Fun! Food! Adventure! Smiling young faces!
And killing machines?
The poster pictured here advertises the Aviation Open House at Cochise Community College back in October 2012. The purpose of the open house was to showcase the college's new aviation classrooms, flight simulators, and training facilities. Jobs and education for rural Arizona youth– what could be more wholesome? Unfortunately, the open house also shined a spotlight on the college's cozy (and a bit creepy) relationship with merchant of death and destruction Northrup Grumman— as well as the college's disdain for freedom of speech.
Two local members of Women in Black attempted to protest at the event and were ousted– one for trying to distribute anti-war fliers and the other for posting anti-war fliers around campus. Both women– both teachers– say they were exercising their right to free speech and trying to educate college students about the not-so-rosy side of war and the drones they are being trained to built and fly. More details and a Loneprotestor video after the jump.
The video below begins poingnantly with clips from a Cochise County Community promo about the new Aviation Center. Friendly corporate giant Northrup Grumman talks about their commitment to the community and how they built and designed the "Innovation Campus" and the curriculum. (How convenient, since Fort Huachucha is a center for drone warfare.) Later the video turns to testimony by the two activists before the college's governing board– where they remind the board of the college's commitment to free speech and lament the glorification of war and the militarization/corporatization of education.
Do you want your children and grandchildren to build and fly killing machines? I don't.
Aren't there peace-related jobs they can be trained for? Of course.
Down with drones.
Give peace a chance.