Antimilitarism
Why wars are horrible
On 24 February 2022, Russian president Putin began a military invasion of Ukraine. This war is all over the European media right now. Sadly, it's not the only current armed conflict.
Here are some reasons why all wars are horrible:
- Those who die are not the ones who give the orders.
- Those who suffer most from the killing, the traumatizing effects, the destruction of houses and infrastructure, and the economic breakdown are again not those who give the orders but mostly the poorer people.
- The rebuilding will take huge efforts and resources - resources that would have been needed to counteract climate change.
- Wars usually strengthen nationalist thinking which can again cause more conflicts.
- Media often switches to a more censored and propagandistic mode during war times. This enforces misinformation, defamation, lies, and hatred which also causes more conflicts.
- National governments usually use military conflicts to justify a huge military budget and military buildup. Just a few days after the war in Ukraine started, the German government decided to spend 100 billion Euros for military purposes. Money that would have been needed for environmental purposes, culture, health, and education. (No, you can't trust any government to take action for peace.)
- Military buildup leads to increased war risks, possibly the third world war and nuclear war.
This is a video message from the Ukrainian pacifist movement (recorded shortly before Ukraine was invaded).
"War is a crime against humanity and therefore we are determined not to support any kind of war and to strive for the removal of all causes of war."
The following is a German video with a message from Bernd Drücke. He talks about sabotage of military equipment and supporting war deserters and refugees of all countries.
Antimilitarism is not Pacifism is not passive Submission
Critics of Antimilitarism claim that pacifism enables totalitarian systems as they falsely assume that pacifism is equal to passive acceptance of the status quo.
The definitions of the terms pacifism and militarism are fuzzy - similarly to the definitions of violence. That's ok. The following tries to give a rough outline of the meanings.
Pacifism is opposition to war but also to other forms of violence. Pacifism is not passive submission: you can effectively be active against direct and structural violence using nonviolent action. Some pacifists reject all forms of violent action, others only those against living beings, again others are ok with armed self-defense. Some pacifists support the idea of "peaceful military missions", others (like the anarcho-pacifists) do not. Pacifism is sometimes rooted in religious beliefs. Some see nonviolent action as the only way towards a peaceful society.
Antimilitarism is mostly concerned with the opposition of militarism while pacifism also opposes other forms of violence. Antimilitarism rejects violence against humans but promotes violence against and destruction of objects like military equipment.
A good overview of the peace, pacifism, and antimilitarism movements (in German) can be found here.
Militarism gets normalized
Militarism is not only a problem when people get killed by weapons, the problem starts earlier when soldiers, military symbols, and military language "invade" our daily lives:
- Armed forces come to schools and universities to persuade young people to join them.
- Soldiers help in emergencies like floods or pandemics, painting the image of a peace force. (Sure, it's ok for them to help while they exist but why do they have to wear a uniform? Can't they just come as regular humans?)
- Police can wear equipment that makes them look like soldiers.
- Advertisements for armed forces are everywhere. Some years ago our favorite pizza place put the pizzas in cartons printed with Bundeswehr advertisement. They quickly stopped this when many customers protested.
- We use military words like blockbuster, deadline, collateral damage, snafu, and trigger warning in our daily language.
While all of this does not directly harm anyone, it normalizes militarism and thus reduces resistance against armed interventions.
War Resisters' International
2021 marks the 100th birthday of War Resisters' International - a global network of grassroots antimilitarist and pacifist groups, working together for a world without war.
The WRI consists of about 90 affiliated groups in more than 40 countries.
Their declaration is War is a crime against humanity. We therefore are determined not to support any kind of war and to strive for the removal of all causes of war.
Here are some goals they strive for:
- conscientious objection
- fight normalization of the military in daily life
- no more weapon exports
- defund military
- eliminate causes of war
- Nonviolent protests
- Nonviolent conflict resolution
Some of the German groups affiliated in the WRI are
- graswurzel revolution a monthly anarcho-pacifist magazine.
- Anti-Kriegs-Museum in Berlin
- DFG-VK (Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft - Vereinigte Kriegsgener_innen)
Graswurzel Revolution
Graswurzel revolution publishes well-researched articles about the history and causes of war. This includes details about economic and strategic interests behind wars as well criticism of the western arrogance of "bringing peace and freedom" by means of war and not acknowledging local peace movements.
Antimilitarism Days
Every day should be a day against militarism. However, here are two special days:
- International Day of Peace, 21st September. Started by United Nations in 1982.
- (Germany) Antikriegstag 1st September. Started in East Germany in 1946 to remember the start of WW2 when Germany attacked Poland on September 1st, 1939.
Movie Recommendation
Иди и смотри - Come and See 1985 Soviet anti-war film about the Nazi-German occupation of Belarus.
Wikipedia: The film mixes hyperrealism with an underlying surrealism, and philosophical existentialism with poetical, psychological, political and apocalyptic themes.
Short Presentation
This is based on a short presentation from 2021/08 which can be found here (PDF).