In the French State, compulsory military service disappeared in 2001. Since then, young people, girls and boys, in the Liceo era, have a day of service. JDC Day (Journée défense et citoyenneté–Defense and Citizenship Day). It is compulsory to participate on this date. However, as of January 2019, the French Government will launch the SNU (Service National Universal Service).

Young people between the ages of 15 and 18 will be required to carry out a boarding service. To begin with, they will have to complete a course of fifteen days, and then, for another fifteen days, “Get involved” in civic and military training. After that period of one month, young people may be required to follow up on a three-month period. For the time being, they say in the places of conversation that it could be “voluntary”.

Critical sectors with the Government have denounced the megalomania of the project. Without going into an in-depth analysis of the adequacy of the Compulsory Military Service, the urgency and manner of implementing it has been called into question. 800,000 students work in the Licensors at the moment. The Government wants to use the boarding schools of these schools to organize the courses. At the moment, only 230,000 places are available to accommodate young people.

Authoritarianism in barnetegis

According to the government plan, the SNU service should serve to “recover the classical values of the Republic”. It has presented the initiative as a course to detect juvenile iletrism and to take stock of its health. However, the project aims to “sensitize the national defense to the challenge”.

On the day of the presentation in the French Parliament of the first Territorial Pact of the Government of Emmanuel Macron, the French Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe, used the following words to explain the essence of the SNU: “We have to work on being, if we do it right.” Insignificant words. In his speech, he said that before reaching the Liceo era, at the age of fifteen, the mili should serve to reinforce the lessons and values that young people should have directed and internalized. Among others: In the UNS they must be aware of the need to donate blood, receive lessons prior to obtaining the driving licence of the vehicles and “the necessary sensitivity”, and as if it were not enough, prepare them to face sexual violations. In addition to these and many other ideas, the Prime Minister added that “all ideas have come well.” For example, to the astonishment of many, “you can also ‘imagine’ a cycle of activities on young autistic individuals within the SNU,” he added. Both in the opposition parties to the Government and in the surrounding parties, the initiative has surprised and even generated concern. According to the Ménaouine report, whose head is Army General Daniel Ménaouine, the main group responsible for the UNU, the project will cost EUR 3 million annually. For his part, the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, has announced the suspension of 1,800 jobs in education. The project has only just begun, but if it were extended by another three months, the cost of the project would increase. In any case, of course, to the detriment of the Department of Education.

Impressing society

The French media have described the project as “bufoikeria”, as the SNU project has basically been organised with the aim of establishing compulsory military service. Macron’s government is using terms such as “social fascination”, “society of the diverse” or “coexistence” to symbolize the intention behind the initiative. In short, what is intended to hide in this forced internship of a month is that students want to incorporate in a course of a month the “social and civic values” that have not assumed until they are fifteen years old. In this essential service, the government wants to give a “learning of life” that young people do not perceive in society. Military service wants to set social standards so that young people comply with standards that adults do not comply with.

The spokesman for the committee in which the SNU, the parliamentarian himself, is working, listed to the National Assembly the following set of characteristics or qualities: “Cohesion, courage, benevolence, freedom, respect, culture of memory, exemplarity, humility, honesty, adherence, solidarity, responsibility, sense of duty, resilience, taste for effort...”. The UNS wants to “vaccinate” all of them in young people. However, there are those who have questioned the UNS and asked: "Is there anyone among parliamentarians who has all these characteristics? ".

In fact, there are not many who think that “France is bleeding to death by inequalities”. That is, the nation that has as its motto Freedom, Equality, Fraternity, is violating the principle of “equality” every day. Macron claims “fraternity”, but ultimately wants to bring young people to war. As if it were not enough, it also violates “freedom”, as the SNU is not an optional service. One of those who thinks this way is the pedagogue Philippe Meirieu. It has recently made public: “A student of the REP (a priority educational institution to give the same opportunity to students of all social classes), with major social difficulties, has an annual cost of 6,000 euros. On the contrary, the student preparing for large schools, an assisted social class, costs the nation 14,000 euros.”

Prime Minister Édouard Philippe has said that the SNU has no "purpose" to "seek military service". However, the Ménaouine report is managed by an army general and the project contains the undisputed orders of the military. Many citizens remember Macron's spokesman's words during the presidential campaign: “France’s priorities are two: introduce discipline and establish authority.” Macron needed the approval of the Army's top commanders to get power, and he got it. Florence Parly is the current Army Minister. Senior civil servant who worked in the public enterprise, SNCF and Air France, among others. During his time as Prime Minister in the Socialist Party (PS), Lionel Jospin, was Secretary of State Budgets, a position he held. The SNU project has not been dealt with without its approval: “All armies in France must rebuild the place they have historically occupied.”

In the first place, it is intended to educate in internship young people who continue to be adolescents, mainly in the barracks. First, according to the new Government, they intend to extend the project smoothly, but then, to the surprise of the critical sectors, which is the social minority, the principles to be studied will be marked by the thinking of the military. This type of UAE or military service is envisaged as a service that will gradually become official. Indeed, the context of today ' s world contributes to the promotion of the military logic of the past. Logic and military elements are being reintroduced into society. State powers have launched a kind of “nostalgia” among young people over the past decade. For example, the terrifying attacks of jihadists have fueled the nostalgia of past wars. The children of disadvantaged social classes have become the most suitable for cannon food, in order to fulfil the aspirations of the State. Before Macron acceded to the presidency of France, the National Assembly has already presented numerous bills for the implementation of the compulsory service. Macron has come to comply with the plans of his predecessors at the White House in Bremen. As the SNU project is being implemented, Macron’s main objective is to enact a law permitting three and six months of compulsory military service.

For whom?

The UNNS aims to introduce military character in young people. The State wants to integrate this condition into National Education, as if it were an apparently arbitrary step at the beginning, and then, after the adoption of the new law, forcibly. SNU is just the first initiative. The government wants to control “the trajectory of citizenship” from the schooling of adolescents. 15-year-olds are starting to form in the guidelines of the EMC (Moral and Civic Education) programme. Moreover, progressive education sectors suspect that, in recent years, military drift is being imposed on the identity of young people in primary schools. The lesson of history is re-teaching enthusiastically in the line of the famous French national novel. Patriotic celebrations, that is to say, the military, sow the way, are being cultivated more and more specifically for national symbols. In the second year, already in schools, it is part of the subject of Education in National Defense. Students have no possibility to show their conceptions. Issues such as “war, peace, the atomic bomb, violence for conflict resolution, international relations, the arms trade or the security of the State”, fundamental to the development of a free and adequate education, have become indisputable. The first motto of the EMC programme dictates: “Students must be made to understand that the army serves the nation.”

Although its proponents insist that the provisional principle of the UNNS is to restore military service: to bring pupils home, to wear uniform, to put young people in the military framework and to coerce them. The State tries to impose coercive control on young people from adolescence, closing the adolescents' access to maturity in youth. An immature citizen is being educated in the educational institutions of the State. There is no free future. The State seeks the approval of a political and social order that citizens cannot question. A citizen who is beyond criticism is being educated in the French State.

Facing insensitive society

If there are no changes in the French Parliament, the SNU will be launched from January 2019. In the words of Aitor Servier of the Aitzina Movement, “the government has organised a false survey of consultation between some sectors of education and, in general, there has been no opposition to youth, in France there is no resistance in schools or in the world of youth”.

Nor does the French Left have the capacity to influence the current youth sectors. Servier does not believe that anything will be created to deal with the current situation: “There are two issues there, the failure of the left and the lack of capacity for organizing youth. There is also the issue of precariousness, which young people consider secondary, and the left too”.

The ability of imperialist France to criticise is not perceived in French society. The youth of Ipar Euskal Herria, although small, is an exception in the Hexagon. The young people of ancient times say: "If there is no change in the Constitution, the national service cannot be compulsory for the time being. According to Macron's words, there would not be, therefore, injunctions, but young people who have not managed to assimilate the idea of equality and fraternity. Maybe you're right. We have not internalized the values of the Republic that seek to humiliate us. The Basque youth has been and will be the strong point of any liberation process. We don’t need national services to learn what commitment is.”

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Aitor Servier, member of the Aitzina Youth Movement.

"The young Basques are not going to make us believe their values"

The French Government wants to re-establish military service. The Aitzina movement is very attentive.

It is obvious. Since he presided over the White House, Emmanuel Macron has witnessed that he was trying to secure the security order. Since the introduction of the Emergency Act, the spirit of the French Constitution has become more apparent. “The law must respond to a nostalgia for French military service,” says Macron. The State has used this nostalgia for generations to convey a series of values. It is a service and a fundamental step towards becoming a man in the past. Now, once again, you want to set up this service to guarantee the National Union, which you have referred to so many times.

How has the government's draft been taken?

We have not surprised her. It is the continuation of the political logic of the state in recent years. It is an initiative to further ensure security and the National Union. This plan began in the context of the jihadist attacks in Paris and also in France in recent years. The new way of doing military service is a way of dealing with the problems of the structure of the State. They have enthusiastically promoted the defence of the Republic ' s values. Through television, radio stations and newspapers have spread campaigns for young people to enter the Army.

It has been analyzed how the State has expanded this service.

Yes, because the call to service has been a risk and they want to take advantage of it to establish the compulsory service, among other things, on the road to assimilation. We young people have known in the College and in the Liceo what they call popular education. It is a lesson that is used to educate the submissive children of the Republic. They spread a number of issues related to the Army, including that of the patriotic symbols of France. In addition, we are obliged to participate in the JDC (Defence and Citizenship Day). That day, the young man has to endure France’s imperialist attacks on the world as an example of good education. They explain the army to us as a model of security in the world on the pretext of “terrorism” suffered by several countries. In addition to the Army ' s activity in the hexagon and in the overseas regions, the school also mentions the police as a unique initiative.

After passing the era of armed conflict in Euskal Herria, it has been a kind of rupture of confrontation with the State. How sensitive is society to army affairs?

Perhaps the members of our generation have not known the hardest phase of the Basque conflict, but the consequences of the conflict are there and we continue to suffer. There are prisoners and a lot of people fleeing and in wickedness. He mentioned a reduction in confrontation, but it is up to the young people organized from Antiquity to relive this confrontation and to make this clash with the State visible in our measure. We have the will to promote awareness of this forced national and military service. Our duty is to organise youth and to work on how to fight on this issue.

What are the means or ways of fighting today?

The means to deal with such taxation are not the same as in the past, we are aware of that. In the past, the intransigence was addressed and the intransigence was severely punished. Although at present there is no such punishment, if they do not participate in the Universal National Service, they may prohibit young people from driving the car, among other measures, they may be deprived of the possibility of passing the Low. Our approach is that Basque youth has no need to provide this service. Macron calls for “solidarity, community work, responsibility, respect, freedom and others…” in line with the values of the Republic. On the contrary, a youth sector here is working in line with our projects in the gaztetxes, cultural groups and social associations, on which we believe. Our means or ways of fighting are within the initiatives that we work every day. Despite being forced to take part in the national service, we will not be led by the Basque youth to believe the values behind their words.

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Pauline Guelle, PhD in Public Law.

Women in the army serving patriarchy

As Léon Duguité said in 1927, the State is the product of power relations. In this sense, the army could represent the differences of society. Besides being a military force, the army is an organized body. “A State in the State” is often defined, although in the French State the president is the head of the armies. In addition, the Heads of Armies are in direct contact with the President or the Prime Minister, depending on the various powers, and they are also implementing their own policy. The Army has an extraordinary power in the French State, it can be said that it builds its own ideology at the service of the Nation, but in parallel to the State.

The Army has its own communications network in the French State. Throughout the year, the SIRPA (Service for Public Relations and Information of Armies) coordinates the campaigns. It also guarantees the connection between the various armies and the media. As if all this isn't enough, it also has magazines. In 2018, the Department of Political Support for Defence had €22,985.70 million, knowing that much of it goes to communication. That is to say, it is the bulk of defence budget appropriations. This shows us the power of the army, knowing the influence of media and media control on our society. Since 1990, the army was “feminized”, conducting a large recruitment campaign. The one-month SNU (Universal National Service) in Emmanuel Macron’s program will only be to strengthen the army. Turning all citizens into soldiers.

However, if the State and the Army are a reproduction of social inequalities, one can speak of the presence of wives. In 2014 La guerre invisible: Révélations sur les violences sexuelles dans l’armée française (Invisible war: allegations of sexual violence in the French army) by Leila Milano and Julia Pascual. This book analyzed 50 cases of sexual harassment, sexual violence, rape and daily sexist violence. The analysis of the two journalists showed that there were fewer complaints in the army than outside the army, as the figures are modest. The explanation for this phenomenon is the hierarchy and oppression of its members. However, women who report are generally appointed, punished or detained elsewhere.

The Universal National Service wants to sell us an image of equality. Although wives make up 15 per cent of the French army, it does not mean that they promote equality in relations between women and men. The issue is more piesque or potologist. It has an opposite effect. Although it takes a different form, the trend between the State and the Army shows the project of consolidation of patriarchal society. As Basques and women, universal service will take place without us.

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Arms business

– According to NGO Oxfam, there are more than 640 million light weapons in the world, one weapon for every 10 people. On the other hand, heavy weapons.
– In the world there are 1,249 arms companies, 90 states manufacture weapons.
– The arms budget in 2014 was $1,800,000,000 ($1.8 trillion).
– From 2009 to 2013, France ranks fifth in the world’s gun export rankings. France has sold 5% of the weapons that have been burned during the operation. USA, 29%. Russia, 27%. Germany has 6% and Spain 3% (with a different idea).

Arms affairs with Saudi Arabia:

– France has sold to Saudi Arabia an armaments of 11 miles or trillion euros (billion = 1,000,000,000) since 2010.
– 60% of the arms sold to Saudi Arabia has been produced in Europe.
– European companies exported to Saudi Arabia between 2001 and 2015 a shipment of EUR 57 million, in addition to armaments.
– The Arab and Saudi Emirates killed 10,000 people in Yemen in 2015, supported by the French Air Force. 9,500 were citizens, i.e. civilians.
– Sold in euro by France to Saudi Arabia in military, unarmed equipment:
EUR 643.70 million. (2014)
EUR 899.80 million.
(2015) 1.086.00 million. (2016)
EUR 1,382.00 million. (2017)