Stop wars! Soldiers stop being used as pawns.

It is not uncommon to hear people describe those who join the military to fight in wars across the sea as “heroes” fighting for our “freedoms.” Neither is it uncommon for this narrative to be perpetuated by the mainstream media.

The myth that armed service personnel are fighting for the “freedoms” of the people, or that the war they are fighting is a just war, holds no basis in reality and a large percentage of people know this. The problem is not so much the people supporting the troops but rather the people who are against these wars but choose to remain silent.

In 2015 the arms industry is booming, wars rage across the globe and new boogeymen begin to come to the forefront, giving certain establishments an excuse to launch even more wars and incursions into sovereign countries.

The myth is propagated by mainstream news outlets that people at home are in danger of an imminent attack by such groups but this is not true – in fact people have more chance of being shot by cop than they do of being caught up in a terror attack.

These excuses are used to change public opinion in favor of fighting wars and maintaining occupations, whilst in reality the wars and occupations are the reason that so many people in those countries wish to fight back – and so arguably defending rather than attacking.

We cannot move forward until people shake the old way of thinking and begin to stand up and say no to war, until people realize that soldiers who go off and fight wars for the people in power are only pawns in a bigger game. Wars continue across the seas, and at home people’s rights are being trampled on while the police state is built up around them.

We are told this is all in the name of stopping “terror” a threat that is nearly non-existent. It has even been said by top ranking officials who have developed a conscience, that groups such as “Al Qaeda” don’t even exist, nor did they ever exist, it was simply a state created “boogeyman” who we can blame things on to justify mass military mobilization. We touch on the real reason for these wars in other articles.

One of the biggest ways we as a race can help to prevent these abominable actions is quite simple – stop signing up for the armed forces. Defense is arguably necessary at home, but these poor young soldiers are all too often fighting an unjust, unnecessary war, and are all to often unknowing, too.

Authors, Matt Bolton & Gerard Dinnen