A hierarchy of consciences

The Israeli Defence Forces set to release 20-years old CO as he was declared ‘unfit for duty’. It can be seen as a victory for Blanc because he neither laid claim to complete pacifism (due to the lack of consensus over the definition of ‘pacifism’), nor took the option of putting forward medical grounds. These are the two main reasons which can dispense non-orthodox men with military service, but Blanc instead cited his opposition to the occupation and an aversion to patriotism. As Uri Misgav has written (Haaretz), the political type of conscience Blanc invoked is difficult to deal with on a theoretical level and poses a challenge to the Israeli regime.
Within a coercive framework such as the Tsahal, or any army in the world where the military service is mandatory, the refusal to carry out imposed tasks is risky and often involves repeated emprisonment. Yet it is only then that the act of refusal is fully realized.

The refuznik movement encompasses a much larger setting than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite the change of name. Blanc has counterparts in different countries, such as Emad El-Dafrawi in Egypt. The latter has not been arrested but is denied basic rights, which can be paralleled with the ‘civilian death’ COs have to face in Turkey as highlighted by the online Conscientious Objector's Guide to the International Human Rights System.

Opting out in Britain

The right to conscientious objection is legally recognized in Britain, but prison sentence is an implemented response to Absence Without Official Leave situations. Joe Glenton left before he served his time. The former soldier spent seven months in Afghanistan and on his return to the UK, decided not to go back when he was due. In addition to his opposition to the war, Glenton was also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Just like member of the Schministim Omer Goldman, he does not consider himself a pacifist because force cannot be completely ruled out. In the end, the charges of desertion were dropped but the CO still got nine months at a glasshouse in Colchester, the only remaining military prison in Britain.

In the field of art but on the same topic, Akram Zaatari’s practice is tied to the themes of memory and collecting. His work ‘Lettre au pilote qui a désobei’ (‘Letter to a pilot who disobeyed’) will be displayed to represent Lebanon for the 2013 Venice Biennale. In Israel, conscientious objection stems from the 1982 Lebanon war. The artwork pays tribute to a soldier who got rid of a bomb in the sea instead of dropping it on Taamir, a Saïda neighbourhood. COs’s actions resonate as if in response to Buffy Sainte-Marie’s cries in Universal Soldier “He’s the one who gives his body / as a weapon of the war. […] He’s the universal soldier / And he really is the blame”.