St Athan march in pictures
visiting gog | 27.04.2008 18:08 | Anti-militarism | Repression | Terror War
No Military Academy!
Che meets CND
War victims: "Iraqis have lost their country, children, lives, hope"
A new, smart uniform for South Wales Anarchists? :o)
The march sets off
Leanne Wood shows her face
CND Cymru banner, now facing the right way!
A few people at the bus stops
They profit. We pay. At least £14 billion.
Wales - "land of cannon fodder"
Exactly how many jobs are being created?
At the OU in Cardiff
War victims: soldiers lose their lives, limbs, sanity and humanity"
The OU gets police protection
More bored cops
The Open University loves arms dealers
Davy McAuley of Raytheon 9 speaks
St Athan is the latest bright idea in the government's 'War on Terror'. In the biggest PFI scheme yet, using billions of pounds of taxpayers' money, an unholy alliance is being forged between the Open University and a bunch of arms dealers including Raytheon and Qinetic to create a consortium which will be training armed forces from across the world in subjects such as 'peacekeeping'! Anyone notice just the tiniest conflict of interest there? How are arms dealers going to make their profits if the people they get paid to train go on to spread peace in the world?
It was interesting to see a couple of Plaid Cymru politicians at the demo. Jill Evans, MEP, is the only high-profile Plaid politician to speak out against St Athan, and that only came very, very late and after she was repeatedly asked to state her position. She is also Chair of CND Cymru, a position which would have been totally untenable for someone supporting the deal, and as an MEP she's a little removed from the cosy Plaid/Labour partnership in the Welsh Assembly Government so perhaps finds it easier to speak out than others. Leanne Wood, AM, was also there, a little surprising given that a few months ago she was writing to people to say that she had better things to do than get involved in a pointless campaign over an already done deal. Still, people can change their minds, or - perhaps more likely - realise that St Athan isn't set to be the vote-winner the politicians imagined.
Good to hear Davy McAuley, one of the Raytheon 9, speak at the rally after the march and call for direct action against the arms dealers.
visiting gog
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