A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #355 - Report on the "Anti-Militarist Training Course" organized by Émancipation (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Émancipation - an inter-union tendency ---- "Advocating for the 
unification of trade unionism, Émancipation is an inter-union tendency 
that brings together, regardless of their union affiliation, National 
Education staff, students, and high school students who are active in 
their workplaces, within their unions, and in social movements, on 
anti-capitalist principles and who reject authoritarianism, bureaucracy, 
and corporatism."
The need to offer this training course arose from the current political 
context. One could cite, for example, the speech Macron gave to the 
military on July 13th: "Do we want, once and for all, to take our 
security and that of the continent into our own hands and build a true 
European pillar of NATO?" The ruling class intends to prepare public 
opinion for war.

Before the members of parliament, General Fabien Mandon, the new Chief 
of the Defence Staff, warned: "France must be ready for a shock within 
three to four years" and defended a massive rearmament effort, a symbol 
of a return to "strategic clarity." This effort is being undertaken with 
full awareness, since for the first time the military budget, at EUR68.4 
billion (+EUR6.7 billion), exceeds that of the Ministry of National 
Education (EUR64.5 billion). The Ministry of National Education, already 
struggling, will lose 4,000 positions, while the military will gain 
40,000 soldiers.

But how can the dominant powers be supplied with a workforce for the 
military industry? In this project, the Ministry of National Education 
plays a particularly important role because, as the Plassart report 
stated in 2023: "The spirit of defense cannot be decreed, it must be 
prepared."

At Émancipation, we believe that teachers have a major role to play; 
They also invited historian Loïc Le Bars to recount the struggle 
embodied by the National Federation of Teachers' Unions.

An extraordinary effort at emancipation
As early as the 1830s, a few pioneers attempted to organize the 
"educators of the nation" through the Society of Primary School Teachers 
of France, which disappeared after only a few months. The ideas of 
Arsène Meunier, a schoolteacher and son of a factory worker, would gain 
more traction. He fought against clerical and political oppression and 
professed democratic principles in pedagogical and political terms. His 
publication, L'écho des instituteurs (The Teachers' Echo), would prove 
influential among these most exploited members of the teaching profession.

Following the 1884 law authorizing trade unions, 1887 saw the creation 
of the French Teachers' Union, which was immediately banned by the 
Minister of Public Instruction, Spuller, as civil servants did not enjoy 
this right. Through teachers' associations, those working within the 
public education system were able to organize themselves, exchange 
information, and even support one another. Freed from "clerical 
servitude," teachers, since the republican laws, have been subject to 
the fear of "local dignitaries, the mayor, and the inspector." Primary 
school teachers witness the arbitrary treatment they face: political 
interference in their career progression, forced transfers, and the 
authoritarianism of school principals.

However, hierarchical superiors control most of these teachers' 
associations. Those who were assistants therefore chose to create their 
own organizations, which met in Congress for the first time in 1900. 
And, despite legislation prohibiting it for civil servants, the National 
Federation of Teachers' Unions (FNSI) was founded in 1905. Pursued by 
the State and subjected to repression, it was dissolved in 1913 but 
continued its activities nonetheless.

A critical culture of the school system, professional and social 
responsibilities
Their desire to reform secular education is evident in a substantial 
body of texts (professional and educational periodicals, congress 
reports, books, and pamphlets).

These unionized primary school teachers were the heirs of education 
activists who, thanks to the Dreyfus Affair, became aware of the harmful 
nature of patriotism and the army, which was seen as the arm that breaks 
strikes and colonizes, associating it with capitalism, clericalism, and 
monarchism. Socialism, pacifism, and antimilitarism permeated their ranks.

For Loïc Le Bars, the development of these ideas is inherent to the very 
nature of the movement that, for several decades, has structured these 
teachers around a pedagogical project that champions equality and 
fraternity.

When ideas take shape...
When war broke out, and until 1915, antimilitarism was not on the agenda 
at the FNSI congresses, but they did support the alliance forged between 
the SFIO and the CGT against the Three-Year Law (1913) and the increase 
in military spending.

In fact, there was a lack of preparedness for the possibility of war, 
and when the CGT joined the Sacred Union, few of them fought against 
this alliance. They were even censored within their own ranks. Yet, what 
united these educators-this pedagogical and social project-was expressed 
in the Congress's motion that affirmed that "war brings misfortune to 
nations," and in their participation in the feminist mobilization for 
equal treatment of women in their recruitment for the war industry.

While the activists disagreed on the methods, they all agreed to 
participate in the Committee for the Resumption of International Relations.

It became clear that governments were responsible for the war that 
hadn't even started on August 4, 1914...

...it was censorship that emerged and the administration that 
administered. First and foremost, the traditional surveillance and 
censorship mechanisms did their work. From 1912 onward, the FNSI 
(National Federation of International Trade Unions) suffered government 
repression and, although dissolved the following year, continued its 
activities. In 1910, it published the first issue of the journal L'école 
émancipée (The Emancipated School).

At the beginning of the war, most of the activists were mobilized, and 
trade unionism went dormant. But in 1915, the FNSI sided with the 
minority within the CGT (which it had joined in 1909) opposed to the 
continuation of the war and the Sacred Union. And when Marie and 
François Mayoux, and Hélène Brion, propagated pacifist ideas, they were 
dismissed and tried by court-martial (sentenced to years in prison, 
which they escaped). As for L'École émancipée, which continued to be 
published, "faithful to the principles of class struggle and 
internationalism," it was suspended by military censorship but 
reappeared under a different name: L'École.

During these years, the administration intended for teachers to 
disseminate its propaganda through official texts, the publication of 
chauvinistic textbooks that they were required to use, anti-German 
propaganda, and a war effort in which they were expected to participate. 
The activists refused to impart this "teaching of hatred," this "culture 
of war" that the highest authorities intended to impose on schools. They 
felt it was their duty to speak out and to do everything in their power 
to try to stop it as quickly as possible, to work towards the rebirth of 
an International that alone could bring about peace.

This history of Le Bars leads us to reconsider what is coming next: a 
school serving the project of militarizing minds. So, are we going to 
become political agents, brainwashers for our own students... or are we 
going to reject all propaganda in favor of war while remaining firmly 
committed to the class struggle?

Prepared by the "No to the SNU" collective, which brings together 
multiple organizations.

The government announced the end of the nationwide rollout of the SNU 
(National Universal Service) in the fall of 2025 because it lacked the 
resources. For us, it is not a question of lowering our guard. The State 
is pursuing a project of militarizing youth, evident in the "Common Core 
of Skills and Knowledge," which has included defense education since 
1997. The suspension of compulsory military service for all men in 1995 
led to a proliferation of joint programs between the Ministry of 
National Education and the Ministry of the Armed Forces, such as these 
"global defense and security classes," designed to instill a "spirit of 
commitment" in middle school students.

May 2023: In two days, 200 middle school students in grades 7 and 9 
traveled throughout Dijon to participate in about ten workshops 
promoting "the spirit of defense and the duty of remembrance." The 
program included laser pistol shooting, first aid training, a simulated 
prison cell search, the history of the Legion of Honor, and "zero 
tolerance" workshops. (1)

The suspension of the SNU (National Universal Service) will not prevent 
the aforementioned Ministries from expanding... "the surface of 
contact." These are their words. Moreover, the Defense and Citizenship 
Day (JDC) and the teaching of Moral and Civic Education are of greater 
importance in the eyes of the military.
With the JDC, 800,000 young people are completely at their mercy: 
raising the flag, standing before the Marseillaise, or singing it 
constitutes an act of allegiance to the army and the powers that be, and 
a denial of freedom of conscience.
The mechanisms are numerous and effectively cover the entire country. 
The Academic Trios are the cornerstone of the Army-Academy collaboration 
(they bring together the rector, the territorial military authority (a 
general), and the president of the regional association of alumni of the 
Institute for Advanced Studies in National Defence).
The Defense classes in middle and high schools (370 in 2021, 850 in 
2024) have an educational project linked to Defence and Security. The 
Defence Cadets program aims to welcome middle school students into 
military units for "educational, cultural, and sporting" activities. 
Incentives for students and teachers, along with their classes, 
encourage participation in commemorative ceremonies. The mandatory 
wearing of school uniforms, the pilot program for which is ongoing, has 
secured funding.

All these elements are being implemented quietly and are aimed 
particularly at the working class. The bourgeoisie and the army are 
joining forces to do something with the "dropouts" of the national 
education system.

Indeed, rural areas and priority education zones (REP) are in the 
crosshairs of these groups.

We can therefore usefully recall the struggles of teachers in past 
centuries, which remind us that since the birth of secular education, 
resistance has been necessary to avoid becoming pawns of the 
bourgeoisie, who, behind the facade of the national education system, 
work for their own interests and social segregation.

Notes
1: article from Politis, June 2023

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4583
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