This Labor Day Weekend (Aug 30th, 31st, Sept 1st, 2nd),
the Catholic Worker will hold its Airshow Witness
to end the militarization & military presence
at the Cleveland National Airshow,
with prayer, fasting and presence.....
Our witness encourages nonviolent resolutions to conflict and war as we demonstrate our own commitment and vow to do so.....
You are invited to join us.
mike
We open Aug 30th, Friday evening, 6:30-8pm, with a vigil/presence at WarPlanes Plaza at Burke Lakefront Airport, (Marjorie Rosenbaum Plaza) We gather to reflect, to pray and to walk the perimeter of the Airshow entrance & plaza. We share reflections, dwell in silence, beginning this public liturgy
that we might be received/welcomed into this place in the Great Lake Erie basin,
near the Cuyahoga River,
on the land of the Ancient Mound-builders,
and their descendants: Erie, Ojibwa, Lenni Lenape, Wyandotte, Iroquois, others,
parceled into real estate by Moses Cleaveland, his surveying party,
dependent on the labors of many workers
now requiring truth, reconciliation, reparation.
All this in hope and trust that a non-violent spirit forms our witness these next 3 days.
I will be at the Airshow fasting all 3 days, Sat, Sun, Mon.
Tim Musser will be there Saturday and Monday with me & fasting; others will be there some of the time.
Each day, we arrive at WarPlanes Plaza, at Burke Lakefront Airport, @ 9:30am & leave @ 5:00pm
Join us in spirit or by coming down to the plaza for an hour, half-day, all-day, fasting, accompaniment.
Let me know when you’re coming.
As our Witness is all day, be sure to check that we're there as things change; we may be away briefly.
Currently, the weather forecast is low 80s, over the 3 days; monday, 70 degrees;
but friday night has temps in the 90s & thunderstorms; saturday might have storms in the morning!
3-day Fast/Witness to end Militarism at the Airshow
WarPlanes are not Entertainment.
Nonviolence Works, War Doesn’t
Trans-form the $2.5 Trillion US Military Budget to meet human needs.
Let's use the $1.3 Million cost for the Blue Angels show to support nonviolent resolutions to conflict & war....
We will have the War Resisters League Federal Budget piechart to hand out.
We will have a short Catholic Worker handout/flyer, explaining our witness. (attached)
And we will have banners. Feel free to make your own.
1.Sat Aug 31st, 10am-5pm, at WarPlanes Plaza
2.Sunday Sept 1st, 9:30am-5pm, at WarPlanes Plaza
9:30am-10am worship/prayer
3.Monday Sept 2nd. 10am-5pm, at WarPlanes Plaza
BACKGROUND: The Catholic Worker has been leading this witness for almost 40 years because the Cleveland National Airshow functions as a WarShow.
Initially, Salvadorans, provided sanctuary in Cleveland at Casa San Jose in the 1980s, expressed alarm at the sounds of the Airshow fighter jets, describing how the fighter jets reminded them of the warplanes that flew over El Salvador in strafing runs. Joe Lehner, the Salvadorans, other Catholic Workers began the witness the following year. What are the sounds of entertainment in Cleveland are the sounds of war and fear in other countries. The sheer volume of the planes is actually intimidating and violent, despite what is billed as 'entertainment.'
While there are several non-defense aircraft providing entertainment at the Airshow, the US military has a large presence. And Military Recruiting is a major focus at the event.
Military: Precision flying teams are worth the risk, cost (As a former Thunderbird pilot stated: Thunderbird Airshows [like the Blue Angels Airshow] are worth the cost, the risk, because “they’re vital to recruitment and help citizens feel good about their military.”)
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It is WarPlanes as Entertainment (& recruitment) that the Catholic Worker witness opposes.
The main event this year, the Blue Angels Demonstration team, fly the F/A 18 Hornet, the US Navy's fighter jet.
The Blue Angels are painted up to distract from their purpose as killing machines. Their spectacular flight maneuvers entertain and recruit and encourage allegiance to the US war-culture, gun-violence, and its machinery without highlighting the death, violence, and disasters these planes create. McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet - Wikipedia
The F/A 18 Hornet, the US Navy fighter jet, was originally created by McDonnell-Douglas in the 1970s. It is deployed throughout the world at 750 US military bases in 80 countries for US military operations and wars.
The cost of the F/A Hornet is $30-70 million per plane.
Article in Cleveland Magazine's published online, Aug 28th, 2024 by Robin Goist.
As many people walk to the Airshow Gates in the morning, the Catholic Worker will be just outside the gates of the Cleveland National Airshow, at the WarPlanes Plaza, where two planes are mounted as gods of war/metal, at Burke LakeFront Airport (Marginal Road, just north of Rte 2) on Labor Day Weekend.
Every year, the Airshow witness, gives us an opportunity to reflect on our own complicity in a war economy and war/imperial/violent US culture and what we are called to do.
Join us.
Mike
