Death Glides Over Galway

galway | anti-war / imperialism | feature Monday July 07, 2003 21:01 by vinnie

The Salthill Warshow

On Sunday 6th July, the Salthill airshow came to town, bedecked in all its military grandeur. Billed as an airshow, it is in fact a military show, glamourising the machines of war and desensitising people to their awful capabilities. Anti-war protestors were among the visitors to this 'family event', staging a 'die-in' on the beach.

Tuairisc as Gaeilge (Irish language report)

Yesterday the salthill airshow came to town bedecked in all its military grandeur. While supposedly billed as an airshow it is in fact a miltary show, which glamourizes the machines of war and desensitizes people to their awful capabilities.

To emphasize the point that this was not just an airshow, what was practically a small miltary village was set up with tanks and various miltary paraphenalia available for the public to drool over and children to play in!

To draw attention to the fact that the warplanes overhead actually kill people, and that the same types of aircraft and in some cases the same pilots, have been involved in many of the more recent atrocities around the globe, and that war should not be a form of entertainment, the Galway Alliance Against War along with other activist groups staged dies-in on the beaches of salthill as the planes flew over. A protest was also staged in front of the many miltary vehicles, some of which eventually withdrew.

The fact that this spectacle of war is partially funded by local taxpayers money and is billed as a family event makes it all the more twisted.