On Wednesday 20th November, the Telford Arms Fair protest will take place outside the Telford Exhibition Centre, where the UK’s premier arms merchants (of death) will be hawking their goods to national and international buyers. This is an annual event that used to be held at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern, but after years of protest and disruption, it has moved to what the organisers hope will be a more secure venue at the Exhibition Centre. The Telford Arms Fair protest aims to raise awareness about the disastrous effects of the arms trade on global conflict.
Last year, we made it very clear to all the exhibitors and buyers what we thought of their cold deals, devoid of morality. This year, with Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine in mind, our voices must be louder. It seems that we are entering a new stage in our current descent into an Orwellian dystopia, where we have recently been encouraged to uncritically choose facts and realities. We are told that black equals white, that defence is offence, that refugees are criminals, that ‘special military operations’ are not invasions of sovereign nations committing genocide to provide peace, and that if you don’t agree, there may be consequences.
This ‘doublethink’ is only possible with an enabling political consensus and the censorship of alternative narratives. Is it any surprise that ever-deeper depths of depravity are being created in warfare, where civilians are no longer deemed unfortunate collateral damage, but central to war strategies? Schools, hospitals, and apartment blocks all flattened, children and the disabled being shot by snipers.
This is the ‘real’ reality, and we need to be part of the resistance to it and the arms industry that profits from and promotes it.
Pat McCarthy,
Co-ordinator, Telford and Wrekin Green Party