The Air Show is just two days off and we are working
hard to get as many people as possible to join us on Saturday
and/or Sunday (5/26-27) at the
Columbia Regional Airport. The plans of the organizers for a mock
napalm reenactment is just over the top, and
we need to make this clear to the whole mid-Missouri
community. More generally, we object to the tone of the entire weekend
spectacle. This is glorification of military prowess, pure and simple, and
it contributes to militarism in our culture and attitudes that make future wars
more likely.
Memorial Day
shouldn't be about fighter planes, bombs or other weapons. It's a holiday
designed to honor the memory of all those who've perished in war. It should be a
time of solemn reflection on the tragedy and folly of war; a time to renew our
commitment to creating a peaceful future.
Let's show the
community that there are many of us committed to walking the path of peace. The
following events are scheduled. Please join us and help magnify
our impact.
• We will have a presence at the airshow on both Saturday
and Sunday (May 26th & 27th) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
We’ll have signs (including poster
sized photos of napalm victim Kim Phuc), banners, a display
and plenty of leaflets to hand
out. We plan to carpool from the Peace Nook at 9:15 a.m. both mornings. For those who leave their cars downtown, free
parking is available in the 8th and Walnut garage.
• We also plan to leaflet the Memorial Day parade on Monday
morning (May 28th). We need folks who can meet at the Nook at 9 a.m.
and leaflet the crowd until the parade begins at 10. Please contact
us ASAP if you can help with
this.
• We are also encouraging everyone to attend the Veterans
for Peace Memorial Day gathering from 4:30-5:30 Monday afternoon at the MLK Jr.
Memorial (Stadium access to the MKT Trail). This event is free, open to all and
will feature speakers and music. Bring lawn chairs or blankets if you’d
like.
If you have any
questions please reply to this e-mail or call Peaceworks at 875-0539. If you
want to know more about what Salute to Veterans has planned, call their recorded
announcement line at 443-2651 or visit their Web site at www.salute.org
To understand just how out of touch the airshow
organizers are, see the article in last Monday's Columbia Tribune (5/14). In it, Salute to Veterans leader, Mary McCleary Posner
speaks in glowing terms of the napalm display, "I call it ‘feel the heat, hear
the thunder’ because it gets inside your heart." Tell that to Kim Phuc and the
hundreds of thousands of other Vietnamese who were killed or maimed by burning
jellied gasoline Mary.
We also find it disturbing that the napalm reenactment,
if it is the same as what was done in 1998, also features the mock killing
with machine guns of actors playing Viet Cong. It seems that Salute to Veterans'
mindset is that "dropping napalm and gunning down 'gooks' is jolly good
fun." Some way to honor those who've perished in war. Please join us in raising
your voices to say "no" to this insanity.
If you'd like to learn more about napalm, please visit
the following Web sites which have testimony from the Stockholm
International War Crimes Tribunal, founded by Bertrand
Russell:
We hope you'll join
us in saying "no" to this insanity.
Yours for peace and
justice,
Your friends at
Peaceworks
Below is the text of our news release
on the protest:
Peace Groups to Protest at Air Show
Saturday & Sunday
Napalm Reenactment Sparks Growing Opposition
Mid-Missouri Peaceworks today announced plans to hold a
protest outside the Salute to Veterans Air Show at the Columbia Regional Airport
this Saturday and Sunday, May 26 and 27. Peaceworks members will be joined by
activists from several other groups including the Fellowship of Reconciliation,
the St. Francis House Community and the Columbia Interfaith Peace Alliance in
demonstrating opposition to the highly militarized event.
"A mock napalm
display is no way to honor the memories of those who’ve died in war," said
Peaceworks Director Mark Haim. "Napalm caused horrific suffering, it is
certainly not something to celebrate. It seems that ‘Salute to Veterans’ is
really a Salute to Weapons organization. They attempt to influence public
attitudes—particularly those of our youth—by equating the machinery of death
with something positive and exciting. It’s high time we, as a culture, got over
our fascination with weapons and violence and began the serious work of building
a peaceful, sustainable future. Events like this Air Show with its glitzy
display of weapons and its obscene napalm reenactment move us in exactly the
wrong direction," Haim continued.
Peace advocates
will gather outside the Air Show entrance from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on both
Saturday and Sunday. They plan to share informational leaflets with attendees
and promote dialogue on the best ways to honor veterans and all who’ve died in
war. They also hope to educate the public on the need to cut the military
budget, end U.S. intervention in places like Colombia and stop the development
of destabilizing Star Wars weapons systems.
Haim said that the
activists also plan to engage the public in a discussion of napalm. "This
horrible anti-personnel weapon was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of people, many of them unarmed civilians, in World War II, Korea and
Vietnam. The use of incendiary bombs against civilian populations is a clear
violation of international law and can only be considered a crime against
humanity," he continued.
Mid-Missouri Peaceworks
804-C E. Broadway
Columbia, MO 65201
573-875-0539
Join us in working for peace, justice and a
sustainable future.