‽istis ponders national service (weekending January 27th
2024)
So, this week in the UK a discussion has re-emerged about the
possibility and potential desirability of some form of ‘national service’ for
young adults.
This time it seems to have been triggered not so much by a concern
at the behaviour of a very small minority of disaffected and ‘deviant’ or
‘feral’ young people, or an answer to the perceived lack of ‘backbone’ of a
‘snowflake’ generation[i] - but
by concern that recruitment to the armed services is down[ii] and
fear that the type of warfare so apparently dismissed in November 2021 by
one-time Prime Minister, Boris Johnson (“the old concepts of fighting big tank
battles on the European landmass … are over”[iii])
may be a dreadful feature of the future.
Various models have been discussed in the media and ‽istis has done a bit of searching.
One source ‽istis came across was the ‘Rwanda Basic Education
Board’[iv]
and an eLearning ‘History’ module. National service is defined and described including
some consideration of what seems to be a basic distinction between ‘civil’ and
‘armed’ service:
‘It
is one way to integrate the youth in national priorities and their contribution
into national social and economic development. Many countries have adopted the
national service for different purposes. Some of them are inspired by the need
of increasing the number of soldiers during the war time. This is a case of
national service in United Kingdom and in Singapore for example. Other
countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Brazil, the motives which have guided option
for national service including the need to incorporate the youth into social
and economic development of their countries. In Rwanda, the adoption of
national service was inspired by the concept of volunteerism practiced in
traditional Rwanda.’
Another source of information is the ‘World Population Review’[v]
website which provides information about different ways to recruit to the
military and lists countries with mandatory military services – totalling 86
(with some caveats, e.g: the United States military has been all-volunteer
since 1973 but an act of Congress could still reinstate the draft in case of a
national emergency; China where it is reported that conscription of males aged
18-22 for 24 months service is legal but has never been needed[vi]).
Some countries where it is compulsory seem to have effectively militarised
pretty much the whole population.
‽istis wonders whether the proposed solution of ‘national
service’ is in danger of being a compounding the problem – an acceptance that
military responses will be needed; a distraction from other possible solutions.
The primary source of information on non-military national
service turned out to be Wikipedia and information under the heading:
‘Alternative civilian service’. The word ‘alternative’ is significant as it
seems to be an option for conscripted persons who are conscientious objectors. 11
countries and schemes are listed.
But ‽istis wonders what sort of society we might create if a
national service initiative was indeed considered necessary, but that we
devised it to help build the sort of world that perhaps we would like, rather
than to meet the worst examples of the world that we have already created, or a
future world we fear.
Instead of teaching young people to shoot and march and kill and
learn secondary skills because they help with the optimal achievement of those fighting
ends when the state needs a killing capability (always offensive, even when
defensive?) – perhaps we could we still teach many of the secondary skills
(engineering and construction; communication and logistics; teamwork, people
and resource management; first aid, medicine and nursing; driving, catering,
even playing musical instruments, kit-organising and bed-making etc., etc.) in
order to equip people for meeting the living needs of individuals and groups
and society; training for jobs for life, rather than training for jobs for
death?
Maybe we could even call the national service personnel
‘apprentices’ and remunerate them… But, hang on, would that really be ‘national
service’ or, rather more, a well-developed and resourced programme of
post-school education and training[vii]‽
Sign us up… perhaps throw
in some lessons in histories and cultural appreciation; tolerance, respect,
equality and inclusion; self- and other-respect; law, rights, duties and
responsibilities; diplomacy; promoting inclusive and participative approaches etc.,
and that might just perhaps, possibly help move us beyond a divided and
parcelled up world of constructed and imposed national and state boundaries and
war into something more universal, just and peaceful.
For those of us who consider ourselves to be unashamed
global/world citizens and humanitarians, it could even start to sound like part of a solution.
NB:
further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog
entries to be found on X/Twitter with replies, retweets (which don’t
necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders.
X/Twitter ‘follows’ and
respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
[i]
Though some have also recently suggested that the pejorative epithet
‘snowflake’ may not only applicable to a particular ‘modern’ generation: https://www.thepoke.com/2024/01/18/lee-anderson-reverse-ferreted-over-rwanda-because-labour-mps-were-laughing-at-him-17-funniest-responses/2/
[ii] https://www.forces.net/services/tri-service/number-people-joining-uk-military-falls-nearly-quarter-past-year
[iii] Many references including: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/06/traditional-heavy-warfare-has-returned-to-europe-with-ukraine-conflict and it seems that the multi-sacked Johnson has volunteered to sign up (potentially); not sure that it will be very rewarding career, mind - can a 'Johnson' ever rise above the rank of privates? (slang not necessarily used unintentionally... I know, not very funny, not very clever!) & https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1572041/boris-johnson-russia-ukraine-tank-war-europe-invasion-putin-tobias-ellwood-spt
[iv] eLearning
courses: History, Advanced Level Senior 6, Unit 8: https://elearning.reb.rw/course/view.php?id=538§ion=8
[vi]
Also for some countries information is not necessarily up-to-date or limited.
[vii]
Including for SPADs (Special Political ADvisers) and very young members of the
House of Lords, ennobled for goodness knows what…
