement, event organizing, coalition building, legislative and media outreach, and public speaking. She previously worked as New York Organizer for leading non-profit Food & Water Watch. There, she campaigned on issues related to fracking, genetically engineered foods, climate change, and the corporate control of our common resources. Greta and her partner run Unadilla Community Farm, a non-profit farm and permaculture education center in Upstate New York.

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