The battle for the home front [event in Frankfurt am Main]
German army reserve forces, civilian-military cooperation and the importance of higher education institutions
Lecture and discussion with Claudia Haydt (Information Agency on Militarisation (IMI), Tübingen)
Frankfurt am Main
Wednesday, 29 October 2014, 7.00 pm
at Café Koz, Studierendenhaus Campus Bockenheim, Mertonstrasse 26-28 (Bockenheimer Warte underground station)
The German army, the Bundeswehr, has ceased to be an army of national defence. The 2006 White Paper on the German army confirms as much: "The structure of the Bundeswehr is being rigorously focused on deployments." (page 12).
Reforming the structure of the Bundeswehr to create an interventionist army radically transforms the function, identity and importance of the army. While military interventions abroad are elevated to a "core area of expertise", strategic efforts are under way on the home front to ramp up the cooperation between the military and civilian sections of government and society. It is in this latter area that the German army's reserve forces play a decisive role.
As part of an overarching security strategy, civilian disaster prevention institutions across Germany are now working with Bundeswehr "regional backup and support forces" - units which are made up entirely of reserves.
But the Bundeswehr and its reserve forces have another target in their sights: higher education institutions and universities. Military research, the production of knowledge on foreign and security policy matters by social scientists and the education of "civilian leaders" make these institutions crucially important civilian cooperation partners for the military. Yet a growing number of higher education establishments are making a stand by introducing civil clauses, one being Frankfurt University.
This event begins with a lecture on various facets of this development followed by an audience discussion.
The speaker, Claudia Haydt, is a board member of the Information Agency on Militarisation (IMI) and the European Left party, an employee at the Bundestag (military and security policy), a university lecturer on social work and a member of the German Peace Society - United Antimilitarists (DFG-VK).
This event is organised by the German Peace Society - United Antimilitarists in Frankfurt in cooperation with the Green Student Association at Frankfurt University to mark the international week of action for military-free education and research.
The venue is fully accessible.
Childcare is available upon request (dfgvkffm@t-online.de).
Translation: Ben