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The Wales We Want and the Wales We Don’t Want

A letter is being sent to each Welsh member of the Westminster
Parliament demanding an end to the waste of military spending and
investment in Wales. Cynefin y Werin – the all-Wales activist Network
is calling for our Westminster and Cardiff governments to disengage
their vision for Wales from the global fortunes of arms companies and
the British military and think about genuinely valuable alternatives for
our country and the world.

This coincides with the first Global Day of Action on Military Spending and publication
of the figures for global military expenditure by Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute. In 2009 the world spent $1.5trillion on war and war preparations,
at a time when we should be moving from ‘military deeds to human needs’. This
‘investment’ is being made at a time when resources should instead be allocated to
addressing climate change, earthquakes, global poverty, nuclear proliferation, human
rights and the careful and fair distribution of resources.

In Wales, concern is being expressed that the rhetoric of devolution, in which Wales
earned a distinctive identity committed to social justice and the health of the
environment, to its historical values of community, voice, collectivism and social
democracy - is being lost. While the St Athan Defence College project has failed,
taxpayers’ money continues to be spent on promoting ‘defence’ and offence
investment in Wales.

At a recent Aberystwyth Conference* for those campaigners dedicated to halting the

development of military aerospace projects in Wales learned of the waste of money
spent on promoting St Athan and on other projects such as at the ‘UAV Centre of
Excellence’ Aberporth. Over £14 million of Welsh taxpayers’ money has been spent to
promote the development of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) at Aberporth,
Ceredigion and possibly Llanbedr , Meirionydd for remote surveillance and killing. **

As armament-related companies are welcomed and young, unemployed people,

especially in unemployment ‘hotspots’ are being encouraged to join the military in
Wales, many wonder how this can be happening in a country that prides itself on its
commitments to ‘sustainable development’, ‘fair trade’ and ‘international citizenship’.
Cynefin y Werin is working with other groups including Cymdeithas y Cymod and CND
Cymru to create a ‘Wales Peace Institute’ which could have a role in examining
alternatives to military investment, in the prevention or resolution of conflict and war.

Jill Gough of Cynefin y Werin said today:

“Every pound of public money spent on the military is a pound that could have spent
on genuinely sustainable jobs. No money is being invested in addressing the long-term
resolution of the root causes of insecurity and conflict.”
“We will thinking further ahead than the next five years - to our children’s and
grandchildren’s futures – and asking our National Assembly candidates the hard
questions about true sustainability.”
ENDS
*Cynefin Y Werin – Wales and Aerospace Conference March 6th 2011 Abersywtyth
** Bro Emlyn Peace & Justice Group www.bepj.org.uk

o Bilingual Interviews
Are available please contact Jill Gough 01239 85 11 88 or Stephen Thomas 02920 XXXXXXXX

o Global Day of Action Against Military Spending - http://demilitarize.org/