Call of action for Avaaz network to end conscription in Finland and in support of freedom for conscientious objectors.
Finland is one of the last remaining countries in Europe that still has conscription. Finnish society and national culture are very militaristic and conscription is upheld primarily because of militaristic values and traditions. Even the armed forces admit they don't need all the conscripts and the size of reserve forces was cut by about 1/3, from 350 000 to 230 000 active reserve troops [Ministry of Defence, Finnish Army].
Truth and Alternatives to Militarism in Education (TAME) mission is to raise awareness of the ways by which militarism encourages violence, consumes resources, and threatens our well-being.
We present critical perspectives on the role of the military and the idealized portrayal of war to youth in particular, parents, educators, and the public in general.
We work to expose the negative aspects of a military presence and an ongoing recruitment in our educational institutions, including the system of promises and inducements used to entice young people into the military.
TAMPA — Counter-recruiting. Demands that the university break ties with the military. A mass die-in.
It may not be the 1960s, but Students for a Democratic Society is dusting off the old playbook to launch an anti-war, anti-U.S. military campaign at the University of South Florida.
SDS, perhaps the largest and most influential radical student organization of the 1960s, is springing back to life in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. SDSers from USF have scheduled a news conference today to demand that the university sever memorandums of understanding it has entered into with U.S. Central Command based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, and U.S. Southern Command based in Miami.
In the middle of Berlin, the German defense minister is opening a new showroom. The aim is to bring more young people into the Bundeswehr's barracks - but there were a few uninvited guests at the grand opening.
Jörg Jankowsky of the Bundeswehr's career center explained the purpose of a new showroom the German military opened in an unassuming office in the middle of Berlin. It is on the ground floor, near the capital's Unter den Linden boulevard with its fast-food restaurants, fashion shops, and bakeries. In between a shoe shop and a pharmacy, the new military showroom offers free information about career opportunities in the German armed service.
'Advertising death'
Inside the new information center, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen is talking to a group of 10th grade students from a Berlin school, and her handlers don't want the press disturbing them as they have their pictures taken with the politician.
The first ever international week of action for military-free education and research was held between 25-31 October 2014. This follows on from a day of action last year. Antimilitarists across the world took action to raise awareness, and challenge, the role the military has in education and research in educational institutions. This role gives them access to young people - to lay the groundwork for recruitment later in life, and to promote military values.
Different groups used the week of action in different ways. Some challenged military presence in schools through direct action, some publicly debated the presence of the military in education, others showed films, wrote articles, and campaigned on social media.
The author of this article wishes to remain anonymous, so she is known as 'E'.
'When E first saw pupils walking down from the school along the road carrying weapons (to the firing range, as it turned out) – she thought “SHIT! KIDS WITH GUNS – WHAT’S THAT ALL ABOUT!”
Today – it is “THE NORM” for E, she doesn’t even give it a second glance as it’s just an everyday occurrence. Now E, or as she is NOW called Sergeant H hands the guns to the kids of 13 and 14 and puts the bullets into their bullet holders – even though she says, that at the time it feels normal and ordinary – when she thinks about it, it feels wrong.
“A rational dialogue with the administration will not solve the issues at hand.”
These were the words of a protester at the disturbance of McGill’s Institute of Air and Space Law (IASL)’s five-day Strategic Space Law Intensive Program on October 28. The program is meant to train lawyers in how to navigate space law. About ten people, mostly McGill students, disrupted the conference taking place at the Best Western hotel with chanting and condemnations of the program before pushing past security and escaping arrest.
WRI's new booklet, Countering Military Recruitment: Learning the lessons of counter-recruitment campaigns internationally, is out now. The booklet includes examples of campaigning against youth militarisation across different countries with the contribution of grassroot activists.