Articles/interviews about Disrupt Landforces
News Articles
The Disruption Begins
MAY 27, 2021
By ANDY PAINE
It was Thursday afternoon peak hour in South Brisbane, soundtracked as usual by trucks rumbling down the busy thoroughfares of the area. But these were not the usual trucks, and the response to them was not the customary indifference we give to our surroundings on busy city streets.
Two trucks began to pull into the Brisbane Convention Centre. On the trailer of each were small military vehicles. One was an “Autonomous Combat Warrior” made by Rheinmetall. The company describes the vehicle as the “next generation of land vehicle systems warfighting capability”.
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The company my father works for sells weapons used in my partner’s homeland
MAY 6, 2021
They make great trucks. That’s what my father says whenever I ask him: “What do they make? Who do they sell them to?” “Only to the good guys,” is his standard answer, and the topic changes quickly. But what he calls “trucks”, most people call “tanks”. And I am always led to wonder, “What kind of ‘good guy’ drives a tank?”
My father works for Thales, one of the richest weapons corporations in the world. Before heading up security for Thales he worked for ASIO…
Read more in The Guardian...
Land Forces
MAY 4, 2021
On June 1-3, businesses and potential customers will descend on the Brisbane Convention Centre for the LAND FORCES International Land Defence Exposition. At first glance, it might seem like just another industry showcase in the endless cycle of convention-centre events.
The promotional material is a masterpiece in euphemistic corporate language, difficult for the outsider to penetrate. “A comprehensive industry exhibition with more than 600 participating companies…
Read more on Flood Media
Radio interviews
Weapons Expos
FEBRUARY 26, 2021
This week we talk all about weapons expos. Inspired by the upcoming “Land Forces 2021”, we hear Zelda Grimshaw talk about how Australian manufactured weapons end up killing West Papuan civilians, and Iain McIntyre about how protestors shut down the AIDEX weapons fair for good in the early 90’s.
Listen to Paradigm Shift Weapons Expos on Soundcloud
Weapons Industry – Revolving Doors and Killer Robots
APRIL 23, 2021
This week we talk about the weapons industry. “We hear from Michelle Fahy about the “revolving door” of personnel between the arms industry, military and government and how it is damaging our democracy; and from Matilda Byrne about the campaign to “stop killer robots” – to ban the use and production of lethal autonomous weapons. Plus we hear how both issues relate to the Land Forces weapons expo to be held in Brisbane in June.”
Listen to the full Paradigm Shift program…
Let’s Talk 2021, Ep65 – Disrupt Land Forces
MAY 12, 2021
Boe Spearim chats with Zelda who is one of the organizers of Disrupt Land Forces, which is an event happening from the 1st to the 3rd on June to protest the upcoming international Land Forces exposition at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Listen on Spotify…
Reports
People not War
“When we say People Not War, we mean people over profit, over hyper-capitalist pursuits and gains that oppress and kill. We mean prioritise our lives over looting the earth and its resources, over exploiting workers, the marginalised, those living in Global South countries.”
From the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) a UK-based organisation working to end the international arms trade.
Weapons Companies & Influence in Schools
The proliferation of weapons is one of the greatest threats to peace today.
The global weapons industry profits from war and insecurity, and is associated with corruption and human rights violations.
The Australian government has committed to making Australia a ‘top ten’ arms exporter, investing billions of dollars to grow a domestic arms industry.
From Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW)
Read on MAPW website…
World Beyond War Factsheets
War Endanger Us
There is a common perception that wars keep us safe, but in fact, war, and preparations for war, endanger more than protect. War has a history of provoking more war, not peace.
VIOLENCE PROVOKES VIOLENCE
According to the Global Terrorism Index, terrorism actually increased during
the so-called “war on terror.” “The past decade has experienced the largest
surge in terrorist activity in the past fifty years.”
EN Fact Sheet –World Beyond War
War Erodes Our Liberties
War is often justified by claiming that it is in defense of freedom in the home country and is promoting freedom and democracy abroad. This is usually not the case and, in the case of the war on terror, is patently untrue. War not only denies human rights to those people in the countries directly involved in the conflict, but it also often erodes the civil liberties – including the right to freedom of speech & assembly, due process, and protection from unreasonable searches – of the domestic populations of the aggressor countries. Often this is accomplished by first removing rights from people designated as enemies, and later by applying the same standards to others.
EN Fact Sheet –World Beyond War
Read or download War Erodes Liberties
1.5% of Global Military Spending Could End Starvation on Earth
The world spends $2 trillion a year on war and preparations for war. That’s not counting the trillions required to clean up the devastating aftermath on communities and the environment.
In 2008, the UN estimated that $30 billion per year could end world hunger. Thus, doing the math: 1.5 % of $2 trillion = $30 billion, meaning that only 1.5% of global military spending could end starvation on earth.
EN 1.5% Flyer –World Beyond War
Read or download flyer 1.5% Military Spending Could End Starvation on Earth
War is Immoral
War is nothing other than murder on a large scale. Over the centuries and decades, death counts in wars have grown dramatically, shifted heavily onto civilians rather than combatants, and been overtaken by injury counts as even greater numbers have been injured but medicine has allowed them to survive. Deaths are now due primarily to violence rather than to disease, formerly the biggest killer in wars. Civilian fatalities in wartime have climbed from 5% at the turn of the 20th century to more than 90% in modern wars. Suicide is now the leading killer of U.S. troops.
EN Fact Sheet –World Beyond War
War Impoverishes Us
EN Fact Sheet – War Impoverishes Us
Militarism creates the threat of nuclear apocalypse and is the single biggest cause of climate and environmental collapse, but in the short term, it kills more by the diversion of funds from useful projects than through all the horrors of war.
It is common to think that, because many people have jobs in the war industry, spending on war and preparations for war benefits an economy. In reality, spending those same dollars on peaceful industries, on education, on infrastructure, or even on tax cuts for working people, would produce more jobs and, in most cases, better paying jobs than would spending that money
1 on the military.
EN Fact Sheet –World Beyond War
Read or download War Impoverishes Us
War promotes Bigotry
War Promotes Bigotry
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously called racism, militarism, and extreme materialism the three evils, interrelated forms of violence that exist in a vicious cycle. War and war propaganda have often fueled and been fueled by bigotry, including racism, religious hatred, and nationalism.
EN Fact Sheet –World Beyond War
