Conscientious Objectors, Veterans and Antimilitarism

Facilitation: Andreas Speck

This group mainly talked about the issue of conscientious objection. The fact that some members of the group are from countries with conscription and some are from countries with "professional" armies caused the discussion to raise more questions than answers.

A few notable questions in particular are: How can we use conscientious objection as an antimilitarism tactic?

Should it be used as an antimilitarist tactic?

What this has led to, is the conclusion that conscientious objection does not cover everything that needs to be covered. It becomes a side show when armies are "professionalised".

That conclusion only raises more questions:

What do we do when our work must go from anticonscription to anti a professional army?

Should we advocate desertion from the military?

What other tactics can we use? Each individual shared their own country's situation's, meaning twelve situations were described and compared. This was informative and helpful in understanding each other's perspectives and the work to be done.