Spain (State of)

On 13 March 2009 in Bilbao in the Basque Country a series of actions took place to denounce the connections between the BBVA bank and the arms industry., during the company's Annual Shareholders Meeting.

In the last years an important number of private military companies have been formed in Spain as part of the general process of privatisation and outsourcing of the military. 'Outsourcing' in Spain is quite recent as the Spanish Ministry of Defence were reluctant to have civilian personnel working alongside the military, especially inside military installations. Here we look at two cases where war profiteers have built juice businesses.

Hallmark Security Solutions S.L.

In this presentation I will give an overview of the right to conscientious objection, its
legal practices and frameworks in the 27 European Union member states. Before I do so, I want to step back a bit and have a brief look at the existing international standards about the right to
conscientious objection, as these standards allow us to put the practices in the EU member states into a perspective.

On 14-15 November, antimilitarist nonviolent actions took place in a number of countries around Europe, as part of the a European Day of Action against military infrastructure. The day of action was another step in the coordinated work of radical nonviolent antimilitarist groups in Europe.

Issues

Conscription is suspended. The right to conscientious objection is not recognised for professional soldiers.

Military recruitment
Conscription

Conscription is allowed by Article 30 of the Spanish constitution from 1978, which reads:

“1. Citizens have the right and the duty to defend Spain.

2. The law shall determine the military obligations of Spaniards ...

Obligatory military service in Spain has been suspended since 2001. It appears however that this could be reinstated at any time, if considered necessary, even without the formal declaration of a state of emergency. In such an event, there is some uncertainty as to how the constitutional guarantee of the right of conscientious objection would be implemented.

There is also no indication of any provisions allowing the release of serving members of the armed forces who develop a conscientious objection.

The Ibero-American Convention on Young People's Rights, which entered into force on 1 March 2008, explicitly recognises the right to conscientious objection. Article 12 of the Convention reads: "Young people have the right to form a conscientious objection against compulsory military service." It also includes a commitment of states to create legal instruments to safeguard this right, and to progressively end compulsory military service.

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The Basque antimilitarist groups KEM-MOC and Kakitzat protested on 23 January in front of the head office of the bank, BBVA, declaring that "BBVA finances war, Gastu Militarrik ez".  Several anti-militarists dived into BBVA's fountain.

BBVA collaborates and profits from war through its participation in the military industry, as shareholders of companies that are providers

to the defence sector.

What is war tax resistance?

It is the decision to resist the State in war spending and the maintenance of the military structure, the army and other armed groups by actively disobeying to pay income taxes.

While the new Spanish government has withdrawn troops from Iraq, Spanish troops remain in Afghanistan and on hand for further interventions. Weapons factories; the traffic in arms; the distortion of scientific research ... There is no underlying change. Yet if it seems that our protests are ignored, more than we imagine we have in our own hands the possibility to counter the pervasive influence of militarism.

Crónica de las vicisitudes y lecciones de 503 dias de lucha por la extradición de Pinochet a España Proyecto Internacional de Derechos Humanos

Con la detención del dictador Augusto Pinochet, el pueblo de Chile comenzó a levantar sus ojos hacia un futuro en el cual la impunidad y la injusticia se convertirían en sombras de un pasado deshonroso para su historia.

The following is an email message soliciting international support two Spanish insumisos. We reproduce it here as an illustration of the role that technology (and a very small commitment of time) can play in support to military resisters and prisoners. Postscript: on 21 November 2000, José and Alberto began their imprisonment in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (see PfP list for address).