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Schoolchildren across the country protested against compulsory military service on Thursday – including in Fulda. Around 30 protesters gathered on Uniplatz.
Fulda – According to the “School Strike Against Conscription” initiative, 40,000 students demonstrated nationwide in around 80 cities on Thursday. Young people also took to the streets in Fulda. After a joint demonstration, around 30 participants gathered on the university square, where an information stand was set up and speeches could be heard.
The messages on the cardboard signs were the first thing that caught the eye at the edge of the information stand. “BAföG instead of bombs” was written there, or “Your wars without us”. What the young people were interested in quickly became clear: to take a stand against the reintroduction of compulsory military service.
Students strike against conscription – protest also in Fulda
Last December, the federal government passed a new military service law. For all young men born after January 1, 2008, muster is again compulsory, but the service itself remains voluntary. According to the Basic Law, no one may be forced to use weapons. After around 50 participants demonstrated in front of the city palace in Fulda in Decembera school strike had now been called.
Some young people had sat on the floor while listening to the music that was playing between speeches. “An anti-war sound piece? Pfft, something completely new. John Lennon did that in the seventies, it really made a difference,” rapped the singer Alligatoah about the feeling of political powerlessness through the loudspeaker. The song's ironic tone matched the mood of the protest – a little defiance, a little world-weariness, but above all the desire to say something.
“Conscription is about our bodies and our future,” Jojo Bott said into the microphone after the music had stopped. Jojo is in the ninth grade and organized the school strike in Fulda, which the “School Strike Against Conscription” initiative called for nationwide. “I am against war and against imperialism.” Many young people reacted with cheers.
“I read female myself and would therefore not be affected. Nevertheless, with the strike we want to show that we are against compulsory military service,” Jojo later explained in an interview with our newspaper. “We want to show that we would rather not go to school for a day than spend a year in the Bundeswehr.” As a soldier you are part of the military and thus support wars. “Besides, I don’t want anyone telling me what to do after school,” Jojo emphasized.
The protest by several young people was about the argument of self-determination. “I don’t think it’s a good thing when you’re forced to go to the military,” said a 13-year-old protester. “Having a military is probably unavoidable, but I think it is important in this day and age to signal relaxation rather than arming.”
Criticism of the Bundeswehr presence at the Hessentag in Fulda
“For me, peace comes from talking to each other, not through violence,” said a 16-year-old student. “I don’t think the normalization of violence and war is good.” And there was something else that was bothering her and the other demonstrators: the upcoming presence of the Bundeswehr Hesse day. An exhibition area and a festival area have been announced.
“Today we are also demonstrating against the Bundeswehr on Hessentag,” said Emily Charlotte Rödel (22), who is at the upcoming event Local election ran for the left. Together with other students at the university, she took part in the protest as a supporter – to show solidarity with the students, she explained.
At an information stand, some young people leafed through the flyers put out by the left: a guide on refusing military service and one to argue against compulsory military service. Two of the party's local election candidates attended the stand, but emphasized that the Left was not involved in organizing the school strike – they only came to support it.
