Ontario campaign disrupts air show's glorification of death

A year of public education paid off for Ontario organizers and activists when the 2-day Hamilton Air Show - fittingly dubbed Hamilton War Show by the campaign - was seriously disrupted by legal protest outside the gates and a series of civil resistance actions on Saturday, June 17. Mother Nature finished off the event with rain on Sunday, June 18.

The War Show features such events as "Kiddie Commando," in which little children dress up as soldiers in camouflage with face paint and play war on an obstacle course with real soldiers sporting large water guns, "toy" grenades and military camouflage and face paint. It is one of the largest displays of aerial firepower each summer in North America, with a range of criminal warplanes from the air forces of Canada, the U.S. and U.K.

An Alternative Festival of Life began with a parade down the two-lane Airport Road, led by a large, beautiful bird of peace, huge puppets of peace, and colorful banners with slogans such as "Warning: These Planes Kill" and "Swords into Ploughshares". As the cars lined up to enter the war show grounds, passengers were met by Clowns for Peace (whose banner read: "Clowns for Peace Say War is Not OK!"), by a stilt walker who handed out anti-war flyers, and people holding photos of the human victims and environmental damage caused by aerial bombardment, underlined with the words: "This is what these planes do."

Cars were leafletted and thousands of attendees were actually reading flyers as they inched towards the airport. They were encouraged to question the annual Father's Day Weekend as family entertainment, when it really represents another family's terror and tragedy.

As demonstrators gathered at the four corners to the airport entrance and cars lined up for close to a mile in both directions, the Festival of Life proceeded with singing, poetry from Poets for Peace, satirical songs from the Raging Grannies, fiddling, bubble blowing, hula hoops, and a theatrical piece called "The Men Who Bring us War," featuring Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and current war criminal Bill Clinton.

Midway through the Festival of Life, when a die-in on the four corners was planned, police actually aided about 70 people to go prostrate in the middle of the road. As the names of bombed cities were read aloud, people "died" in the road and lay still for 10-15 minutes as two people chalked the outlines of the bodies on the road.

Police had been informed that the die-in would end when the giant bird of peace flew over the bodies and helped them rise. Perhaps thinking that a die-in would only last 1-2 minutes, agitated police worrying about the increasingly large traffic jam began demanding to know where "that damned bird" was. As a lone voice beautifully sang out "We Shall Overcome" through a microphone, the bird of peace gently flew over the bodies, helping them to slowly rise, leaving behind only outlines.

At 10:45 a.m., a group of Citizen Weapons Inspectors, armed with international and Canadian legal documents related to criminal use of the warplanes on display, began walking up the road to the airport. They were stopped by a solid row of police. Incoming traffic came to a standstill for the next 20-25 minutes, resulting in a traffic jam that soon grew out of sight.

The inspectors explained their purpose and police refused to let them by, threatening arrest if the inspectors did not leave. Meanwhile, other war show patrons freely walked down the same road without being stopped by police and asked about their political and ethical views.

Eventually, 14 people were arrested for trespass, and one freelance journalist was arrested for not having an appropriate press pass.

The Festival concluded about noon, but the traffic jam lingered for a time. About 3 p.m., a Catholic Worker group picked up where the Father's Day Five (arrested last year) left off: with a banner and prayer vigil under the A-10 Thunderbolt. Police moved quickly to arrest seven people, who joined the other 15 in jail. Six of the inspectors were held overnight due to outstanding charges from a November, 1999 Homes Not Bombs protest in Ottawa. They were released the next day on bail or conditions of association. A trial date will be set at a July 25 hearing.

For more information, contact Hamilton Action for Social Change, 1280 Main Street West, Box 19, Hamilton ON L8S 1C0 Canada (905)627-2696; hasc@tai.ca