Good to see young people in Germany resisting attempts to conscript them into Germany’s militarist machine.
Interview by Michael Lavalette, member of the Stop the War Coalition in the UK. Cross-posted from Counterfire Could you start by telling us a little about yourself and your political background? My name is Felix Krekow Rojas. I’m nineteen and I am deputy chairperson of the JSW in Aachen, in Western Germany near the border with Belgium.
The JSW is the youth wing of the BSW (the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht – Vernunft und Gerechtigkeit, which translates as the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – reason and justice). The BSW originated in a split from Die Linke in January 2024.
I became politicised around the age of fourteen when I joined the SPD (the German equivalent of the Labour Party).
There were key experiences in my life which drew me to politics. My mother is a single parent and we faced financial worries, issues around housing and around her working hours. My father, who is from Columbia, was homeless for a while and had to live on a camp site. The combination of these experiences made me very critical of German society and of capitalism.
But I quickly became disillusioned with the SPD, especially their support for the Ukrainian war and the consequences of that support on working-class people through increased costs and inflation.
When Sarah Wagenknecht left Die Linke, I decided to join the BSW and got involved in their youth wing. Recently I’ve been involved in the anti-conscription campaign and I have been involved in calling demonstrations against Trump’s attacks on Venezuela and Cuba.
For me, the link between all these campaigns, and the key value that shapes my politics is ‘social justice’ and the fight against social inequality. How did the campaign against conscription start and what actions has it taken? The campaign was launched by the youth organisation of the Communist Party, but it involves all parties of the left and young people who are not in parties. In June last year, a national planning meeting was called and, from there, the movement rolled out in quite a decentralised way. There isn’t a central coordinating body, only national days of action are coordinated. But it’s up to local groups what actions they take and how they organise.
Centrally important, however, have been school strikes against conscription. In the last round of strikes, around 55,000 students took part in the actions from right across Germany.
Again, these have been led by school students, not by outside bodies or organisations. The strikes have been different in different schools. Some places it’s just a strike, or a demonstration or meeting at the school, but in other places we have held marches and rallies.
One thing with the marches and demonstrations is that, in Germany, you have to be eighteen before you can officially organise a demonstration and you have to register it with the police. So older students, like me, have taken on that organising role and in Aachen we have had city-centre demonstrations. Why do you think the state is pushing conscription? In Germany, the state, politicians and media are all pushing a narrative that we need to arm and be prepared to confront Russia. Russia is constantly portrayed as a threat.
In contrast, Germany is portrayed as a bastion of freedom and democracy and rearmament is necessary, we are told, to protect ourselves and to be part of a ‘strong, assertive Europe’.
But Germany isn’t neutral with regard to Ukraine. Germany already sends vast amounts of arms to Ukraine, and, in my opinion, there are some amongst our rulers who want to be able to send troops into Ukraine to confront Russia.
Even Green Party politicians are suggesting that we are already in ‘a war against Russia’, they support intervention into Ukraine like the other mainstream parties.
As Germany moves in this interventionist direction, conscription becomes a key part of the picture. It provides the troops, but it also sends a message that the increased militarisation of society is necessary.
In this way, rearmament, increased military spending and conscription are all being pushed as part of the European-wide arms race.
And you know, it’s not just conscription, there are other aspects to this.
For example, if you sign up for four years (not just the one-year conscription), the army promises to pay for your driving lessons and driving licence. Now this might not be an incentive to those from affluent backgrounds, but for those from poorer backgrounds, it is a ‘carrot’ that is being dangled in front of people. The average cost of driving lessons and the driving test is around 4,000 Euro, so for those from poorer backgrounds, it is an enticement to sign up for longer.
And now, from the start of April this year, any male citizen between the ages of seventeen and 45, who wants to travel abroad for more than three months, must get the permission of the German Armed Forces. This is an incredible attack on our civil liberties, our freedom of movement, but it stresses how much the German state is moving to a war footing. What is driving the new militarism and what do you think we need to do across Europe? The biggest drivers of the new militarism are the politicians, the media and the companies (the military-industrial complex) who benefit from the arms race.
This is happening across Europe and all the countries of Europe are increasing their military spending and gearing up for war. It’s very, very dangerous.
That’s why I think the International Anti-War conference on 20 June in London is so important. It will bring people together from across the continent and we can listen to each other, learn from each other and, I hope, start to coordinate actions and demonstrations across Europe against the new militarism.
It’s a wonderful opportunity for us all.
I hope there will be lots of people from Britain, across Europe and beyond all there and all calling for peace, not war! BRAVE NEW EUROPE is one of the very few Resistance Media in Europe. We publish expert analyses and reports by some of the leading thinkers from across the world who you will not find in state and corporate mainstream media. Support us in our work
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