Colombia is the only South American nation with an ongoing internal armed conflict where military service is obligatory, requiring all 18-year-old young men to serve for 1 to 2 years - with no option of an alternative civil service. The Collective Action of Conscientious Objectors (ACOOC) is committed to nonviolence and they educate and defend the rights of youth who object to serving in the military. ACOOC works towards demilitarization of society by using creative means such as films and street theatre to highlight the degree of militarization in Colombian society.

Colombia is the only South American nation with an ongoing internal armed conflict where military service is obligatory, requiring all 18-year-old young men to serve for one to two years - with no option of an alternative civil service. A military identification card is required to work in the public sector. Julián Ovalle and Alejandro Parra, of the Collective Action of Conscientious Objectors, describe their personal experience with forced recruitment and how it can be a nightmare for someone who has a fundamental objection to military service.

The image of masculinity...the model men that go to war, that compete. - Jorge Veléz, Colombia

The Ministry of Women, for example, was created in 2006 and since then one of the main goals that the Minister for Women has proposed is to provide two million female members to the militia. She has already set in motion a first stage where she promised 150,000... - Rafael Uzcategui, Venezuela

We do also have women in the military, but comparatively the ratio is low. – Samuel Koduh, Ghana

The way that I ended up joining the military was that when I was a senior in high school I intended to go to college but I didn't have any way to pay for it...I talked to an army recruiter [about an army scholarship] and he made it sound really good...Any time between signing the contract and going to basic training, you can change your mind and there won't be any consequences. Of course, the recruiters won't tell you that – they'll threaten legal consequences etc... - Kelly Dougherty, USA

They are constantly selling the idea that Venezuela is going to be invaded by the United States and in the face of this external threat...there is a permanent feeling of being on the verge of war or armed conflict...They always say that the United State wants Venezuela’s oil, however our president Chávez negotiated with transnational energy companies for 30 to 40 years. This means that that argument is invalid... - Rafael Uzcategui, Venezuela

If ideology shapes our fantasies as Zizek suggests, then Call of Duty: Ghosts is imperialism distilled.

“How do we experience ourselves ideologically? What do we find worth fighting for? What's the meaning of our life?”

This is how Slovenian philosopher Slajoj Zizek launched a response to the question of why he finds cinema such a useful tool for analysing modern capitalist ideology during a recent interview with Vice.

Answering his own questions, he continued, “You have to look at Hollywood, where you get it [ideology] in pure, distilled form.”

The interview was about Zizek's latest film, The Pervert's Guide to Ideology. In the film, Zizek essentially argues that even in our dreams and fantasies, we cannot escape the dominant ideologies of our time.

In order to relate militarisation and youth in Chile, we must look to the past and recognise the hundreds of years of militarism in the history of this region. Chile has seen territorial and violent occupations by European colonists, the construction of 'homeland heroes' as the core motivational idea behind patriotism, the legalisation of mandatory military training, huge increases in military spending as compared to social spending, the incorporation of military practices within civilian schools, among many other examples. The brunt of these actions has been born by the population’s most economically vulnerable group, but potentially the strongest in political terms: the country’s boys, girls and young adults. The vulnerability of this segment of the population has allowed it to be exposed to militarisation with ease; potential pockets of resistance are neutralised.

Today, militarism is instilled in society through three different approaches:

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Sowing Seeds

Through articles, images, survey data and interviews, Sowing Seeds: The Militarisation of Youth and How to Counter It documents the seeds of war that are planted in the minds of young people in many different countries. However, it also explores the seeds of resistance to this militarisation that are being sown resiliently and creatively by numerous people. READ MORE