Month: July 2011

Teachers reject ‘Army propaganda’

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Teachers have voted to oppose military recruitment activities in schools if they employ “misleading propaganda”.

Young people must be given a true picture of Army life, not a “marketised version”, the National Union of Teachers conference heard.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) denies actively recruiting in schools but says it does visit to raise awareness when invited in by head teachers.

Some teachers complain the Army uses sophisticated methods of recruitment.

Paul McGarr, a teacher from east London, said only when recruiting materials gave a true picture of war would he welcome them into his school.… Read more

Britain’s own child soldiers

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A third of army recruits are under 18. Is it right to target the young and the underachieving poor?

What first attracted Michael Lyons to a career in the armed forces was an advertisement he spotted as a teenager, depicting the Royal Navy delivering humanitarian aid. Lyons, now 25, is beginning a seven-month term in military detention after being found guilty earlier this week of wilful disobedience of a lawful order. He was also demoted and dismissed from the navy, where he had served since 2005 as a medical assistant submariner.

After refusing rifle training because of moral objections to his deployment in Afghanistan, Lyons’s case was the first to be heard on grounds of conscientious objection in over a decade. Because his concerns were broadly political – stemming, he said, from the WikiLeaks revelations – rather than religious, there was minimal precedent for the decision. (There was, of course, a well-established tradition of conscientious objectors in the last two world wars, with thousands of British men, including my own Quaker grandfather, granted exemptions on condition of “alternative service”.)

Perhaps it was simply the case that Lyons, who enlisted at 19, grew up. He is not the first, nor will he be the last, young man to enter the forces with a naive or partial view of all this commitment entails and then suffer the consequences.

… Read more

Dalston Army Showroom Closes

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We’re celebrating after the closure of the army showroom in the Kingsland shopping centre. We’ve been campaigning against the centre for two years.

When the centre opened we were horrified that it used video games and fake hand guns to suggest that the military was a “fun” occupation. In an area like Hackney with high unemployment we were appalled that young people were being conned like this. And, with Hackney’s gun crime problem, it was completely wrong to suggest that violence was a solution to anyone’s problems.

We quickly organised protests at the showroom – in one of the first, we occupied the showroom and forced it to close temporarily. We won support from Labour councillors, trade unionists and Turkish community organisations, among others. And we organised a well-attended Stop the War public meeting, at which a councillor for the ward with the showroom in it spoke.

Now the centre has shut down. The army say it is “closed for refurbishment” because of a leaking pipe – but it looks like it’s shut for good.

Everyone who was part of the campaign can feel proud. We argued that war is no way forward for Hackney’s young people – and we won.… Read more

Army closes Hackney recruitment centre – for now

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A controversial Army recruitment office has closed just two years after it opened amidst protests by anti war and gun campaigners.

The state of the art recruitment shop in Kingsland Shopping Centre boasted a virtual battlefield simulator which gave visitors he chance to use their friends as target practice with a replica handgun.

The centre was one of three pilots with others in Hounslow, west London and Maidstone in Kent.

At the time Lucy Cope the founder of Mothers Against Guns said it was insensitive to house the showroom in a borough where lives had been blighted by gun crime.

Campaigners from Hackney Stop the War had also pledged to shut the showroom down. They accused the Army of exploiting youth unemployment in Hackney in a bid to recruit people from poor areas with fewer career options.

They occupied the showroom at Kingsland High Street as part of their protest and two people were arrested and later acquitted of alleged offences.

An Army spokeswoman has stressed that the closure is temporary and is due to health and safety reasons so the office can be refurbished.

There is a leak in the roof at the showroom.

She said: “We are taking the opportunity during the repairs to have a look at what we have got in the showroom and moving them around.… Read more

Court martial for Navy medic conscientious objector

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A medic in the Royal Navy will face court martial on Monday 4 July despite declaring that he is a conscientious objector.

Michael Lyons has been charged with “wilful disobedience” because he asked not to participate in rifle training last September after having applied for conscientious objector status.

Lyons could face up to ten years’ imprisonment if convicted.

At a hearing in May, Michael Lyons’ lawyer argued that because Mr Lyons had already declared a conscientious objection at the time of the training, the command for him to participate in it was unlawful. Although Mr Lyons had not been required to handle a weapon since 2005 he was asked to do so when it was known that he had applied for discharge as a conscientious objector.

His lawyer further argued that if Mr Lyons had taken part in the rifle training without protest it would have discredited his claim as a conscientious objector and it was simply something he was unable to do.

Mr Lyons’ defence are also concerned that there could be a perception that the judge in this case is not impartial as he acted as senior prosecutor in a similar case. (2)

ForcesWatch, a network concerned with ethical issues around the armed forces, said the case highlights the lack of respect shown for the human rights of forces personnel.… Read more