Leaders and members of
No to Compulsory Military Service movement attended a workshop which was made at
the House of Democracy in the German capital, Berlin, titled: "War, Peace and the German experience after the second world war", which cared for studying the German experience in the two world wars and the cold war, and how the German peace activists were able to transform Germany into a peaceful state, without a compulsory military recruitment. Discussions were about the history of conscientious objection and the varied methods which are pursued by the peace activists and the conscientious objectors. Lectures included as well the ways and methods of the non-violent resistance.
The members of the movement visited the headquarter of Germany's Foreign Office to meet Mr.
Markus Löning, the German Federal Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid. They also headed to visit the headquarter of the parliament, Bundestag, to meet a number of the parliament members. The discussions were with the German officials about many axes, including the current situation of the violated human rights in Egypt under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, and about the unrecognized right to conscientious objection by the Egyptian government, and about the bad situations that the conscientious objectors,
Emad Dafrawi and
Mohamed Fathi are subjected to for their refusal to do the compulsory military service. The discussion included the developments taking place in the Middle East, about the lack of development in the peace process between Israel and Palestine, and about the German role and the international community in providing the proper climate to develop the peace process.
The members of the movement also visited many places which demonstrate the vast amount of repression which the German people were subjected to under the Nazi rule, where they visited the headquarters of Gestapo and Stasi, the former repression apparatuses in Germany. They also visited the Holocaust museum, making them the first group to make a tour inside the museum in Arabic language since its opening in 2005.
Peace activists from Germany, Philippines, Pakistan and China, participated in the workshop, in addition to an activist from
New Profile movement from Israel, where both parties exchanged the experiences in facing the military establishments, and both parties announced their solidarity with conscientious objectors in both countries, Emad Dafrawi, Mohamed Fathi and
Natan Blanc. A joint coordination was agreed so that the compulsory military service be abolished in Egypt, Israel and all the countries of the region.
