Resisting the militarisation of education
Kai-Uwe Dosch, Sarah Roßa and Lena Sachs - (amalgamated by Michael Schulze von Glasser)
The militarisation of the education system in Germany
In Germany, hardly a week goes by without coming across ‘Germany's heroes’ in uniform. They grin from billboards, television screens, student magazines, and booklets on trains, advertising a ‘career with a future’. The slogans ‘In the line of duty for freedom’ or ‘We. Serve. Germany.’ appear to be the mantras of a new militarisation: one that wishes to bring the population to a martial ‘peace course’.
In schools, the German Armed Forces give lessons and impose their influence on the training and development of teachers. Military service counsellors are invited to schools to advertise the career possibilities in the armed forces, or to build their advertising playgrounds in the schoolyard (the so-called ‘career meeting places’). The armed forces even have a say on the content of the school curriculum; they increasingly install youth officers in the schools: young, well-educated and rhetorically-trained soldiers who act the part for political education. The cooperation between schools and the armed forces, which has existed since the forces' foundation in 1955, reached a new height in 2008 and subsequently with the finalised ‘cooperation agreements’ in eight of Germany's sixteen federal states between the armed forces and the responsible Ministry of Education. This new involvement is hidden under the guise of political education, but serves as recruitment and the legitimisation of the policy to militarise security.
Resistance
This increasing cooperation between the armed forces and educational institutions has been closely monitored and questioned critically - many people who have actively challenged the militarisation of youth have done so in the field of education. Resistance to the militarisation of education varies between countries. In Germany there has been a debate on whether to focus on attaining the provision in state schools of the same amount of peace education as there is military education, or whether the military should be banned completely. The resistance against militarisation in Germany has noticeably gained strength since this 2008 ‘cooperation agreement’: different organisations in five German states have combined to campaign or broaden alliances in order to take action against the intrusion of the armed forces in the educational system. There are now active groups and initiatives in all of these states that stand against the militarisation of schools by sending protest letters, producing fact sheets, doing presentations, holding discussions, rallies, and so on.
Along with this there are antimilitaristic groups, peace organisations, other groups like the large Education and Science Workers' Union, and the children's rights organisation Terre des Hommes. They have all made it clear that they oppose militarisation, for example by urging school administrations to ban the military, and by supporting students to be absent from military education sessions. Even individual student councils, parent representatives and youth organisations have taken a stand to deal with the problem and resist the involvement of the armed forces in schools. Activities range from public relations, discussion meetings, information booths, protest letters to the respective state governments, and the collection of signatures for petitions protesting against school visits by soldiers, to demonstrations and rallies. Concurrently, a number of information brochures and other materials on the topic have been produced. From 24 to 29 September 2012, a nationwide campaign Week of Action For Military-Free Education and Research took place, which linked numerous regional and local initiatives and saw actions in many towns and cities, including the handing out information on the negatives of joining the armed forces.
There have been some notable, if small, successes. In six schools nationwide, collaboration with the armed forces was rejected through the decision of the students or by a staff conference. These ‘military-free schools’ are pioneers - models for other schools that also wish to oppose the militarisation of their institution. Three of them were awarded the Aachen Peace Prize this year. Direct actions have also had results: the armed forces have been known to call off promotional events after some such protests. In the University of Education in Freiburg, an army event took place only with a massive police presence, following the online announcement of protests. As a result, Freiburg youth officers had to decline an invitation from the university’s student council for an armed forces role play. At a vocational school in Hessen, a youth officer had to cancel a visit because of a critical questionnaire he was sent beforehand: his superiors no longer approved of the meeting. The armed forces are not at all immune to protests; they can be made to retreat.
Furthermore, thanks to the long-term commitment of critics of the military, cooperation agreements – for example in Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia – have been stopped in their tracks. In North Rhine-Westphalia, soldiers have been excluded from the training of teachers. Additionally, there are continuing and intensified efforts in the peace movement against militarisation in schools, which have even included successfully pressurising the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs to issue favourable decrees. However, due to financial limitations, getting the same number of peace activists in schools as there are soldiers is unfeasible.
Countering Military Recruitment
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.
You can order a paperback version here.