Dear editor,
The “Stop the Bray War Show” campaign is very concerned about the Bray Air Display, due to take place on 27 and 28 July 2019.
The campaign has no objection to an air show that does not include military aircraft. However, the Bray Air Display, as it is constituted at present, is wrong and immoral. It glorifies war and the senseless killing of the innocent by showcasing warplanes in a false family-friendly fashion.
Warplanes have been much in the news since the beginning of the second Iraqi War in 2003, the first major conflict instigated by Western powers as part of the phoney “War on Terror.” Many people have fallen victims to the bombs dropped by warplanes of Britain’s Royal Air Force and its allies. These planes have been involved in acts of war “directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants.”
Military aircraft scheduled for deployment as part of the Bray Air Display include the BAC Strikemaster and the Royal Air Force Tucano, both of which are supplied by Britain to brutal totalitarian regimes in the Middle East, such as Kuwait, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, the latter being the principal backers of a genocidal war in Yemen, which has killed over 100,000 people directly and displaced over three million Yemenis. The Royal Jordanian Falcons also represent another repressive Middle Eastern theocracy.
The European Union is now formulating its project to build an EU army from the ranks of the people of the EU. This state has jumped on the bandwagon of increased military spending, and, according to the National Development Plan, spending on defence capital projects will increase from €77 million in 2018 to €125 million in 2022.
The “Stop the Bray War Show” Campaign would be grateful to have your active support as part of our activities in opposition to this war show. We intend to organise public meetings before the event, and so will be looking for speakers. We also aim to target local radio, print media and local representatives as well as staging counter-actions on the weekend of the War Show along Bray strand. If you have any contacts among peace activists, left-wing musicians etc. we would also be very keen to make use of them.
This will be the fourth year that we have organised a campaign against the Bray War Show. We are not opposed to the show per se, but both the political and environmental factors should not be ignored because the event is considered a “good money-spinner” for local businesses. The show could be just as successful without aircraft whose purpose is killing.
If you wish to assist in any way, however minuscule, we would welcome your participation. You can contact the co-ordinator at Stopbraywarshow@gmail.com.
Thank you.
Paul Doran
Stop the Bray War Show activist
