OPPOSITION {AMANDA MOORGHEN}
I
am strongly against reintroducing
National Service. The State has no
right to exert such a level of control
over its citizenry, and such a policy walks
hand-in-hand with significant downsides.
It is wrong for the state to make such
a demand of its citizenry
We do not choose which state we
are born into, and especially at the age
at which National Service is demanded,
often lack the means to opt out. Further,
the nature of modern democracy means
that individuals have little meaningful
control over the policies of the
government of the day.
As such, citizens should not be
held responsible for those policies.
They should not be forced to directly
support conflicts they find immoral,
put themselves in danger for the sake of
objectives they don’t feel to be worthy, or
leave their country, families and livelihoods
behind to avoid a commitment to which
they never consented.
National Service diminishes the
capacity of the people to hold the
government to account
People inevitably imbibe, at least
to some extent, the values of the
organisation for which they work. This
is especially the case during National
Service for three reasons. First, it comes
at a time in life where people are
“The stresses and
demands of adapting
to a military environment
necessitate placing
a high degree of
trust in your
hierarchical superiors…”
exploring their place in the world, and
as such are particularly impressionable.
Second, the stresses and demands of
adapting to a military environment
necessitate placing a high degree of
trust in your hierarchical superiors,
which accentuates the natural human
tendency to converge towards the beliefs
of those with whom we work. Finally,
in demanding that people work with
the military, but not with those who
campaign for pacifism or diplomatic
solutions, you introduce a bias in the
population, skewing people’s beliefs
towards a trust in the morality and
efficacy of military solutions.
SUPPORT THIS PROGRAMME
If you would like to help the ESU develop its pioneering
work, helping young people to discover their voice, please
call James Ward on 020 7529 1576 to find out how.
ARK COMPETITIONS DAY
Our partnership with ARK Schools
reached its height with two
competitions last summer. Ten
primary school teams debated about
not using animals in sports, abolishing
the monarchy and teachers uniforms.
Once again, debating proved to be an
excellent platform to challenge young
students to express their thoughts,
and all the ESU mentors present
were proud of their students. The
final was won by ARK King Solomon.
16 secondary school teams debating
about showing graphic images of
terrorist attacks which, so short after
the Woolwich incident meant the
student could analyse the situation
very well. The final on re-introducing
national service was won by Ark
Academy. We were particularly
pleased to see quite of few of the ARK
students back at Debate Academy to
get even more training!
ESU| 13