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International and internationalist youth assembly against forced conscription and militarisation
Europe’s ruling class is bringing us to war, a clear fact now for all to see. They’d like to convince us of this decision by inventing phantomatic foreign threats, reducing the room for debate and democracy, strengthening the repression of dissent and bringing fascism back into office.
Truth is they have no answers to give in the face of the systemic economic crisis weighing down on the youth and the working class, a crisis that is the logical continuation of the actions of the bourgeoisie, other than feeding the military industry as well as the military and imperialist ambitions of Europe and the West. But we will not stand by and we will not enlist.
If governments are reorganising on an international level we need to do the same. The struggle in each individual country needs to be joint with that in others: that’s why, as European youth anticapitalist and antiimperialist organisations, we organised a first international assembly on the topis of war, militarisation and conscription.
In just one year, NATO has committed to raise the military expenditure of every member country to 5% of the GDP, the European Union has repurposed funds and suspended budget rules to focus its whole economic strategy on the military industry, all European governments have been cutting on welfare to raise military expenditure and Germany has partially reinstated conscription and compulsory military service, with the Italian and French Governments openly expressing intent to do the same.
Western imperialism keeps growing in its aggressiveness, as we’ve seen with the attacks on Venezuela and Rojava and in the Palestinian genocide, despite the oceanic protests which took place in all of our countries throughout the past months. We stand by the side of the Palestinian resistance and all the oppressed people of the Global South.
To confront such a scenario it is paramount and it is urgent to build a European and international front of opposition to war, starting from the youth organisations and the social and political forces which in the past months have been mobilising across all of Europe to stop the warmongering, authoritarian and repressive tendency.
We launch a first international assembly in Milan on March 21st to start outlining common objectives and slogans and to share analysis, experiences, practices. To strengthen and grow the force of those who do not enlist for their wars.
Primi promotori:
- Cambiare Rotta – Organizzazione Giovanile Comunista
- OSA – Opposizione Studentesca di Alternativa
- In Aktion gegen Krieg und Militarisierung
- Young Struggle
- Jeunesse Communiste
