A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #16-26 - No to military conscription! (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The reintroduction and/or extension of military conscription is shaping 
the current European scenario, clearly linked to the powerful escalation 
of war we are witnessing. The world is increasingly ablaze with wars, 
and in addition to armaments, we need bodies. Young, efficient, and 
expendable bodies: in short, we need cannon fodder. And now that the 
idea of a European army has faded, each state is equipping itself, even 
though there are elements that point to a clear common rearmament strategy.

In a dozen European countries, there is already an effective military 
conscription that has been maintained over time, as in the case of 
Cyprus, Greece, and Austria, or that was reintroduced or strengthened 
following the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine, as in 
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. Recently, 
Germany and France are also moving forward with reintroducing conscription.

With the exception of a few cases of explicit and generalized 
obligation, a hybrid recruitment formula based on "mandatory voluntary 
service" has prevailed, a dubious and miserable ploy to curb dissent 
against a highly unpopular measure. The reality of the regulations, 
however, is crystal clear: volunteers, yes, but if the numbers are 
insufficient to meet the objectives, then a generalized lottery is used. 
This is very similar to the Draft Lottery used in the United States 
almost sixty years ago to draw lots for compulsory military service, 
which sent so many young men who had no desire to go to Vietnam.

In Germany, starting January 1, 2026, a mandatory questionnaire was 
administered to determine those available for military service. From 
July 2027, a generalized medical examination to determine physical and 
mental fitness will be mandatory. These tests are mandatory for all 
males between the ages of 18 and 19, and optional for females; People in 
transition are given a limited time to assume an unequivocal binary 
position, male or female, in order to be classified as either obligated 
to complete the questionnaire or not. If the number of available and 
eligible candidates is insufficient, a draw will also be conducted among 
those who are not available.

Scandinavian countries, which have significantly tightened conscription 
by increasing the period and extending the obligation to women, have 
instead adopted a selective criterion: everyone is required to complete 
the questionnaire and undergo a medical examination, but only a minimal 
percentage is recruited, deemed numerically sufficient to meet needs and 
qualitatively more significant, but above all considered the fundamental 
basis for building a stable and efficient core of reservists. The 
reserve, which all European countries are tending to establish or 
strengthen-a common element of this wave of growing militarization-is 
based on conscription, since it involves personnel who have completed 
military service, therefore with basic military training, periodically 
undergoing training, and can be recalled if necessary.

In the Baltic countries and Poland, recruitment is massive, given the 
target of 500,000 conscripts, both male and female, to be reached by 
2035. To increase motivation, some of these countries have introduced 
military education into the curriculum of high schools and even 
introduced specific military classes in public schools.

In this context, Italy is a unique case. Despite Crosetto's resounding 
announcements, the issue of conscription is still unclear, which seems a 
bit strange for a country governed by the fascist right. In Italy, 
conscription, never abolished, has been suspended since 2005. The reform 
of the Initial Voluntary Service (Ferma Volontaria Iniziale) was 
recently implemented, and in recent years, military intervention in 
schools has increased dramatically, evidently for the purpose of 
recruitment and publicizing military career paths. While large-scale 
voluntary enlistment campaigns have been conducted, conscription has not 
been reintroduced. A generalized compulsory reintroduction, on the other 
hand, would not be economically sustainable: it would mean reopening 
abandoned barracks, equipping themselves with uniforms, linens, 
canteens, and various services, as well as providing pay to all young 
people required to perform military service, because soldiers, after 
all, deserve their pay.

However, despite the government's apparent impasse, work has been 
underway in Italy for some time now to reintroduce a form of 
conscription and align with the European context.

In August 2022, the Draghi government, a few months into the 
Russo-Ukrainian war, approved Law 119, postponing by ten years the 
planned reduction in military personnel (active, reserve, and 
paramilitary), which was supposed to have been progressively reduced 
starting in 2023. At the same time, the same law empowered the 
government to establish, by decree, a military reserve of 10,000 
personnel to be used in the event of war or serious international 
crisis. In November 2023, the mandate was postponed for two years, but 
upon its expiration in November 2025, the government did not issue a 
decree on the matter. This is the aftermath of the massive 
demonstrations of the autumn, which, in a wave of solidarity with the 
Palestinian people and the Flotilla, swept across the country, strongly 
challenging the policies of war and rearmament. In this context, the 
government evidently believes it more prudent to avoid an authoritative 
decree on such an unpopular issue and prefers to proceed according to 
institutional procedures. In recent years, several bills have been 
submitted to reintroduce military conscription, by Zoffili (Lega), 
Cirielli (FdI), and Minardo (Forza Italia). The latter, presented in 
February 2024, aims to establish 10,000 military personnel as the state 
auxiliary reserve, recruited from discharged military personnel who have 
completed their voluntary or three-year term of service-those already 
trained and up to the age of 40. And at the end of 2025, Crosetto, in 
announcing his intention to reintroduce conscription, emphasized the 
centrality of the goal of 10,000 reservists, nodding to Mainardo's 
proposal, but also declaring his interest in the German model for 
reintroducing conscription.

Meanwhile, the end of March arrives, Crosetto's deadline to submit a 
comprehensive proposal that takes into account the objectives 
established by Law 119 of 2022, pending bills, and input from sectors of 
the Armed Forces-not least the SAM, the autonomous military union-but 
nothing happens. Is the "prudent" stance this time perhaps due to the 
referendum defeat and the government's need to avoid further loss of 
support? Who knows, but what is certain is that the government's 
hesitation would have necessitated a decisive and vocal opposition to 
any attempt, even if not yet explicitly stated, to reintroduce 
conscription. The most radical antimilitarism is taking action on the 
issue, as is the observatory against the militarization of schools, and 
certain student groups and groups are taking action, missing no 
opportunity to denounce the danger of reintroducing the military 
conscription system. Some institutional surveys conducted among young 
people for purely exploratory purposes, such as one conducted by the 
Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents, have consistently rejected their 
willingness to perform military service. The massive German student 
strikes against the reintroduction of conscription are beginning to have 
an impact on the Italian context.

It is unfortunate that this relatively favorable situation, with the 
government struggling and protests growing, is the backdrop for the 
highly questionable intervention of some pacifist associations.

On March 16, three networks promoting the campaign "Another Defense is 
Possible" (CNESC - National Conference of Civil Service Entities, the 
Italian Peace and Disarmament Network, and Sbilanciamoci!) filed with 
the Court of Cassation the text of a popular initiative bill entitled 
"Establishment and Financing of the Department of Civil, Unarmed, and 
Nonviolent Defense." The intention is to reinstate conscientious 
objection to military service, specifically in light of the possible 
reintroduction of conscription. At a time when maximum effort should be 
devoted to opposing the government's reintroduction of conscription as 
much as possible, taking formal initiatives to counteract the effects of 
what has yet to be implemented means taking its approval for granted and 
reasoning in a subordinate and complementary manner to a process that 
must be fully opposed.

Conscientious objection to military service was established in 1972, and 
was effectively abolished in 2005 with the suspension of compulsory 
military service. The current universal civil service is entirely 
different, so much so that it is administered by the Department of Youth 
Policies. The popular initiative bill presented by the networks aims to 
place conscientious objection to military service in the current 
context. It cites Article 52 of the Constitution-"the defense of the 
homeland is a sacred duty of the citizen"-and case law, which recognizes 
that this "sacred duty" can also be fulfilled through means that do not 
involve the use of weapons, but are nevertheless complementary to actual 
armed defense. This unarmed service would be included within a dedicated 
Department of Civil Defense, whose establishment, funding, and other 
provisions are being requested.

The current situation, the extreme militarization of society, and the 
global context of increasing rearmament and the proliferation of war 
zones require something entirely different. The widespread push to 
reintroduce military conscription requires something very different: a 
clear understanding of the ongoing processes and a clearly and 
unequivocally anti-militarist intervention in the social context.

The different conscription models adopted by various European countries 
have common features, which must be identified and addressed, because 
they underscore the centrality of the conscription issue and the 
unified, albeit diverse, approach by European governments.

For example, the questionnaire used by various European governments to 
assess young people's readiness for military service is mandatory 
everywhere. Failure to complete it is considered equated with refusal. 
The medical examination to assess physical and mental fitness is 
similarly mandatory. Beyond the myths surrounding the supposedly 
voluntary nature of a draft that, if insufficient participation is 
achieved, is conducted through random draws, the questionnaire and 
medical examination represent a powerful mass screening of the entire 
eligible youth population.

The reintroduction of conscription is proceeding everywhere in tandem 
with the militarization of schools and the dissemination of military 
propaganda in educational settings.

But there are also other elements common to the militarist policies of 
various European countries. 2035 has been adopted as the first deadline 
for assessing the strengthening of military human resources achieved by 
individual states, in order to define a European standard. The numerical 
targets that various European governments set for the new draft include 
not only the number of military recruits, but also the number of 
reservists and conscientious objectors. The German model that Crosetto 
favors, for example, calls for a staff of 260,000 conscripts (volunteers 
and non-volunteers), 200,000 reservists (volunteers and non-volunteers) 
among those who have completed their military service, and 100,000 
conscientious objectors by 2035. This is a clear example of what is 
called the permanent total defense model, something we know as a sad 
reality in various countries around the world. The entire population 
must be conditioned by the culture of war. In particular, young people 
subject to conscription, reservists, and conscientious objectors are all 
in service to their homeland and the nation, with various levels of 
involvement in military defense, whether armed or not. Civil defense 
must be integrated with the military apparatus, according to the 
well-known dual-use logic.

On the other hand, modern warfare systems allow for high-impact 
offensive activities even without necessarily carrying a rifle, perhaps 
fiddling with a computer keyboard, managing logistics, or something 
else. Because, as the Balilla Decalogue stated: The Fatherland is served 
even by guarding a gas can.

In the face of increasingly heavy and pervasive militarization, the 
response must once again be characterized by firm opposition to 
militarism, nationalism, and the rhetoric of homeland and defense. For a 
society without the military, but also without militarism disguised in 
various guises. Let's build a campaign against military conscription. 
Let's intertwine our struggles with those of the younger generations who 
don't want to be cannon fodder.

Patrizia Nesti

https://umanitanova.org/no-alla-leva-militare/
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