Wake up Bristol! End the killing fields!

bristol | peace | news report Tuesday October 27, 2009 23:16 by peaceman

We can all say NO

On Saturday 31st October, the 'EDO Decommissioners' are organising an anti-war protest on the Centre (opposite the Hippodrome) at 2pm, supported by various groups. Bristol Stop The War Coalition has issued email publicity calling on all its supporters to join this protest. Here's a cut n paste from their email....

Fight war not wars

The 'EDO Decommissioners' publicity for the protest says:
“It was the threat of war on Afghanistan that prompted the start of the Bristol peace vigil, it is now in its ninth year.

In the meantime we have seen the rape and pillage of Iraq, the continued devastation of Afghanistan and the horrific attack on Gaza. The people of these countries have been attacked by science fiction weapons such as drones. We have entered a stage of warfare unprecedented in human times. Countries' infrastructures can be taken down in a matter of weeks.

And Bristol? Bristol continues its trade in death and genocide, It makes the bits and bobs of the missiles and engines that fuel the war. It has a prolific Arms industry, with all major arms industry having offices here in Bristol. Mostly nestled conveniently near the procurement centre of the MOD at Abbey Wood. And the young people of Bristol, like in the rest of the country, are ripe for the picking. They face a future of no jobs, no education, no housing, no prospects. Will their only job choice be in the military? Or the Arms industry? Bristol oils the war machine, and it oils it well.“ (from Bristol Stop the War email circulated late Sunday/early Monday, 25/26 October).

Recent weeks and months have seen a rise in deaths & injuries across Afghanistan, Iraq, and into Pakistan. All sides in the conflicts are suffering - armed forces personnel, police forces, tribal militias, the Taliban, and other Islamic focused armed groups. But of course more than any others its civilians that suffer, innocent and defenceless women and children and the elderly, quite often murdered by weapons they dont even see that come from afar. Across these 3 countries many men have felt compelled to join either their police or armed forces out of economic necessity - in the absence of any other work, with families facing starvation and often fleeing conflicts, they feel they have no choice other than to sign up. This is what is meant by 'economic conscription'. That process is now also underway across the so-called western coalition countries. With official UK unemployment hitting 3 million, and close to 15 million unemployed in the US, plus millions more 'unofficially' out of work or facing job cuts and wage freezes, adults here too feel compelled to seek any work going. The glitzy armed forces recuitment publicity, stands at jobs fairs, and inter-active online gimmickery, makes killing for a living look financially attractive, especially when it is dressed up as career opportunities. The killing is rarely mentioned of course, and the deaths and long-term injuries are just not added to the potential pay-packet.

There are alternatives. The withdrawal from countries and regions we have no right nor reason to be in. The end of support to corrupt, totalitarian and oppressive regimes. The end of sales of military hardware to those same regimes, along with the withdrawal of 'military experts'. Trade and locally-led development not state-sponsored terrorism. The re-tooling and retraining of western factories and workforces to produce socially useful goods and equipment not weapons of mass destruction. Come on Bristol, wake up!