Countering the Militarisation of Youth - preliminary conference programme

This programme is not final. But it gives an overview of the topics that will be discussed at the conference from 8-10 June 2012. Please contact us on militarisationofyouth@wri-irg.org with any comments or suggestions.

Friday, 8 June 2012

6:00pm: Dinner
7:00pm: Begin of the study conference.
Facilitation: Andreas Speck, War Resisters' International, and Monty Schädel, DFG-VK, Germany
Welcome and introductions

7.30pm: Plenary
Inspiring presentations from different parts of the world on experiences related to the militarisation of youth.

• Boro Kitanoski, Peace Action, Macedonia
• Jonna Schürkes, Informationsstelle Militarisierung, Germany
• Sahar Vardi, AFSC, Israel

8:30pm: Small groups
The presentations will be followed by small group discussions, mapping the militarisation of youth in their region(s).

9:30pm: Feed back to plenary
10:00pm: End of Friday programme

Saturday, 9 June 2012

Morning: Analysing militarisation

8:00am: Breakfast
9:00am: Panel: Analysing militarisation from different perspectives:

• Andreas Speck, War Resisters' International: A queer/gender perspective on militarisation
• Michael Schulze von Glaßer: Public spaces and military culture, including 'militainment'
• Emma Sangster, Forces Watch, UK: Education and recruitment

10:15am: Workshops:

• Military and public spaces (Facilitators: Diana Dolev & Ruti Kantor)
• Militainment (Facilitator: Michael Schulze von Glaßer)
• Military and education (Facilitator: Ralf Willinger, terre des hommes, Germany)
• Queer/gender and militarism (Facilitator: Andreas Speck)
• Recruitment of immigrants and low income youth (Facilitator: David Gee)

12:00pm: Reporting back to plenary

13:00pm: Lunch break

Afternoon: Resisting the militarisation of youth
In the afternoon, we make the switch from analyising militarisation to sharing experiences of resistance.

14:30pm: Panel: Resisting the militarisation of youth - experiences

• Lena Sachs, Campaign "Schulfrei für die Bundeswehr" Baden-Würtemberg, Germany: Resistance within educational settings (tbc)
• Kelly Dougherty, Iraq Veterans Against War, USA: Conscientious objection and veterans
• Cattis Laska and/or Hanns Molander, ofog, Sweden: Resistance of queer people against recruitment

15:30pm: Workshops

• Queer resistance (Facilitator(s): Cattis Laska and/or Hanns Molander)
• Resistance in educational settings (Facilitator: Kai-Uwe Dosch and Sarah Roßa)
• Veterans (Facilitator: Kelly Dougherty)
• Direct action against the militarisation of youth (Facilitator: Cecil Arndt)
• Child rights (Facilitators: Ralf Willinger, Helen Kearney, Geneva)

17:00pm: Reporting back to the plenay

18:00pm: Dinner

19:00pm: Countering the Militarisation of Youth in Latin America

• Dan Contreras, Chile
• Jorge Velez, Red Juvenil de Medellin, Colombia
• Rafael Uzcategui, El Libertario, Venezuela

In the evening, there will be time for networking, or more workshops, if there is interest.

Sunday

08:00am: Breakfast
09:00am: Bringing it all together: networking against the militarisation of youth
Facilitation: Christine Schweitzer

On Sunday, the discussions of the days before will hopefully lead to some concrete ideas and proposals for follow-up. It is therefore presently left very open how it will be structured. Open Space is one of the methods suggested.

13:00pm: Lunch
14:00pm: Departure

Languages

German, English, and Spanish are the three conference languages. Translation will be available from and into all three languages.