School strike against conscription | "We don't want to fight"

Golo Kirsch is not alone in his opinion: The money that Germany is currently spending on weapons would be much better invested in education and health. Photo: DPA/Marcus Brandt You are taking part in a school strike against compulsory military service on Friday. But they don't even exist yet.

The Ministry of Defense announced just last Friday that there would now be compulsory military service. This makes it clear once again that compulsory military service should be reintroduced, today rather than tomorrow. This makes me and many of my classmates angry.

Compulsory military service is currently being introduced in stages. This is how the Bundeswehr or the government manages to ensure that conscription does not become a big issue.

So compulsory military service is a step on the way to conscription?

Exactly. On the one hand, politicians openly talk about the fact that we need a large, conventional army, the strongest army in Europe. But at the same time, the Bundeswehr is not very open about the fact that we are all now being forced into service. You can only see this if you really read the laws carefully. It is therefore very difficult for students to understand what exactly is happening. In my opinion, conscription is not such a big issue in the media either. There is talk about the extent to which we need to continue to arm ourselves. But the compulsory mustering of us young people is not widely publicized enough.

You say you don't want to fight for Germany. What do you want to fight for or advocate for?

For a better, fairer education system. And for a better healthcare system. I mean: If I go to the doctor, I have to wait two hours. And at every doctor I've gone to recently there were signature lists against the cuts in the health care system. Germany is the fourth largest economy. I find it strange that we can't manage to build the best healthcare system ever. If you thought about what was really important instead of preparing for war, life here could be very nice.

"If you thought about what was really important instead of preparing for war, life here could be very nice."

Is the school strike against conscription the first political movement in which you have been active?

I was already at the climate strikes, but I was still very young. The school strikes against conscription are the first big thing in which I'm really active.

18-year-old Golo Kirsch goes to school in Kiel and helps organize the protest against forced military service and conscription.

How did conscientious objection become an issue for you?

This is simply a very central issue for us young people. We don't want to fight, but conscription is becoming more and more real.

So much money is being put into militarization and we are lacking it. My friends and I notice this at school and in everyday life. Then I noticed that the first school strikes were being organized against conscription. Then I thought, I'll do the same here with my friends. And at the first school strike there were already around 1,500 students in Kiel. And then I just didn't stop.

How do you organize a strike at school?

This is the case with students: Either they are fundamentally against conscription and see directly that it is against our interests, or they are caught up in their patriotism or nationalism and simply do not see the connection between militarization, i.e. the fact that billions are being invested in armaments, and its absence in the education system and the health system.

The majority are behind the school strike. But that doesn't mean that everyone will go, because unfortunately we simply don't have the breadth to come into contact with everyone yet.

And how do you want to get in touch with more students?

In the strike committee here in Kiel, we are trying to build structures in the schools - we call them school committees - in which we promote the strike in the schools themselves.

We hold chalk campaigns in front of schools, distribute school newspapers or hold schoolyard rallies. This is how we make the strike present in the schools.

Teachers have come to me and said that they think what we do is important. There are also examples across the country of schools locking up their students during strikes. At the beginning I was called to the principal because I was promoting the school strike.

You get a six if you strike during an exam. At least here in Schleswig-Holstein, the Ministry of Education says clearly that no one will be excused. Of course, teachers can always do something different. If you are a teacher reading this, please excuse us on September 25th!

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution even contacted you recently. What was going on there?

Before the third strike at the end of April, I wanted to go to school. On the way there, someone from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution ambushed me with the hook “general traffic control! Fun, protection of the constitution”. He told me that he wanted to talk to me about the limits of the antimilitarist struggle. And then I fled the situation again relatively quickly.

That still runs deep. That there were people waiting for me in front of my house. Because I am against war. They know where I live. They know where my route to school is.

This wasn't a conversation intended to convince me otherwise or to warn me about who I was on the street with. That was just supposed to scare and intimidate me. And that's simply because I'm fighting for a fairer future, because I don't feel like dying in the next war. I think that's crazy.

How is politics reacting to your strike? Also in comparison to the last major school strikes by Fridays for Future?

At Fridays for Future, all the politicians simply said how great it was that we were taking to the streets. But in the end little has changed. In our case, no politician has actually ever tried to get behind us. Except perhaps the left, which has shown solidarity with us several times. But nothing ever came from the governing parties. We are opposing something that politicians really want to push through.

Have you already been invited to a muster?

Yes, I received a letter and was invited to August 31st. But I didn't show up because I wouldn't let that happen to me. The aim of the muster is to see whether you are good human material so that you can then shoot other soldiers in war.

And do you know people who went?

A friend of mine was already there. He didn't even know that you didn't have to go there. That's changing now too. The Bundeswehr doesn't have the capacity to pursue us if we don't show up. But on paper it is now mandatory.

And what did your friend say? What happens during a sampling?

He said that there are only a few tests - blood pressure, how the joints function, a urine sample, you are weighed. But then an inspection of the genital area also happens. One is grabbed by the testicles and the finger is stuck in the bottom.

Then we continued with reaction tests and math and logic tests. The funny thing is that the computers are really, really old. No idea how to check the response when the mouse is delayed for two seconds.

And there was a survey about whether people are loyal to the constitution. The question was whether the Holocaust should be denied or whether women and foreigners should have human rights. This is probably so that the Bundeswehr can say that it asked everyone whether they were Nazis.

Opponents of war are often accused of selfishness or a lack of solidarity with society. What do you say to that?

I don't think it's selfish to say no to war. Even if a soldier in Russia or Ukraine refuses, I stand behind them in solidarity and say that it is not selfish. Such people will prevent this war if they refuse.

Furthermore, I don't believe that this conscription and rearmament are necessary at all. There is a great Greenpeace study that makes it clear that this is not the case: there is no reason to arm yourself if you just want to defend yourself. The rearmament serves to enable Germany to wage wars again. We are not selfish when we oppose a war that does not serve our interests. It's not about securing a daycare center or ensuring that my youth center isn't closed.

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