March to stop the military academy

Stop the War NOW: MARCH TO STOP THE UK MILITARY ACADEMY
Mass demonstration called by Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign
Supported by UK Stop the War Coalition
Assemble 1.30 pm, Cathays Park
(opposite Museum/City Hall, Cardiff
Saturday 26 April

Bring placards, banners, drums, people etc
In the summer of 2006, hundreds of people protested in Cardiff against the war on Lebanon. The Israeli military dropped half-a-million cluster bombs on Lebanon supplied by arms companies like Raytheon. Now Raytheon has been invited to Wales by the Welsh Assembly Government to help run a huge, privatised military academy near Cardiff. It's time to get back onto the streets! Anything we can do in Wales to prevent the State waging war on its terms can only be of help to those resisting in the frontline in the Middle East and beyond.

Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign supporters include:
Aberystwyth Peace & Justice Network, Bangor Peace & Justice GroupCaernarfon Peace & Justice Group, Cardiff Anarchist Network, Cardiff Justice & Peace Group, Cardiff RESPECT/Left Party, Church Action Against Poverty, CND Cymru, CND (Swansea), Communist Party of Wales, Cymdeithas y Cymod (Fellowship of Reconciliation Wales), Cymdeithas yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society), Cynefin y Werin, Green Party (Wales), Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, Penarth Justice & Peace Group, Permanent Revolution, Quakers (Caerleon), RESPECT/Left Party, Socialist Labour Party (Wales), South Wales Anarchists, Stop the War Coalition (UK), Stop the War (Bristol)Stop the War (Cardiff), Stop the War (Swindon), Stop the War (Wrekin), Women in Black (Abergavenny), Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Wrexham Peace & Justice Centre
To add your name or organisation to the list of supporters or for more information about the campaign, email: no2militaryacademy@inbox.com
Imagine a world in which the armed forces are trained by arms dealers.And we subsidise their profits.
That world will become reality unless we stop the proposed school of death at St Athan.The creation of a military super-academy at St Athan, between Cardiff and Swansea, was announced as a done deal in January 2007. Despite the fact this represented the biggest PFI in history, involving £14 billion of taxpayers' money, there had been no debate in either Westminster or the Welsh Assembly (Senedd). A promise of 5500 local jobs was trumpeted loudly by an uncritical news media and presented as a great victory for Wales.
No wonder the politicians didn't want any debate. The new super-academy, replacing many smaller centres, means that military training will now be in the hands of shameless profiteers.The winning bidders for the project were the Metrix consortium. This consortium includes Qinetiq, the privatised research and development wing of the MoD. Qinetiq was recently the subject of intense criticism by the National Audit Office. Its privatisation was proposed by MoD managers – who then saw their shares rise 10,000% on the day of the sale! 33.8% of Qinetiq was also bought by the US-based Carlyle Group, a sinister lash-up of politicians and arms dealers with a vested interest in promoting war.Former members of its board include one George W. Bush.
Then there is the US arms manufacturer Raytheon. Raytheon make the missiles which deliver cluster bombs, the horrendous weapons which are estimated to have killed 100,000 people – 98% of them innocent civilians. The world can also thank Raytheon for the depleted uranium weapons which have led to thousands of horribly deformed babies and large increases in cancers in war zones and beyond.Raytheon, Qinetiq and friends will not just be training UK armed forces at St Athan. They will train any soldiers, sailors and air force personnel that are willing to pay for the privilege. And like all PFIs, the St Athan academy will be subsidised by the taxpayer, and if necessary, bailed out with public money.There has never been a detailed breakdown of the jobs the academy will bring. However, even Metrix admit that many of the military trainers will relocate from elsewhere. Every PFI has secured profits by cutting costs. St Athan will mean less MoD jobs overall, and the poorest pay and conditions for lowskilled workers.
In any case, imagine what else could be done with £14 billion! With hospitals and schools closing throughout Wales and the UK, with a desperate need to improve social facilities, create sustainable sources of energy etc, such public money could be invested in socially useful projects rather than the preparation for future wars of occupation like Iraq.
If this development goes ahead, 21 st century Wales will be become a militarised, security-obsessed nightmare. If you want to stop the war profiteers in their tracks, support the campaign and raise it in your union, student union, workplace and community.

Army out of schools petition - Gordon Brown says NO

Army out of schools - epetition reply

10 March 2008

We received a petition asking:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime to end military recruitment in all schools and colleges in the UK."

Details of Petition:

"We are very concerned at the drive by the military to attempt to use schools as recruiting grounds for the armed services. Given the terrible wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we demand that the school authorities resist pressure for increased military input in to our education. We do not believe schools should be used to recruit to the military directly or through recruiting agencies. We demand that no military force should be allowed into any school at any time. If spokespeople for the military are allowed in to our school we demand that all students are informed in advance, have the right not to attend the event and that there should be a right of reply from an anti war military parent or a speaker from the anti-war movement."

• Read the petition
• Petitions home page

Read the Government's response

Armed Forces presentation teams undertake visits only at the specific invitation of the schools and colleges themselves. The purpose of these visits is to contribute to the curriculum by raising awareness of the Services and their place in a democratic society whilst building interest in the Armed Forces and the wide range of careers available within them. These visits support schools' careers programmes and offer advice on Service careers. Young people should be shown all available career options - the more information the presentation teams can give a young person about life in the Armed Forces, covering all points, both good and bad, the better informed he or she is.

The Armed Forces are one of the largest deliverers in the UK of apprenticeships; as such, joining any of the three Services offers a young person the opportunity to achieve nationally recognised skills and qualifications. All three Services offer a wide range of challenging careers to both men and women regardless of background. The market for young talent has become increasingly competitive and it is only right that young people should be made aware of all the available options.

Since 1963, when national service was abolished, no one in the UK has been forced to join the Armed Forces, which has since become an organisation manned entirely by volunteers. Furthermore, no one under the age of 18 years may join without the formal written consent of a parent or guardian.

Child soldiers training for war in americas schools - coming to st athan soon

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The Child Soldiers Training For War In America's Schools

The militarisation of youth in poor, black American public schools continues to supply the Bush wars with new recruits :

Dozens of teens dressed in uniforms provided by the US Marines stand at attention in the gym of a Chicago public high school as a drill sergeant goes through a list of the day's do's and don'ts.

One in 10 public high school students in Chicago wears a military uniform to school and takes classes -- including how to shoot a gun properly -- from retired veterans.

That number is expected to rise as junior military reserve programs expand across the country now that a congressional cap of 3,500 units has been lifted from the nearly century-old scheme.

Proponents of the junior reserve programs say they provide stability and a sense of purpose for troubled youth and help to instill values such as leadership and responsibility.

But opponents say the programs divert critical resources from crumbling public schools and lead to a militarization of US society.

"To call these young people child soldiers might be technically inaccurate, but it does reveal the truth of it," said Oscar Castro, a spokesman for the National Youth and Militarism Program, an advocacy group.

Military recruiters already have the right to give presentations in public schools and to access databases with the contact information of all public school students whose parents do not remove their children from the list.

While military officials say the junior reserve programs are not used as recruiting tools, about 30 to 50 percent of cadets eventually enlist...

This is particularly troubling given that the programs are concentrated in low-income and minority neighborhoods, said Sheena Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the Chicago branch of the American Friends Service Committee which lobbies against the programs.

"If you want to teach discipline and leadership then do it for everyone and don't make them wear (military) uniforms," Gibbs said. "Students (at regular schools) protest that they have to still share books but the military academy has laptops."

At Chicago's Marine Military Math and Science Academy, the first public Marine academy in the nation and the fifth military academy run by the city's school district, it's easy to see how signing up for service would be a logical post-graduation step.

The argument that such military training helps wayward kids learn discipline and how to behave is valid enough.

But equally valid is the argument that such military-in-schools programs are rare indeed in the more affluent white suburbs of the United States.

Rich white kids rarely go to fight America's wars.

They go to university.