When it comes to more than 50,000 pupils expected to strike over german rearmament policy, tens of thousands of pupils across Germany are expected to leave classrooms on Friday to protest against the government's rearmament policy. Organisers anticipate at least 50,000 participants in the third school strike in five months, despite warnings that missing lessons to demonstrate could bring penalties or even expulsion.
Understanding More Than 50,000 Pupils Expected To Strike Over German Rearmament Policy
Schulstreik gegen Wehrpflicht (School Strike Against Conscription) says attendance should match the estimated 50,000 at each of its first two protests. Teachers' associations and education ministries have warned against demonstrations during school hours. Originally reported by The Guardian.
"The government and industry are preparing for war and we, the young, are supposed to become the cannon fodder. Neither have we even been consulted," Hannes Kramer, the movement's main spokesperson, told the Guardian.
Friedrich Merz's government says Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and growing threats require stronger defences. Its Military Service Modernisation Act, passed in December, doesn't restore conscription. But defence minister Boris Pistorius says that remains an option if recruitment falls short.
Mandatory questionnaires are being sent to all 18-year-olds to assess willingness and suitability for service. Compulsory medical tests begin next year. Another provision would, in theory, require men aged 17 to 45 to obtain armed forces permission before travelling abroad for more than three months.
Experts estimate the professional military must add about 80,000 personnel to reach 260,000 over the next 10 years. Reservists would increase by 140,000 to 200,000 over a similar period.
€779bn defence plan meets VE Day opposition
Berlin plans to spend €779bn (£673bn) on defence from now until the decade's end, roughly double spending over the previous five years. That would put Germany on course to exceed Nato's spending target of 3.5% of GDP by 2030.
Alongside Russia, Donald Trump's presence in the White House and a changed transatlantic relationship have unsettled Berlin. Merz presents rearmament as essential to Germany's and Europe's security. In his first Bundestag speech as chancellor, Friedrich Merz said a properly funded military was "what our friends and partners expect from us; more than that, they demand it".
But organisers argue the buildup could itself drive conflict. Friday's strike was deliberately scheduled for the anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany and the end of the second world war: VE Day on 8 May 1945.
Hannes Kramer claimed almost half the federal budget was going towards tanks, bombs and infrastructure preparing Germany for war. He argued that German companies, arms factories and banks stood to gain, and expressed fear that the country hadn't learned history's lessons. He acknowledged Germany isn't now under a fascist regime, while warning against ambitions for global influence through military strength.
Classroom funding and protest slogans fuel mobilisation
At the previous demonstration in March, pupils protested in about 150 towns and cities. Their banners linked opposition to military service with anger over education funding, contrasting multibillion-euro rearmament with what demonstrators described as an underfunded school system.
Slogans attributed to protest banners included "The rich want war, the youth want a future", "Dying is not on the timetable", "Friedrich Merz to the front!", "Our only war is the class war" and "Education instead of army physicals".
In Koblenz, a poster asked: "Why should I fight for a country that is not even capable of fighting for us young people?" The question captured protesters' argument: demands for young people's service aren't matched by investment in their futures.
Hannes Kramer, 21, studies educational science at the University of Göttingen and belongs to the Socialist German Workers Youth (SDAJ). He said unrest over military service was being felt in homes and classrooms across Germany.
The dispute pits the government's security rationale against a movement warning that military expansion carries dangers of its own. For pupils considering Friday's boycott, it also presents an immediate choice between attending lessons and risking sanctions to demonstrate.
Friday's turnout will test whether the school strike against German rearmament can sustain its mobilisation despite disciplinary warnings. Recruitment results, meanwhile, will determine whether the government revisits conscription, keeping military service firmly on young Germans' political agenda.
Originally reported by The Guardian. View original.