A truly perfect composition in the context of #pacifism - what could go wrong here? 🤔

  • young, posh girls posing with pacifist banners and friendly smiles somewhere in #Germany
  • a column of aggressive middle-aged, likely drunk men driving old cars with with sticker “TO BERLIN FOR GERMAN WOMEN!!!” somewhere in #Russia

Banners in German:

  • Peace instead of war, Freedom instead of compulsory military service
  • You won’t get our brothers!
@kravietz more accurate is "you won't get our brothers".
What is also strange about the protests is that conscientious objection of military draft is a constitutional right. Nobody is forced to join the military.
@viduq Thanks, fixed the translation. As for the inspiration for the protests, I don’t think it’s a huge mystery - “better red than dead” was also a thing in Western Germany in 1970’s when RAF folks happily crossed into Eastern Germany for a well deserved holidays after new wave of terrorist attacks.
@kravietz you switched "red" and "dead". It is true though, I heard it was common at the protests against NATO's double track decision
@viduq Right, I always mix these - fixed :)

@kravietz
I remember hearing these sayings in the 70's. To be honest, they tend to come from people with limited brainpower. They probably never thought them through to the end.

These girls are young and they certainly do not reflect the German society.

@viduq

@aerofreak

Oh, about that I’m sure - I have plenty of friends in Germany and I definitely don’t derive my opinion about the country from a single photo :)

@viduq

@kravietz
I see. Perhaps I misunderstood that a little.

@viduq

@kravietz
Sergej Sumlenny wrote about this just yesterday: https://bsky.app/profile/sumlenny.bsky.social/post/3m7dtkaxmks2z
Sergej Sumlenny (@sumlenny.bsky.social)

In Germany, school teens go for a "school strike" against govt plans to introduce a system for possible future conscription (we don't have conscription in Germany anymore, cancelled by Merkel). The "school strikes" were tested by Pali-Greta, and are a tool of mass destruction 1/x

Bluesky Social
@dcoderlt Thanks, I just saw the photos posted somewhere (X or Telegram) but he wrote quite an analysis!

@kravietz @dcoderlt
LOL
"The "school strikes" were tested by Pali-Greta"
I partecipated in school strikes before Greta was even born. 😅

School strikes are a manifestation for teenagers entering the public political discourse. I'm not a great fan, but they are part of a democratic society life.

There's plenty of naiveté in those "strikes", but it is the adult's responsibility to explain why the apparently obvious message "Yes peace, no war" doesn't work in the real world.

@elCelio @kravietz
School strikes are not immune to outside actors, such as russian trolls. They co-opted many Cold War era peace/anti-nuke movements to spread their message in similar ways.

@dcoderlt @elCelio @kravietz

And that works really well because those are sensible demands.

If people didn't oppose sensible demands so vehemently, the Russia could not use the people with those sensible demands for their own use.

People who are against a self-clarity such as not destroying our own ability to stay alive are enabling the Russian propaganda and are extremely important for Kremlin.

@kravietz @dcoderlt
The analysis has low quality parts, though.
Calling pupils' protests "mass destruction weapons" is a laughable exaggeration, esp. given that climate strikes had very little longterm policy effects.
Even if one argues that means that "it destroys peoples minds" (and russiatiktokinfluence is behind all this) the effect cant be measured in polls right now.

@kravietz @dcoderlt

Also, I'd argue the "we don't fight your wars" motto comes from a more universalistic worldview that many young people have.
They assume (and somewhat simplify) that warmongering elites™ (on all/both sides) want people to fight for a propagated cause.
Therefore they assume that "on the other side also no one want's to fight" and so these wars should be "no one's war".

@dcoderlt

It is a shame that account @[email protected] is not bridged.

@kravietz

@kravietz

it's worth fighting (!) for societies which generate images like the first. yes there's an inherent contradiction.