Global Women's Strike Protest at the Salthill Airshow

galway | anti-war / imperialism | press release Friday July 04, 2003 16:54 by Global Women's Strike, Ireland womenstrike8m at server101 dot com 087 7838688

The Global Women's Strike, an independent and international grassroots women's
network, is protesting the presence of warplanes and other military technology at the
Salthill Airshow in Galway this Sunday. At any time but especially at present, it is outrageous to
mount such a display of military killing power and glorification of the 'work' of killing
over the work of caring for every life, which we women mostly do. Show your opposition to the promotion of killing
priorities over the priority of caring by joining mothers and other women in our protest or calling by our picket and stall on
the promenade, opposite Kitty O'Shea's, to offer support.....

The Global Women's Strike, an independent and international grassroots women's network, is protesting the presence of warplanes and other military technology at the Salthill Airshow in Galway. Military and civilian officials now admit the war in Iraq is not over and occupation of the country will continue for years. At any time but especially at present, it is outrageous to mount such a display of military killing power and glorification of the 'work' of killing over the work of caring for every life, which we women mostly do.

On our TV screens, the whole world has been witness to the slaughter of women, children and men in Iraq and the utter disregard for every precious life that condoned the bombing of villages in Afghanistan as 'unfortunate mistakes' and 'collateral damage'. $3 billion a year from the US to the Israeli military ensures continued use of this technology to devastate Palestinian communities. Meanwhile, the US and Europe continue to profit from the genocide of millions in Africa, selling deadly machines and weaponry to puppet governments and factions they have backed. And the Irish government has compromised Irish neutrality, enshrined in our constitution, participating in this slaughter by allowing the use of Shannon airport for refuelling of US warplanes and troop carriers.

The majority of those killed and injured in war are women and children. No one can say they didn't know this. And even when the bombs stop, the attacks and the killing go on. Women in Iraq have been raped or strip-searched by male US military personnel at checkpoints but their protests have met with no justice so far. The occupying powers have used the UK military to distribute infant formula and aid agencies Trócaire and Caritas Internationalis are distributing medicated powdered milk to mothers made desperate by lack of food. Already containing pollutants and chemicals damaging to children's health, when mixed with unclean water, this powdered milk has potential to kill many thousands more Iraqi children.

When they're not paying with their own lives, women are fighting for the lives of loved ones. Women are keeping entire communities going in the face of military occupation and repression which denies those communities food, water and medical attention and which also directly targets this vital role women play by perpetrating rape and other sexual violence on us. For this and all the other work we do daily, women mostly get no pay at all while military budgets expand by billions year after year. Global military budgets now stand at over $900 billion a year, while the basic essentials of life for everyone in the world would cost just $80 billion.

Meanwhile, men supporting the protest say, 'military budgets make men killers'. Men [and some women] are pulled away from families and communities in their hundreds of thousands, often forcibly conscripted or faced with the alternatives of devastating poverty or prison, and sent to kill other families and communities for governments and multinational corporations. The growing movement of those refusing this killing work strengthens us all.

The Global Women's Strike is demanding to know:

These warplanes kill for profit from oil and the arms trade, but how much food and piped water could the cost of just one of those planes provide?
How many of our children would not die from hunger?
How many operations or hospital beds could be provided?
How many carers' allowances?
How much in benefits to single mothers on welfare from one warplane?
How many non-contributory pensions?
How many halting sites built?
How much proper provision for asylum seekers who have fled the very destruction these machines cause?
How much in disability benefit?

We all want our families to have a great day out but we don't want to glory in the deaths of innocent women, children and men in other parts of the world. What we are saying, especially to other women in Galway, is come and show your opposition to the promotion of killing priorities over the priority of caring by joining mothers and other women in our protest or calling by our picket and stall to offer support. Women joining the protest say, 'we don't want money spent on military hardware, displays of murderous technology, Garda overtime protecting warplanes at Shannon airport or to have our children trained to kill in any 'European army', we want an end to all wars, military occupation, racism and poverty'.

Pay women not the military! Invest in Caring Not Killing!