High ideals: VE Day, Covid and an anti-militarist future
On the 75th anniversary of VE Day, we reflect on what happened to the ideas and hopes that flourished after the Second World War, and what we can learn from this for a post-COVID world. This article was first published...
Militarising the crisis?
We need to tackle coronavirus with a strategy for health, care and solidarity. While military support is useful, there is little place for its approaches and culture during the UK’s Covid-19 response. Yet echoes of the military are starting...
Covid-19 and the UK Military
What is the UK military's involvement in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic so far?
Book Review: Keenie Meenie: The British Mercenaries Who Got Away with War Crimes
Joe Glenton reviews this explosive account of a secret group of mercenaries based on newly declassified documents.
Mobilising the crisis: Covid-19 and the UK military
Recorded on 10 June 2020.
Leading critical military studies academics discuss the role and operation of the UK military in the COVID-19 crisis and, in the light of the #BlackLivesMatter protests, how militarism intersects with racism and public control at home and abroad.
With:
Professor Vron Ware of Kingston University, author of ‘Military Migrants: Fighting for YOUR country’
Dr Victoria Basham of Cardiff University, editor-in-chief of the Critical Military Studies journal
Professor Paul Dixon of Birkbeck University, editor of ‘The British approach to Counterinsurgency: From Malaya and Northern Ireland to Iraq and Afghanistan.’
A new film about recent militarism and the battle for the hearts and minds of young people in the UK. The film follows the stories of Ben Griffin, former SAS soldier and founder of Veterans for Peace UK, and Quaker activist Sam Walton, and features the work of ForcesWatch and partner organisations.
See here for screenings and how to organise one. See war.school.
get involved
Should the armed forces encourage young people to interact with weapons and military vehicles?
We explore why this is happening and how can it be challenged?
Former soldiers angered by UK plans for Iraq war crimes 'amnesty' https://t.co/7P1NnQuUWa
Very worth watching this @BigBrotherWatch film for a summary of #Covid response overpolicing, lack of democratic oversight, and increase in surveillance that will affect us in the future.
1) Nightingale was not a soldier
2) If Crimean-era civilians could be claimed by the army, Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole (whose statue is almost within sight of the MOD) might be a better call given the political moment.
3) Ethics of using Covid to recruit highly questionable.
