In Germany you can find several rather unique war memorials "To The Unknown Deserter" in WWII
On the plaque of this one in Potsdam is: "This is for a man who refused to kill his fellow men"
Worthwhile related piece by Graeber, v relevant to Israel and Gaza: theanarchistlibrary.org/library/davi...
I've heard multiple people now excusing the individual actions of IDF soldiers, since their alternative to wearing a uniform is prison. Fuck that. Choose prison over genocide. if you are unwilling to sacrifice for your values you do not hold those values.
This passage, called out and italicized in the original edition of the article above, has been ringing in my head since Israel started bombing Gaza and a horde of people, even those condemning the bombing, treated Oct 7 as in some way a retroactive justification of the Nakba and apartheid.
It’s not hard for people to understand, they choose to deny it because it does not suit their existing political narrative. They understand this kind of narrative perfectly fine when it suits them.
I believe there’s a section on these in the opening chapter of James C Scott’s Two Cheers for Anarchism as well. I think near the part about “anarchist calisthenics” (breaking small rules regularly so you’re prepared to break the big ones when you need to).
