All articles

Fri
14
Feb

Military activity in UK schools: report

Military activity in UK schools

Forces Watch -  Updated May 2013

This briefing outlines the methods and rationale of the military's engagement with young people within the education system and highlights potential developments in this area, including projects under consideration or development by the Armed Forces and the Department of Education.

Armed forces activities in schools and colleges

Each of the three services that make up the Armed Forces, as well as the Ministry of Defence, have their own education and outreach programmes to engage with young people. Of the three, the Army has the most extensive programme of activities, reflecting their need to recruit more young soldiers.

Fri
14
Feb

Camouflage Kids: How the military affects young people's lives: publication

Camouflage Kids: How the military affects young people's lives

A ForcesWatch poster showing policy, cultural and other recent developments affecting the extent of military influence in young people's lives.

Fri
14
Feb


Military expansion in the universities of Andalusia.

Almería: Primera jornada sobre Seguridad y Defensa


On the celebration of the Global Day of Action Against Military Spending (April 15 2013), the Non-violent and Anti-militarist Network in Andalusia (R.A.N.A in Spanish) submitted a press release and a dossier on military interventionism in Andalusian colleges and universities: http://redantimilitarista.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/con-motivo-del-15-de-... y 
http://redantimilitarista.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/defensa-universida...

English translation unavailable for .
Thu
13
Feb

Voting with our feet: women (and children) in Israel making new move(ment)s: article

Rela Mazali, New Profile

Rela Mazali -

A new movement of women is emerging in Israel, in interaction with an existing but unacknowledged movement of young people. The women are challenging the risks their state is prepared to take with lives. Among them, mothers and spouses are questioning the state’s use of their sons, daughters and partners in the military. Protesting the pervasive militarization of their society, they’ve begun to work on retracting the standing loan of Jewish Israeli lives to the military. The young people are intentionally avoiding enlistment in the Israel Defense Force. This composite movement is everywhere, destabilising the public/private, emotional/rational, male/female divides.

Thu
13
Feb

Young age at Army enlistment is associated with greater war zone risks: An analysis of British Army fatalities in Afghanistan: report

A young British soldier. Photograph: Shawn Baldwin/EPA

David Gee and Anna Goodman -

The risk of fatality in Afghanistan for recruits who enlisted into the British Army aged 16 and completed training has been twice as high as it has for those enlisting at 18 or above.

The increased risk reflects the disproportionately high number of 16 year olds who join front-line Infantry roles. This is the result of recruitment policies which drive young people with limited academic qualifications into the Army’s most dangerous roles. Those who enlist at 16 are effectively barred from entering many of the less risky support or technical roles due to lack of qualifications. Another probable contributing factor is the longer average career length of 16 year old recruits who successfully complete training, leading to more tours of duty in Afghanistan when compared with adult recruits.

Wed
12
Feb

The Last Ambush?: reports

Forces Watch -

This report investigates some of the main mental health effects of a career in the British armed forces during the last decade. It explores how widespread these effect are, whom they affect most, and why. It finds that harmful levels of drinking, as well as violent behaviour after deployment, are serious problems in the armed forces. Compared with the general population and with current personnel, former personnel are markedly more affected by post-traumatic stress disorder, harmful drinking, common mental disorders (types of anxiety and depression), and self-harming behaviour. Pre-enlistment adversity, exposure to warfare at close quarters, and loss of social support after leaving the forces are among the most potent risk factors. While many people in the armed forces have good mental health, some face substantially greater risks than others. The youngest recruits from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds are the group most at risk.

Wed
12
Feb

War-Toys: Israel, West Bank, Gaza Strip

War-Toys : War-Toys: Israel, West Bank, Gaza Strip

Brian McCarty -

WAR-TOYS: ISRAEL, WEST BANK, GAZA STRIP – Using principles of play and art therapy, children who have been affected by conflict become art directors for Brian McCarty’s photographs of toys found within warzones, placed and posed to recreate shared fears and witnessed events. The resulting images offer rare and fascinating insights into the contemporary experiences of girls and boys living on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

“My goal for WAR-TOYS is to change lives,” says artist Brian McCarty. The showing of work at Peanut Underground Art Projects and upcoming book release are the first volume in what will be a long-running project.

Tue
11
Feb

The popular geopolitics of military video games: Answering the ‘Call of Duty’

Call of Duty

Daniel Bos was awarded ESRC +3 funding in 2011 to research the popular geopolitics of military video games. The research will specifically focus on the geopolitical and militaristic significance of commercial first-person shooter video games, such as ‘Call of Duty’. Furthermore, the project will use multiple, innovative methods to investigate players’ engagements with the games.
The research will contribute to current academic discussions by:

Tue
11
Feb

Scientists to spend £500,000 examining how toys shape opinions of war

Hayley Dixon -

 Scientists are to spend £500,000 finding out if playing with toys like Action Man shape children's opinions on war and terrorism.

The two year study also plans to look at whether such dolls have a role to play in influencing the future of our armed forces.

The project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, is the first analysis of the role of toys in the making of young people.

It's hoped the findings will be published in 2016 shortly after the expected withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan, which itself will inform the research.

Professor Klaus Dodds, of Royal Holloway University in London, who insists the money is well spent, said: "We are not examining whether war toys are good or bad or the psychology of such play.

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