A-Infos (en) [Germany]anika: Speech for the rally of the action alliance against war Karlsruhe on March 27th, 2022 (ca, de, it, pt)[machine translation]

On March 27th, 2022, the second rally of the action alliance against war 
Karlsruhe took place. Some people from the anarchist network Anika took part with 
a speech, which we will document below in German and English. ---- On 27.03.2022 
the second rally of the Aktionsbündnis gegen Krieg Karlsruhe took place. Some 
people of the anarchist network Anika participated among other things with a 
speech, which we document in the following in German and English. ---- When we 
deal with the war of aggression on Ukraine and the situation in Russia, we 
inevitably encounter the voices of the mothers of Russian soldiers.

The voices of the mothers of Russian soldiers, some of them have not heard from 
their children for weeks.

They often do not even know where their children are. They have organized 
themselves as the Committee of Soldiers Mothers, a human rights organization that 
has set itself the task of to get to the bottom of grievances in the Russian 
army. They are currently being contacted by parents who are desperately trying to 
find out where their children are and if they are still alive.

Many of them are part of the National Guard, a new force, created a few years ago 
by merging various units. The official purpose of the National Guard is to 
"protect public order".

It is deployed, for example, when protests critical of the Kremlin are to be 
crushed. What is particularly exciting about this is, that the National Guard 
reports solely to the president alone. But that's not all: with 400,000 soldiers, 
this private army of Putin is even stronger than the official armed forces. And 
like them, the National Guard is not only deployed at home but also abroad.

For example, at the beginning of the year in Kazakhstan when riots there. Or just 
now in Ukraine.

If you are irritated by the use of the term "soldiers" (german maskulin word), 
when for the most part it is men who are involved in the fighting, you should 
know that this is not the case.

I can understand that only too well. Because war and military are deeply 
patriarchal. This is not only evident in reports of sexual assaults as we know 
them from practically all armies of the world but also and above all in the 
sometimes drastically different experiences that males and non-males have in war.

One aspect of this is the issue of conscription. For in Ukraine, not only members 
of the National Guard and the army, i.e. people who have voluntarily decided to 
become soldiers. According to the Committee of Soldiers Mothers, in the last few 
weeks there have been more and more reports of Russian conscripts who are forced 
to sign contracts as temporarly soldiers.

The reason for this is simple: they can only be deployed in Ukraine as regular 
soldiers. The Soldiers Mothers reports of cases where conscripts are presented 
with pre-filled contracts in large numbers and the young men were forced to sign 
them. Thus, not only mothers of soldiers for their children, but all those whose 
children are male and between the ages of 18 and 27 years old.

Because in Russia all these men have to do military service for 12 months. 
Although there is the possibility to do a civilian service for 6 months longer, 
but the application for this has to be submitted 6 months before the actual 
conscription. Because of this deadline, most applications are rejected in 
practice. Another hurdle: Once you are part of the military - be it as a or 
conscript - no longer has the option of refusing military service. For them up to 
2 years in prison for evasion of military service. For desertion up to 7 years 
and in the case of an 10 years in the case of armed conflict.

And the situation is not different in Belarus. There, military service is even 18 
months long. The possibility to do alternative service - that is three years long 
- is only available to people who refuse military service for religious reasons. 
All others have to do military service whether they want to or not. Also there 
people who are already members of the military have no possibility to refuse 
military service. And there, too, draft evasion and desertion are punished with 
up to 7 years in prison.

But in Ukraine, unfortunately, the situation is no different, because here, too, 
all men have to do a military service of 18 months. There is a way out here not 
only exclusively for religious reasons, but only for a list of ten denominations 
- Orthodox Christians, who are the largest denomination in Ukraine, are not among 
them and therefore have no possibility of refusing to serve in the armed forces. 
And also in Ukraine there is a 6-month time limit and no possibility of refusal 
for military personnel.

In addition, men of military age are currently no longer allowed to leave Ukraine 
- a situation that is not only violates the International Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights, but also the European Convention on Human Rights. These men 
have no possibility to escape the war. They are stopped at the border, separated 
from their families and all those who have completed military service - which the 
vast majority have - can be forced to serve at arms, as in Russia and Belarus.

For many of us, this is a situation that is difficult to imagine, because the 
right conscientious objection has been enshrined in the Basic Law here in Germany 
since 1949, and compulsory conscription has been suspended for over ten years. 
But within the framework of the rearmament government, the reintroduction of 
compulsory military service is suddenly becoming acceptable again.

For this reason it is important to position ourselves clearly against it.

We do not want conscription - neither here nor anywhere else! Nobody may be 
forced to shoot at other people! Because the right to conscientious objection is 
a human right!

Our solidarity must be with all those who are facing repression just because they 
don't want to be part of this war. Neither they don`t want to shoot at others nor 
to be shot themselves.

However, we think it is important to emphasize that the situation in Russia and 
Belarus, despite similar regulations on consthey cription, is not comparable with 
the current situation on the Ukrainian side.

Because one side has decided to invade another country, the other is being 
invaded by an authoritarian state.

Of course, at the moment, the best thing would be for everyone there to lay down 
their weapons. But that's what both sides have to do, and it doesn't look like 
the Russian army has the slightest interest in doing so. Therefore, from our 
point of not particularly surprising that a lot of people in Ukraine are 
volunteering to fight in this war. People are volunteering to defend themselves 
and others against this invasion. And also to them our solidarity must apply, 
because it is not our decision whether Ukraine should surrender to the Russian 
invasion, but it is the decision of the Ukrainians. And if they decide to take up 
arms rather than allow a Russian takeover of Ukraine, then we have to support them.

We have to accept that, whether it fits into our world view or not.

Because it is the people in Ukraine who will have to live with the consequences 
of a capitulation and thus a Russian puppet government and not us.

For this reason we say: Solidarity with all people who are affected by the war. 
With those who are fleeing from the war, with those who have to fear for their 
lives every day, with those who are desperately trying to maintain humanitarian 
supplies and also with those who are actively defend themselves against the 
Russian invasion.

Finally, I would like to point out a few positive perspectives, because there are 
more facets than to take a weapon in the hand and to shoot at people.

In the last few days we have received several reports of sabotage in Russia and 
Belarus. In Belarus, for example, railroad lines were sabotaged in order to cut 
off the supply Russian troops, and in Russia an army recruiting center was 
recently set on fire.

This gives us hope, because the growing resistance in Russia and Belarus could 
bring not only an end to the war in Ukraine, but also an end to the authoritarian 
Putin and Lukashenko regimes.

Therefore, let us also support the activists in Russia and Belarus.

Let us raise our voices together:

For resistance against authoritarian regimes and their wars of aggression!

For the resistance against armament and militarization!

And for peace!

https://anika.noblogs.org/2022/04/02/redebeitrag-zur-kundgebung-des-aktionsbuendnis-gegen-krieg-karlsruhe-am-27-03-2022-speach-for-the-ralley-of-the-aktionsbuendnis-gegen-krieg-karlsruhe-at-27-03-2022/
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