WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, OCL, CA #331: NO TO SNU (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 The universal national service (SNU) promulgated by Emmanuel Macron in 2019, aims

at a general recruitment of youth to prepare for war. Indeed, the invasion of
Ukraine does not only trigger super profits in armaments, but also patriotic
anxieties, orchestrated by the media of the tricolor oligarchs. ---- The 25%
increase in the army budget in 2023 is not enough, schools must prepare young
people for war: a whole generation of girls and boys must march in step with the
UNS. France, under the boot of the billionaires of the armament would be in
danger, the paranoia of the SNU aims to arouse vocations of professionals of the
crime.
The implementation of the SNU causes slippages, hence a recent reorientation
towards uniformed courses during school time in high school, by whole classes. At
the SNU 87 center of the Limoges-Les Vaseix agricultural high school, "Defense
classes" took place, as well as in the colleges of Haute-Vienne (led by police or
gendarmes, seeking to recruit). Ten pilot departments have been designated to try
to strengthen the dynamics of the UNS.

Yet the UNS does not really interest the military. On April 20, during a meeting
on the 31416 reasons for abolishing the SNU, members of the Limousin Collective
mentioned Laurent Lherbette. Commander of the French Air Force and of the
South-West defense-security zone, this fighter pilot is ready to drop atomic
bombs on the millions of unarmed civilians. General and number 2 of the general
staff, he believes that the SNU does not concern the army, that it does not have
the money to provide "daycare" for minors.
The supervisors, paid by Education, are recruited from Pôle Emploi, others are
former army officers. Their training only lasts a week. The audience would mostly
include children from military or ultra-right families. 60% of girls would
voluntarily go to UNS. The program should be suitable for militarists (see insert
on the typical day).

An advertising suitcase with goodies is allocated to each young person. The sizes
of these branded clothes do not correspond to the diversity of sizes!
Health problems are not under control. Many of the discomforts of young people
were not anticipated by medical services, the Army or National Education. For
example, a whole group of young people were victims of sunstroke during outdoor
activities in the Hautes-Alpes.
Several cases of sexual harassment have come to light in recent months. It is
above all about the behavior of soldiers towards young supervisors (in Île de
France, in Hérault). In April, a minor denounced the sexual assault of which she
was the victim by a supervisor during a cohesion stay in the Marne.
Elsewhere, there are cases of dubious jokes and racist remarks by the military
towards civilian supervisors and young people.

The "UNS Experience Tour" with its "UNS villages" which was to take place in 25
cities from March 22 until June 10 faced many protests. Cancellations,
relocations, casserolades, seized up this advertising caravan in Nantes, Rennes,
Caen, Dijon... Even in Versailles, the "village" only welcomed around thirty
visitors while the demonstrators were more numerous. his. It can be said that the
army was routed by the anti-militarists in most cities. The last anti-SNU
demonstration, on May 26 in Lyon, was a great success (see photo), the call of
the CRAAM (Collectif Régional Anti-Armement et Militarisme) having been well
relayed by several unions.

The war in Ukraine, after the war against COVID (won by E. Macron?) has opened up
a climate of repression, even martial law. In the context of the mobilization
against the imposed postponement of the retirement age to 64, as young people
began to join the movement, Macron preferred to retreat and put the
generalization of the UNS on the back burner.
Is it a toy from E. Macron, nostalgic for conscription (suspended in 1999), which
he escaped? The authoritarian drift of the SNU reeks of nostalgia for 19th
century school battalions and child soldiers sculpted by François Rude on the Arc
de Triomphe.
The school mimics the army in this ersatz military service, with the return of
Pétainist patriotism and the learning of blind submission to the leaders.
To avoid the premeditation of "a good war", stop the caporalization of minors and
save global citizen solidarity, let's eliminate the scourge of the UNS.

Limousin Group of the Pacifist Union
completed by A.D.

FIGURES (from the State Secretariat for Youth and National Universal Service):

122 accommodation centers
2,700 supervisors
40,000 volunteers in 2022, i.e. only 1.74% of this age group of 2.3 million
people. Objective of 80,000 participants in 2023: an announcement effect just
like that of 2022?
Budget EUR140 million for 2023 (+ EUR30 million in 2022) for an ersatz military
service, charged to the Ministry of National Education and Youth.
The SNU is broken down into three phases:
* 1st phase: 2-week cohesion stay in single-sex rooms (25% do not even complete
this phase).
* 2nd phase: unpaid general interest mission of 84 hours (i.e. 2 weeks)
* 3rd phase: voluntary commitment (3 to 12 months, for young people aged 16 to
25), volunteering or civil service, by priority in uniformed corps (firefighters,
police, army, etc.).

SNU one-day program (commented by the GLUP)

7 a.m.: alarm clock
8 a.m.: salute to the flag and (racist) song of the impure blood that waters the
furrows (incitement to murder)
9 a.m.: presentation of war professions (cyber com...)
11 a.m.: reflex workshops (alert and protect; move around in risk areas, etc.)
2 p.m.: commemorative films on the missions of the forces in uniform
4 p.m.: commando training, shooting range, obstacle course, football, standing at
attention for hours under the barking of the supervisors...
6 p.m.: game (how to explain a military ceremony?)
9 p.m.: cleaning the rooms with collective punishments, toilet chores, doing
push-ups...
10 p.m.: lights out in the dormitories.

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