Protest at Veterans' Day.

I appreciate your reasons for demonstrating against the Iraq and Afghan conflicts, our society enables this basic human right unlike those our miltary is/was up against ie Argentinian fascist junta - Falklands - and fascist Iraq under Saadam and now undemocratic masoginist islamist fundamentalism. We lost a good friend in the Royal Navy during the Falklands War (another oil fired conflict).
Assuming you feel you have broad public support, why do you feel the need to 'leech on' to the Veterans event ? just hold your demonstration the day before or the day following.
I can assure you, your demo will be unfortunately counter productive and folks with some sympathy for your aims albeit 'on the fence' will be alienated by your 'bad manners' on the day.
You will achieve nothing and simply upset many of those attending who like me have lost friends and loved ones or is that the real intention - upset folks and get a bit of aggro going, get on the telly, even bad publicity is good for the cause?
Protest groups like yours are so predictable and the majority just ignore your protestations - the WWII pacifists that stayed at home were looked upon as cowards but the views of those brave men and women who wouldn't kill but tended the wounded and dying on the front line in the various medical corps were genuinely respected.
Perhaps you should also be campaigning and raising funds for the badly wounded and limbless service personnel in Headley Court that would give your group the respect it needs.
Regards
Neil Hewitt

I fail to see the logic in this demonstration. Yes, war is a terrible thing, but unfortunately tends to be on occassion a necessary evil... I would put a question to the protesters..... imagine that it was the 1940s again, Hitler was invading all over europe,and we had just discovered the horrors of Belsen etc....What would you do? Sit Adolf down with a cup of tea and try to reason with his better nature?? Wake up! There will always be some dictator someone prepared to flex his power,and we need our forces to protect us from this.The guys and girls who fought against evils like this deserve the respect of ALL of us,and so let them have their day in the park without demonstrations etc..... they have done ther bit to make the world a better/safer place.What have YOU done??? Likewise, many of todays troops have done loads of Humanitarian work in Africa etc....work that was much appreciated....again, what have YOU ever done??

I'd agree with the above comments. Holding a protest like this, outside the very venue the veterans and their families will be using is in extremely bad taste. And why bother? How many friends and family of people who have died/been injured or simply fought in a conflict will be supporting your cause anyway?

You're going to cause a huge amount of resentment, and hostility towards you from people who think (quite rightly) that you are trying to hijack a day that has been put aside for them.

Why even do it there? Surely you'll get a better representation of you key demographic if you simply protested in the city centre, because I know if I were at a veteran's day in support of my family and a bunch of antiwar protestors turned up, my thoughts would certainly not be about how you make a good point.

We find that many members of the Armed Forces and their families are very unhappy at being used to do Gordon Brown's dirty work out in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I am sure we will meet such people outside Wollaton Park, and we will be putting them in touch with the organisation Military Families Against the War, which was started by Rose Gentle after her 19 year old son, Fusilier Gordon Gentle, was killed in Iraq.

We think that the best way of supporting any members of the Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan is to campaign to bring them home now.

Nottingham Co-ordinator,
Stop the War Coalition,

As a serving airman myself i do know that many people are against Bush/Blair etc...Yes, they are a pair of idiots,but those in the Forces join of their FREE will....no one forces them to do it, and we all know that we might have to fight in wars we disagree with.... Yes, you might feel anger against Bush and Blair,and thats your opinion,you are fre in our society to think that..But you said it yourself, THEY are the problem, NOT the forces. Why dont you put your energies into demonstrating in front of them, petitioning them, or whatever, but leave the veterans alone. The people are wollaton will be mainly pensioners who fought in the 1940s, they have NOTHING to do with curent conflicts. Leave them in peace, let them gather and remember their fallen comrades.IF this event offends you so much,stay away! No one is forcing you to watch,likewise no one is forcing you to join the army and fight.. Get a life and go and do something useful.Leave the rest of us alone. The problem with you lot is that you crow on about freedom etc,then you spend all your time atacking people whose views you dont like.If you hate the army so much, stay away!

PS, Im still waiting for the stop the war people to answer my initial question about what we should have done in WW2.... should we have fought (with all our military might) against the evil of Nazism? Or walked away and left europe and the Jews to their fate???
Sometimes, you have to use military force......

John,

I think this one may be seriously misjudged.

Public support of 'our boys' is very high at the moment and the popular media are right behind them along with a proportion of the general public. We are going to be shown as a minority group, out of step and ridiculed.

The message is good but this IS NOT the venue. We risk being pictured opposing old men who fought in WW2...

Not good

One of the main purposes of this Veterans' celebration is to try to repair the image of the Armed Forces which has been so tarnished by the disastrous involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. They want to make war "glorious" again.

These occupations are so unpopular that recruitment is dramatically down. They are desperate to reverse the trend.

Any effective protest will be met with concerted opposition, such as you can see above, but courage, Student, courage! We will have widespread support at Wollaton Park. We know that from all our previous contacts with members of the Armed Forces and their families.

The Stop the War Coalition campaigns against the present conflict in the Middle East. It contains people who fought in World War II and people who were pacifists in World War II.

Many outside Wollaton Park on Sunday will be pleased to see us.

At present there is a concerted Government and media propaganda campaign to try to restore the tarnished image of the British Armed Forces brought about by their participation in the murderous invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Personnel leaving the military are at an all time high and recruitment is at an all time low. The Veterans' Weekend and associated activities are Nottingham City Council's contribution to trying to boost recruitment.

When campaigning with the Stop the War Coalition I have spoken with a number of soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and not one thought that they should have been there. One former Royal Engineer had completed two tours in Iraq but refused to go on a third because of his opposition to what British forces were doing there. He was court martialled and put it military gaol for eight months. This soldier displayed real courage by opposing an unjust and immoral war. It will not do to say that service personnel have to obey orders because they signed up. This defence was rejected by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal.

It is reprehensible to try to cover up imperialist aggression today by trading on the sacrifices made by people who fought fascism in World War II. I urge all Nottingham people opposed to the current wars to join the Nottingham Stop the War Coalition demonstration at Noon on Sunday, 22nd. June.

Shame on you.

Shame.

To protest against the memory of those who died for our freedom is despicable.

This day is not about the wars. This is about those who died, suffered, or were maimed in all our names.

Hang your heads, and feel very, very ashamed. Take your ill considered rants elsewhere. Veterans should hear no part of it.
Have you any manners?

(do not whine about the injustice of war, to defend yourself. You miss the point so far, you are not even on the same pitch you odious people)

w the universal declaration of human rights truelly & ignore illegal commands from bad officers & regimes as well as making sure that guns jam & accidents happen if & when massacres are ordered. There needs to a general refusal to fight from both sides under universal laws, both sides, bring our boys home,
for true Stop the War actions,

Heres to more football not war in Afghanistan & Iraq,
Instead of protesting at the war at woolie why not kick things off by playing football?

If bad bosses on both sides try to escalate things more with nukes on Iran etc maybe we should peacefully march,cycle, bike,bus down M1 together? at least!.
A better world is possible check out transition town nottingham, its priority is the militaries fuel,energy,peak oil & climate change, we all know the engineered terror war has been exposed on all formats, lets face the truth.
Check PNAC plans,council for foreign relations,CIA documents its all there, all under orders by undemocratic corporate bodies like Bilderberg,G8& the Trilateral commission
Transition town is a massive growing movement with branches happening now in almost every part of nottinghamshire, it works with local communities, cooperatives,business to create a energy descent plan that can save our communities,families & our environment.

 http://www.veteransday.org.uk/Details.aspx?Id=710295
 http://www.transitiontowns.org/
For sustainable true, peace & love for all families& communities everywhere

Firstly, i agree the war in afganistan was started for the wrong reasons but the facts are is that we are in this war and currently the best we can do is to support the people out there and not sit around complaining and protest. When in the end your just an anoying pest handing out flyers in peoples days. And as far as i can see is that you seem to follow the media too!! closely and dont really understand the true situation out there. Now if you want to paraid around the places, like the city hall doing these protests then do so. But as far the veterns day is concerned you should leave it well alone, as your disrespecting the poeple in there and what they have done and therefore my estimation of you all as people is quite low.

Please think about this, whilst using more than one brain cell.

Dont wish to cause offence but your very presents at this place would do so, so dont !

I was on guard duty today at the wollaton event, moments before which I had been talking to a veteran of the Normandy campaign who had parachuted into France in 1944, an absolutely lovely bloke who deserves a damn great deal of respect.
To be honest the protesters from Nottingham Against the War were unbelievably disrespectful, placing cut-out coffins bearing the slogan "?,000,000 Iraqis Dead" right next to my guard position. Maybe they should do some reasearch. Many Iraqis have died, but it isn't down to us that they are killing each other. If these people want to crybaby about a war that they are unwilling to participate in, then maybe they should stop harrassing the soldiers and get on the politicians case. It doesn't occur to them that maybe WE want better kit and a realistic timeline for hostilities to cease.
One even attempted to enter the event to spread poison to veterans of both world wars and many other conflicts, many disabled but having the courage and pride to attend.
Needless to say, that was nipped in the bud via radio comms. He even asked me where the protesters were setting up a stall, asking me, A SOLDIER for christ's sake, for assistance. I was then harrased by a woman who attempted to draw parallels between herself and I, as if she was asking me to leave the military by de-brainwashing me or something.....
I said nothing to her, because lets face it, what the fuck does she know about war when she goes home to her lovely middle class home after a nice afternoon protesting?

I agree totally mate...I was at wollaton on sunday with the military,and i have to say that the sad little demo achieved absolutely nothing. If those idiots think that by squealing outside the main gates was going to change the world (or even get just one serviceman to go awol) then i pity them.Its a shame they cant find something better to do with their time.,,maybe a bit of charity work or something?? The ex-servicemen and women at wollaton,many of them veterans of some horrific conflicts,deserve massive respect....instead they were treated to the whinging of the usual rabble of middle class anarchists.Anyway, those of us inside wollaton park had a fantastic day,and i look forward to next years event.