Britain

Fri

Mar

2015

Nottingham city centre hosts a showcase of Army life

New translation available

Submitted by antimili-youth

By Tracy Walker, Nottingham Post

Nottingham city centre stood to attention when shoppers were given an insight into life in the Armed forces.

Regular Army and Army reserve units from across the Midlands hosted a recruitment...

Tue

May

Counter Recruitment in Belfast

Submitted by hannah on Tue, 05/05/2015 - 10:33

Having been profoundly disturbed by recent figures suggesting that 1 in 10 prisoners in the UK prison system is an ex-soldier, disturbed by the amount of homeless people that come from an ex-service background and disturbed by how many of our ex-service men and women are cast adrift suffering post-traumatic stress after they leave the military, I was keen to see what mechanisms the Armed Forces had in place to remedy these issues. So, on Saturday 25th April I took myself off to the Armed Forces trades fair (Recruitment Day) in Belfast, to engage with serving personnel and the families of potential recruits. I decided that as well as quizzing the camouflaged salesmen, I would also approach the Mums and Dads with a view to informing them of the less appealing side of life as an Army recruit.

Tue

Apr

Europe's biggest arms maker to run UK schools

Submitted by hannah on Tue, 28/04/2015 - 10:40

The British government has chosen Europe’s largest arms manufacturer as its preferred sponsor of an under-performing school in northwestern England, prompting criticism by anti-arms trade activists.

The UK-based BAE Systems, which made £15.4 billion in profits last year, is set to take over Furness Academy in Barrow, Cumbria, in September by setting up a trust to run the school under its submarine-building plant based in the town, SchooWeek journal reported Friday.

This is while Sam Robinson, university coordinator for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), described the decision as “deeply worrying.”

“The idea [BAE] could soon be playing a significant role in running one of our schools is deeply worrying,” added Robinson.

He further said, “It … gives them direct access to potential future employees and often allows them to influence the curriculum to suit their employment needs.”

Mon

Apr

Britain: Attention! Army police on parade with city centre cops

Submitted by hannah on Mon, 13/04/2015 - 13:00

Although not exclusively affecting young people, since many young people will be out on the weekends, in reality this everyday display of militarisation will affect young people disproportionately. It's another example of portraying the military as guadrians of order and control. Note the horrendous example of sexism in the last paragraph...

'The Boys in Blue have teamed up with the Red Caps to keep clubbers safe in Birmingham city centre!

Soldiers from the Royal Military Police - aka the Red Caps - can now be seen patrolling shoulder-to-shoulder with West Midlands Police in the nightlife hotspots of Broad Street and Hurst Street.

Such joint patrols are common in Garrison Towns across the UK, like Aldershot and Bulford, but with service personnel regularly heading to Birmingham for nights out the Royal Military Police investigators were keen to gain experience of policing a thriving city centre.

Thu

Apr

Guardian Gaming Night: video games, the military and morality

Military shooters like Call of Duty and Battlefield sell in their millions, dominating the charts and presenting a very particular view of war and how it is fought. Fans call it escapist entertainment, but with armies recruiting directly from gamer communities, and drone warfare becoming ever more automated and game-like, how long can developers absolve themselves of sociopolitical responsibility? Is it still OK to play at being soldiers in games that barely register the complex realities of the conflicts they represent?

Wed

Apr

Creative Writing Competition by CND Peace Education

This year, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, CND Peace Education are hosting a creative writing competition on the theme of “The day the bomb fell”. The competition aims to give young people a chance to nurture their creative talents whilst learning about the human and environmental consequences of this historically significant event.

Thu

Mar

Navy Calls In The Big Guns To Stop Peaceful Uni Protest

Submitted by hannah on Thu, 26/03/2015 - 14:02

STUDENTS who staged a spontaneous peace protest at an armed forces recruitment stand at their university were threatened with arrest yesterday.

The students say they were intimidated by military recruiters, university staff and security guards who called the police. One protester was told: “Go back to Greece.”

The Royal Navy, navy reserves and Royal Air Force were running a recruitment stand at the University of Bradford’s annual spring careers fair.

Protester and biomedical science student Beth Davies said: “This was just a group of students. We saw what was going on and decided something should be done about it.

“The military called security and security threatened to call the police.

“Nobody was arrested because we left before the police arrived.”

The protesters said one foreign student’s identification card was confiscated by security guards, leaving him unable to attend lectures and facing possible exclusion from exams.

Thu

Mar

The British Armed Forces: Propaganda in the classroom?

Submitted by antimili-youth on Thu, 05/03/2015 - 16:56

Here is a critical review of The British Armed Forces, a "learning resource" produced by the UK government and sent to schools. The video is made by Quaker Peace & Social Witness as part of their joint project with ForcesWatch. Read a full analysis here.

The British Armed Forces: Propaganda in the classroom?

Thu

Mar

Critique launched by Forces Watch and Quaker Peace & Social Witness against the UK Government's 'learning resource'

Submitted by antimili-youth on Thu, 05/03/2015 - 15:29

This week Forces Watch from the UK launched a critique, with Quaker Peace & Social Witness, against the Government's 'learning resource' about the UK armed forces.

The report and video examines The British Armed Forces Learning Resource (published in September 2014 by the Prime Minister's Office and promoted to schools by the Department for Education) and finds that it:

is a poor quality educational resource, unsuitable for many of those it is aimed at (pupils aged 5 to 16)
is politically-driven

Wed

Feb

Troops to Teachers marches on for another two years

Submitted by hannah on Wed, 18/02/2015 - 18:57

The Troops to Teachers programme is being extended to give more former service personnel who do not have degrees the chance to become teachers.

The programme is a route into teaching for those leaving the armed services who have gained qualifications or relevant experience such as teaching, instructing or mentoring through their jobs. It is a salaried, two-year training programme based in schools.

Last year, 95 former personnel joined the scheme. Today education secretary Nicky Morgan announced that the scheme will continue to recruit trainees in September 2015 and September 2016.

Ms Morgan said: “At a visit to a recent study week, I was able to see for myself the high calibre of the current trainees and the wealth of skills they can bring to teaching, including leadership, teamwork, resilience and the ability to inspire and engage.”

Fri

Feb

Minister: cut teenage pregnancies with army cadets

Submitted by antimili-youth on Fri, 06/02/2015 - 15:52

In this article from The Telegraph, Matthew Holehouse quotes John Nash (the British government's Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools) as saying "The great thing that the cadet force can bring to schools is men. Of course women forces personnel are extremely good role models, particularly for girls in schools, but sadly a large proportion of young people today are brought up in what we politely call ‘single parent households’, which almost certainly normally means a single mother.”

He claims that teenage girls from single-parent families who had “never experienced the love of a man” could be deterred from forming “unsuitable relationships” if they enrolled in a cadet unit".

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Countering Military Recruitment

WRI's new booklet, Countering Military Recruitment: Learning the lessons of counter-recruitment campaigns internationally, is out now. The booklet includes examples of campaigning against youth militarisation across different countries with the contribution of grassroot activists.

You can order a paperback version here.