IAWM CONDEMNS THE INCLUSION OF MILITARY AIRCRAFT IN BRAY AIR SHOW

IAWM PRESS RELEASE 20 APRIL 2017
The Irish Anti-War Movement welcomes the celebration of aviation on display this weekend at the Bray Air Show but condemns the inclusion of military aircraft.
While tourism and entertainment for families are important during the holiday period, air shows, such as that planned for Bray this weekend, involving the type of military aircraft that are involved in killing thousands of people in the Middle East in unjustified wars are inappropriate and an example of war tourism.
The F18 fighter jet and the Swedish Vigen are current military jets. Jordan and the UK RAF, who are both represented at the Bray Air Show, are currently carrying out bombing raids in Iraq and Syria.
Other examples of Irish involvement in such war tourism in recent times include the favourable and uncritical media coverage given to several young Irish men, former members of the Irish and British forces, who seemed to have become bored with their military service and went to fight with Kurdish separatist forces in Syria and Iraq. People who claim to be Christians helping to break up sovereign states at enormous cost to the peoples of these states are not heroes. This is just as much terrorism as is the actions of foreigners who claim to be Muslims fighting with ISIS.
Edward Horgan of the IAWM Steering Committee said:
“Conditioning the minds of young children to normalizing military aggression is wrong. Those young Irish men fighting in the killing fields of the Middle East may well have been exposed as children to militarized air shows, and western films and other media that glorify war and fail to put war into its proper context of the gross violation of the human right to life and peaceful existence.”
Jim Roche PRO of the IAWM said:

IAWM PRESS RELEASE 20 APRIL 2017
The Irish Anti-War Movement welcomes the celebration of aviation on display this weekend at the Bray Air Show but condemns the inclusion of military aircraft.
While tourism and entertainment for families are important during the holiday period, air shows, such as that planned for Bray this weekend, involving the type of military aircraft that are involved in killing thousands of people in the Middle East in unjustified wars are inappropriate and an example of war tourism.
The F18 fighter jet and the Swedish Vigen are current military jets. Jordan and the UK RAF, who are both represented at the Bray Air Show, are currently carrying out bombing raids in Iraq and Syria.
Other examples of Irish involvement in such war tourism in recent times include the favourable and uncritical media coverage given to several young Irish men, former members of the Irish and British forces, who seemed to have become bored with their military service and went to fight with Kurdish separatist forces in Syria and Iraq. People who claim to be Christians helping to break up sovereign states at enormous cost to the peoples of these states are not heroes. This is just as much terrorism as is the actions of foreigners who claim to be Muslims fighting with ISIS.
Edward Horgan of the IAWM Steering Committee said:
“Conditioning the minds of young children to normalizing military aggression is wrong. Those young Irish men fighting in the killing fields of the Middle East may well have been exposed as children to militarized air shows, and western films and other media that glorify war and fail to put war into its proper context of the gross violation of the human right to life and peaceful existence.”
Jim Roche PRO of the IAWM said:
“Exposing children to the questionable delights of attack aircraft displaying their deadly skills helps to at worst glorify war and at best sanatise it without explaining the dreadful consequences of war. Similar military aircraft to those on display have recently carried out airstrikes in Mosul which have resulted in the deaths of an estimated 5,000 civilians. Likewise with Aleppo in late 2016.”
The Irish Anti War Movement has no objection to air shows involving civilian aircraft but is strongly opposed to any such event that glorifies war and the unjustified killing of innocent people.
Contact:
Edward Horgan, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 085 851 9623
Jim Roche, PRO, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 087 647 2737
Glenda Cimino, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 086 124 9456
John Molyneux, Secretary, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 085 735 6424
Michael Youlton, Chair, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 086 815 9487
Memet Uludag, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 087 7919307
For more information on the IAWM see:
Website – www.irishantiwar.org
@IrishAntiWarMvt https://twitter.com/#!/IrishAntiWarMvt
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