This year, for the first time ever, the collective of the anti-militarist magazine „Deserter“ declared the june 21st as Deserters‘ Day. We were led to this by the conviction that deserters are those who refused to kill and be killed in war they should also have their own day, when their heroism would be remembered and the memory of those who paid for their decision with their lives would be honored.
The goal of Deserters Day, is not only to commemorate the actions and fates of deserters in the past, but also to inspire resistance in today’s men and women dressed in uniform that are sended into the slaughterhouses of contemporary wars. To show that being a deserter is the right decision, which should they be proud of and socially supported in every way possible. We want to be helpful in solidarity with every deserter and military refuser, because every deserter brings us closer to peace, and that leads to collapse of the war front and the imposition of peace even without the consent of the rulers.
On the occasion of Deserters‘ Day, we prepared posters, leaflets and stickers in Czechia, which were freely downloadable on our website. At the same time, we sent the posters and leaflets to 60 + addresses. We published an article on our website explaining why we chose the daisy as a symbol of deserters in contrast to the poppies of war veterans. Along with this, the texts „We declare June 21st Deserters‘ Day“ and „International Appeal for June 21st – Deserters‘ Days“ were published, which were translated into Slovak, Hungarian, Russian, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and the international language Esperanto.
Since antimilitarism has a long tradition in Czech and Slovak labor movement and proved its application especially during the First World War, we published a series of articles on our website commemorating the fates of Czech and Slovak deserters and military refusers. We will continue to inform our readers about their fates and the antimilitaristic resistance of our grandparents so that they are not forgotten.
In the days before June 21st and on Deserters‘ Day, posters and stickers began to appear in Czech and Slovak cities, and they were also distributed in the streets. Together, we celebrated Deserters‘ Day with a meeting of our antimilitaristic collective in Prague the day after the june 21st . where we not only devoted ourselves to this day, but also to planning other events and campaigns. The meeting ended with a joint photo with a banner for June 21st.
Our appeal did not remain unanswered even beyond our borders – that is why it was possible to translate it into other languages. Anti-militarists from Hungary, France and Great Britain have also announced a solidarity step, where they have organized their own events. We hope that Deserters‘ Day will slowly catch on in the world and become a truly International Deserters‘ Day.
In addition, November 11th – War Veterans‘ Day awaits us, for which we are going to prepare our own events and promote an alternative to this militaristic and nationalist holiday – a day and celebration of all deserters. We will be happy if you also get involved in your cities and countries – anywhere around the world!
