by Pasquale Pugliese*
While a large part of the Italian and Western media and politicians have watched with exaltation and stadium cheering at the exploits of the band of mercenaries of the Wagner battalionin the same hours (and probably as a reaction to that abortive armed rebellion) took place in Russia – ignored by governments and international media – a serious one tight against the unarmed Movement of conscientious objectors to military service, outlawed as a “foreign agent”. We only heard about it thanks to the dramatic appeal that the Movement itself made to international organizations – including the Italian Nonviolent Movement – who, since the beginning of the war, have been supporting Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian conscientious objectors and deserters who refuse, on all fronts, to take part in the war in Ukraine. Paying in person while building, with their choice, concrete bridges of peace between these peoples.
#Russia #Putin Wave of protests over the Russian decision to outlaw conscientious objectors and declare them “foreign agents”. Serious violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The protest of pacifist NGOs
— Mao Valpiana (@MaoValpiana) June 26, 2023
“Since last Friday, June 23 – wrote the Russian pacifists – the Movement of conscientious objectors has been officially declared by the Authorities as “foreign agent” in the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Justice accuses us of disseminating withheld information false on the actions, decisions and policies of the government, as well as opposing Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. For the current government of the Russian Federation, these allegations are enough to justify outlawing our organization. This fact, while being a demonstration of the effectiveness of our work, is also fundamentally an application discriminatory of the law that tramples human rights and universally accepted freedoms”.
Despite the threats and persecutions, they conclude their appeal by reiterating both the will to remain firm on the principles and values of the refusal of war, and the importance of continued international support, also cheap to support legal costs. In the silence of the European institutions, the joint response of the WRI, the historic organization, was not long in coming War Resister’s Internationaland BEOC-EBCO, the European Conscientious Objection Office, who wrote jointly to Vladimir Putin and Konstantin Chuychenko, Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation.
“Conscientious objection – write the two organizations – is a contribution tangible to peace; therefore, the protection of this human right is even more crucial in wartime. This also applies to the ongoing war in Ukraine, where both Russia and Ukraine blatantly violate this right. We strongly condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and denounce all cases of forced recruitment and even violent in both sides’ militaries, as are all cases of persecution of conscientious objectors, deserters, and nonviolent anti-war protesters. We urge you to stop persecuting human rights organizations and human rights defenders, and to immediately and unconditionally release all the hundreds of mobilized soldiers and civilians who oppose the war and who are being illegally detained and even ill-treated”.
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While governments and the media listen to – and nurture – only the language of guns, conscientious objectors and deserters make a personal active choice of peace, through the courageous subtraction of one’s willingness to kill and die for war. To break the generalized silence around these true heroes of peace, it is possible to take personal action by joining the Campaign to object to the warpromoted in Italy by the Nonviolent Movement (with the physicist Carlo Rovelli as an authoritative testimonial), which asks the Italian government to guarantee reception, asylum and protection to all those in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine who refuse to take up arms and flee their country, just as the Italian Parliament had already decided in 1992 for objectors and deserters from the Republics of the former Yugoslavia.
The news of the outlawing of the Russian Conscientious Objectors Movement reached Italy through their appeal on June 26, the day on which the anniversary of the death of Don Lorenzo Milani, who ended up, in turn, on trial for “apologia di crime” for having defended conscientious objectors in prison in Italy. His words – already remembered on the occasion of the recent centenary of his birth – are today more valid than ever: in the face of war “obedience is no longer a virtue, but the most subtle of temptations”. If, like don Milani, we supported those who make this choice, instead of supporting those who take up arms, we would contribute to dry up the basin of war instead of feeding it.
*philosopher, author on peace and nonviolence