NATO Talks Conscription
For Gen Z, this is personal
Gen Z has developing quite a reputation for itself.
Can you imagine growing up in these times? No work, no chance of home ownership, endless pointless wars — even genocide — on a burning planet.
And if those things didn’t develop a generational attitude, how about the recent buzz from NATO? If I was a young person, that would bring me to my senses pretty quickly.
Geopolitical issues would grab my attention, if they hadn’t already.
Has anyone else noticed that there’s a lot of talk from NATO about reintroducing conscription lately?
In the USA, the House passed a large defence bill earlier this month that included a provision that would automatically enroll young men between the ages of 18 and 26 for the Selective Service, an on-again-off-again tool of the Pentagon.
There’s also talk of bringing back the draft in Europe in some countries.
How to vote? If it was my future on the line, I’d be looking for a candidate that not only rejects the idea of mandatory military service, but who seriously supported fair and peaceful relationships with other countries.
I’d be looking at candidates’ track records to make sure they actually were people who walk their talk.
Not only is fighting in a war a risk to a person’s life, but it also has devastating environmental consequences.
And I’d be looking for someone who doesn’t support genocide.
If I was a young adult looking at the kind of world I want to inhabit for the rest of my life, I’d be thinking long and hard about who I would vote for, and what kind of a world their leadership would result in.
So many of us have worked hard to steer the world in a peaceful, habitable, just and pleasant direction, but for Gen Z it’s crunch time.
With the unprovoked bombing of the beach in Sevastopol a week ago today -- resulting in some 140 injuries and 4 or 5 deaths, including a couple children -- the US has essentially declared war on Russia. Nato members are falling in line. If you know the alternative and foreign news sites to follow, you learn every day about troop deployments, movement of nuclear weapons, warships, supplies and artillery. WW III is already under way and the west is being led by the most incompetent, reckless and downright stupid leaders since WW I. Wake up, young folks, they want you in the trenches.
Your painting captures the essence of this tragic moment.
Good luck looking for a candidate to vote for who supports peace and justice for all. Wouldn't that be nice? And even if such a candidate existed, the existing political clique would make sure to threaten, cajole, ridicule and look for dirt on them to get rid of them. We need another system. Voting and this brand of "democracy" is just not working.