Countering Militarisation in Education

As part of a process of rapid militarisation of society, Dutch secondary and higher educational institutions are increasingly called upon to serve as (research) partners and recruiting grounds for the armed forces and the military and security industry. While this is sometimes challenged by staff and/or students, there is little organised opposition to counter this trend. The many actions against university ties with Israel over the last few years have shown that resistance can be built and be effective.
In this workshop we will dicuss what is happening regarding this process of militarisation of education, at policy level and what is happening in practice in schools and universities. Then we will look at initiatives to challenge this, including the experiences of the longer-existing Demilitarise Education group in the UK, discuss how we can build stronger opposition, brainstorm about action ideas and hopefully start building a network around this issue.