ON behalf of a group of concerned persons, who held a ‘Vigil for Peace’ on the Guild Hall steps Cardigan on August 30, may I say a big thank you to all those individuals and groups who joined us, and signed petitions. It is most heartening to know that there are other people concerned at the reckless destruction, in the wake of the Military Industrial Complex that the ex-US President Eisenhower specificity warned us all against.

The vigil was in support of the ‘The Counter NATO Conference’ held in South Wales highlighting how NATO’s existence is actually promoting war, destabilisation and mistrust between nations.

When we all really need to be working together, to counter the very real and urgent threats posed by radioactive and other pollutants in the environment, ‘Climate Change’, world hunger etc etc. At present millions of peoples lives are already affected, but before very many years that number will be in the billions. What we do now will make all the difference to those future billions.

Insanely the NATO summit, with its £50m security costs, is preparing plans to send, during October, a 10,000 strong “International Expeditionary Force” to the Ukraine to conduct war games. International tensions are already likened to ‘The Cuban Crises’, when the world came within a whisker of a thermonuclear exchange. In the 1960s an exchange would have left the planet very badly damaged.

An exchange today would effectively be the end of humanity, with only the rats and cockroaches left to again make that long search for intelligence.

War and its ‘Military Industrial Complex’, are getting in the way of dealing with our problems. Therefore it is time to decide, and to act.

On Saturday, September 20, there will again be a non-partisan non-religious, all welcome, ‘Vigil for Peace’ on the Guild Hall steps from 11am to 1pm. This time in support of the ‘Drape the Drones’ event the next day, meeting at 11.30am, at the mini roundabout by the entrance to Parc Aberporth. This event is to draw attention to the Drone Testing Area, based at Blaenannerch air-field / West Wales Airport UAV Centre / Parc Aberporth, by running a specially knitted 60cm wide ‘rainbow peace scarf’ between the main road and the entrance to the UAV base.

September 21 is also ‘International Day of Peace’ and is increasingly celebrated all over the world.

For Peace and Justice.

BOB DOYLE

St Mary Street

Cardigan