BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th August, 2018) Sweden and Morocco are both reinstating compulsory military service in what seems to be two separate moves, however a closer look at the issue reveals that they have much in common and are actually both driven by attempts to engage the idle and estranged youth in the life of their country amid high unemployment rate and weakening sense of citizenship.
On Monday, the Moroccan government approved the draft law to restore military conscription for boys and girls aged between 19 and 25. The bill is expected to be approved by the parliament in October. The news comes as Sweden is engaged in reintroducing compulsory military service starting this year.
The issue seems even more topical as many other European countries have recently voiced the possibility of reinstating compulsory military service, including France and Serbia.
Average unemployment in the European Union and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries has been stagnating for years at about 10 percent against some 4.5 percent in the United States. Germany has improved, so have Denmark and Sweden, but for the rest the situation is much worse for the youth, especially the offspring of immigrants, even third and fourth generations. In large European cities, the unemployment of the youth is nearly everywhere above 20 percent. In Brussels it was 23.9 percent at the end of 2017 but it improves in line with the economic rebound.
In Sweden, the situation is a bit better for the youngsters, with roughly 18 percent of youth unemployment, but the country is one of the worst hit by the wave of undocumented migrants. There are many refugees, but also young economic migrants who were taken in by the minority socialist government.
In countries such as Morocco, located on the southern periphery of Europe, figures are much worse. Morocco lives partly on the money sent home by Moroccan migrant workers all over Europe. Many families live off the family allowances for children who have never been to Europe or the pension of a retired worker.
In fact, 27.9 percent of Moroccans aged between 15 and 24 neither work nor study. Therefore, the reinstatement of military service similarly seems to be, above all, an opportunity to engage an idle and estranged youth.
SWEDEN FINGERPOINTS AT �RUSSIAN THREAT
Sweden had mandatory military service until 2010. In September 2016 the Swedish government announced that it planned to reintroduce gender-neutral conscription in 2018.
The first "new" conscripts this year were chosen from a pool of 13,000 young people born in 1999 and will serve for 12 months. As the relevant age cohort is about 100,000, this means that roughly 4 percent are enlisted. It is noteworthy, that, during the height of the Cold War, about 85 percent of Swedish young men were enlisted. Conscientious objectors in Sweden have the right to choose alternative service.
Explaining its decision to restore military constriction, Stockholm cites the alleged Russian thereat.
"We have been worried lately by Russias military manoeuvres in the Baltic. The return to conscription was prompted by the security change in our neighbourhood, as well as the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the conflict in Ukraine," Swedish Defense Ministry press secretary Marinette Nyh Radebo told Sputnik.
Helsinkis reference to Russia with regard to the issue seems ludicrous but corresponds to the NATO jargon that cries wolf to obtain budget increases. Sweden is not a NATO member but works closely with the alliance.
BOTH NATIONS SEEK TO REVIVE SENSE OF CITIZENSHIP
Genuine rationales behind the decisions of Sweden and Morocco, meanwhile, seem to be similar, in the sense that both countries have high unemployment among the youth and the lack of patriotic sentiment.
In Sweden, as in most Western countries, political correctness forbids to comment on the lack of integration of young migrants or the drop in patriotic feelings among the Swedish youth. There is a will among older citizens to give the youngsters a shot of patriotism and integrate newly-arrived young migrants at the same time.
A release by the government in Rabat, in contrast, clearly states that "the conscription aims to promote patriotism among young people. This fits within the framework of the coherence between rights and responsibilities of citizenship."
Ahmed Ghayet, a writer and the founder of the association "Marocains pluriels" (Plural Moroccans), suggested that the motive behind the decision to revive the sense of citizenship among the youth.
"The Moroccan army does not need more men. It is 195,000-strong already, but it is a good idea to strengthen the sense of citizenship among young people. So many of our kids are left on the margin of society. Schools and the families have failed, so we have to find a bridge to pass on values, a sense of lost patriotism, discipline, respect. If this military service is designed with intelligence, if the objectives are well defined, if useful training is granted ... it can be a good vector of change," Ghayet told Sputnik.
MOROCCAN KING URGES EXPATS TO RETURN AND JOIN RANKS OF NATIONAL ARMY
On Wednesday, Moroccan King Mohammed VI declared his support for the reintroduction of one-year conscription for all young people between 19 and 25 (disabled are exempt and students, while students can fulfil their military service later). Conscription, by the way, had been abolished in Morocco in 2006 by the same king Mohammed.
This time, the King even calls on young European Moroccans "to return to Morocco to do something for their country and to think more patriotically."
The bill, which still needs to be adopted, does not yet specifically mention the case of dual nationality or birth abroad as grounds for inclusion or exemption from military service. There is no mention of Moroccans living abroad in the law.
But after the Kings speech, urging all young Moroccans abroad to come and give a year to their country of origin, it is certain that the law will be valid for the children of the Moroccan diaspora, mainly in Europe.
In France, Belgium or The Netherlands, where most Moroccan migrants have settled over the years, all youngsters - even second and third generation - have the dual nationality.
There are some 800,000 Moroccans in Belgium, and 500,000 in the Netherlands. According to historian Pierre Vermeren, a specialist of the Maghreb region, there were 2.5 million Moroccans (3 to 4 generations) in France in 2015. It is the first foreign group in France. So the military service that Morocco reintroduces could affect at least tens of thousands of youngsters everywhere in Europe.
WILL MOROCCANS LIVING IN EU HEED CALL?
But will young people of Moroccan origin, with the double nationality, return to their home country for a one-year nearly unpaid military service? There is clearly no enthusiasm.
"I am not too keen going back for a military service. My family comes from the Rif region, where there were troubles and even riots last year. Friends of my family in El Hoceima are fed up with corruption and lack of future for the youth in Morocco. I see my future here in Brussels," Karim Madrane, 22, from the Brussels borough of Schaarbeek, who studies in Brussels to become an electrician, told Sputnik.
Madrane said that his friend, an architect, had gone back with his wife to Morocco and found a good job. Madrane noted that his friend, however, said that "life [in Morocco] is not easy and salaries are much lower than in Europe," and "even with a lower cost of life, it does not compensate."
"But I can understand that for the youngsters here in Brussels who have left school before the end of their secondary studies, do nothing and have strictly no future, it is maybe an opportunity to learn something in the Moroccan army and better know our country of origin. Still, I dont think it will attract many youngsters to go," Madrane added.
By comparison, Turkey has the same issue with Turks abroad, having the double nationality, particularly in Germany.
For young Turks, under the age of 38, the legislation regulating the military service exemption for Turks living abroad is the "Law on the Amendments to the Military Law." It privileged Turkish citizens, who are permanent residents or have work permits abroad, with the right to be exempt from compulsory military service for a reduced fee of 1,000 Euros ($1,160). The majority of young Turks living in Europe pay to avoid the draft, especially since the Turkish army is now involved in combats along the Syrian and Iraqi borders.
So, for Morocco, despite apparent attempts to create a patriotic momentum that would help the authorities quell unrest in several parts of the country, such as the Rif region, most young Moroccans abroad would probably choose to pay in order to avoid the service.
