The U.S. military had threatened to use the mountains of Sinjajevina as a training ground between May 22nd and June 2nd, together with other troops under the banner of NATO. Instead, the troops went to other locations in Montenegro but never to the mountains of Sinjajevina.
Milan Sekulovic of Save Sinjajevina credited local and international pressure — including from International Land Coalition — for this latest success in the ongoing campaign to protect Sinjajavina from being turned into a military training ground. It also may have helped that Montenegro has parliamentary elections on June 11th, and in “democracies” governments prefer not to do highly unpopular things, breaking past promises, immediately before elections.
People had most recently turned out to oppose military exercises in snowy February, but have been nonviolently preventing the planned destruction of their mountains for years.
World BEYOND War recently sent messages of solidarity from New York City. We are also working to make sure the people of Maine know what the so-called Maine National Guard is doing in Montenegro.
The place to sign the petition, make a donation, download an image and submit a photo, and learn more about Sinjajevina is https://worldbeyondwar.org/sinjajevina