Local campaigns resist army targeting of children
'There has been a particular increase in concern from teachers about militarism in schools.'
Quakers are joining campaigns against arms fairs this summer, with a particular emphasis on how the armed forces target children.
Campaigns involving Quakers are in place in Cardiff, Coventry and Glasgow. These follow successful lobbying in Leicester, when the local authority prevented the armed forces from inviting people under sixteen to handle weapons, after a campaign by local residents.
The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) – which includes many Quakers among its members – said it has been working with grassroots campaigns against summer events that present children with ‘a glamorised image of war’. These include the Wales Air Show in early July, and the Fairford Tattoo in Gloucestershire this weekend, as well as the upcoming Farnborough Air Show,
Symon Hill, campaign manager for the PPU, told the Friend: ‘We’re seeing a lot of people getting in touch with us and we’re trying to work out how we can best support them. Militarism manifests itself in different ways so we want to support people in their own context in their own communities… we’re working on a new strategy but taking the lead from grassroots organisations. We’re hoping to have more online resources where people locally can learn from each other.’
There has been a particular increase in concern from teachers about militarism in schools, he said, asking for resources to present an alternate view of war.
The PPU also heavily criticised Armed Forces Day on 25 June, where children were invited to handle weapons. At a national event in Scarborough, for example, the PPU said they saw queues of children as young as six or seven encouraged to handle guns and other military equipment.
The PPU published photos with the children’s faces blurred out, triggering concerned reactions on social media. Nicola, a mother of a four-year-old child in Birmingham, told the PPU: ‘I want my daughter to learn about the realities of war as she gets older, not given the idea that war is some sort of game.’
Over 150 other events took place around the UK, either on the day or in the week leading up to it. More than a quarter of the events listed on the Armed Forces Day official website included details of activities focused on children.
Peace campaigners said the actions were in particularly bad taste following revelations about the levels of abuse of young recruits in the British military. Research by Child Rights International found that one in twenty-nine of the young women aged sixteen or seventeen who joined the British army in 2021 had formally reported being raped or sexually assaulted. At the Army Foundation College there were sixty-two reports of abuse and ill-treatment between 2014 and 2020.
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