E7 Child’s Play: Militarism in the Classroom

Weapons don’t just design and build themselves – they need highly-skilled people to do this.  
But most of us have no intention of joining in mass murder. What’s a weapons company supposed to do? It turns out they have lots of tricks and techniques to get hold of the people they need – and they target them younger than you might think, right in school. Or even before...

Zoe was one they tried to inveigle into the war business. Elise West from Medical Association for the Prevention of War is one of the campaigners aiming to erase weapons companies’ ability to get a hold of our kids. You'll hear from both of them in this episode.

Produced and presented by Zelda Grimshaw and the team at Wage Peace

Links mentioned in the episode:

MAPW’s report Minors and Missiles: https://www.mapw.org.au/campaigns/weapons-companies-influence/

Gruen, Series 14, Episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDGOOoPRV4Q

BAE Systems and The Smith Family: The strange case of the weapons maker and the Australian children's charity | Paul Daley | The Guardian

UPDATE 1: since the interviews for this episode, the NSW Education Department has also designated weapons companies as not appropriate to be involved in the school classroom.

UPDATE 2: Teachers in Australia are mobilising to end militarism in our classrooms. Join the campaign here: https://teachersforpeace.com.au/

  Find us at Wage Peace:
 https://linktr.ee/wagepeace

* In loving memory of Zoe Hulme Peake. *

"We can imagine something better, together."