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Kai-Uwe Dosch, Sarah Roßa and Lena Sachs - (amalgamated by Michael Schulze von Glasser)

The militarisation of the education system in Germany

Rafael Uzcátegui

The recently-deceased President Hugo Chavez systematically militarised Venezuelan society, from young to old. This is perhaps not too surprising when recalling that he came to power as Lieutenant Colonel Chavez in 1998, after leading a coup d’etat in 1992. It was the first time during the democratic period, which began in 1958, that a member of the armed forces was chosen as the country’s leader. Since that time there has been a progressive militarisation of the country, with a special emphasis on young people.

This article considers the concept of militarisation in a broad sense, not just as the physical presence of soldiers in the daily life of the population. Militarisation is the spreading of and granting privilege to the values, symbols, language and ways of thinking and acting used by the armed forces within society, in order to guarantee the government’s ability to govern.

Kelly Dougherty -

As long as there have been wars and the military, soldiers around the world have resisted, deserted, and refused combat duty for both moral and political reasons, and civilians have supported them. From the formation of the St. Patrick’s Battalion made up of soldiers who deserted the U.S. Army to join forces with the Mexicans during the Mexican-American War, to the Bonus Army in the 1930’s where thousands of U.S. veterans marched and occupied Washington DC demanding back-pay for their service in World War I, to the huge GI[1] resistance movement during the Vietnam war, the United States has a rich and varied legacy of military members refusing to be used by their government to further political and economic agendas. GIs are the work force that make war and military occupation possible and, as such, have a critical role to play as leaders in the struggle to end war and militarism.

Recruitment

In the majority of the thirty-two countries surveyed[1], minors (those under 18 years old) cannot join the armed forces. However, there are multiple exceptions to this – such as the USA, France and Canada, whose military includes 17 year olds. In those countries that allow minors, there are often restrictions. In the UK, under-18s cannot serve in combat roles, and in Germany 17.5 year olds can join only with parental consent. In those states that do not officially allow minors to serve, this does sometimes happen nonetheless, for example in Israel and Colombia.