Bogey-men……. From CAAT…..To Build A Broch…..
by Bernie Bell - 08:35 on 21 September 2025
Bogey-men…….
I read an exchange about how Governments brew up ‘Bogey-men’ to deflect the attention of the public from worse things which are happening.
Someone wrote …..”Small boat obsession comes before all else.”
I was reminded of something I wrote in m’blog in October 2022.
“Timing…..
We watched a recorded episode of ‘Quantum Leap’, which was set at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
……and I thought it was timely.
At that time, fortunately, America had a man in charge who was a thinking, reasonable person – JFK. Khrushchev? Harder to know what was going on with Khrushchev - but he reached an agreement with JFK - and doesn’t come across as a complete nutter, as the present Russian incumbent does.
The programme presented some aspects of the situation that hadn’t occurred to me before.
One of the main characters in the story sells nuclear fall-out shelters for a living. He remembers the Dustbowl happening….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl
……when his parent’s ‘world ended’ as they lost everything.
There’s a German lady wanting to buy a shelter – who escaped from Nazi Germany - it could be said that her world ended and she had to build a new one.
And so these people were faced with what they saw as a possible end to the world – their world. They were understandably fear-full, and passed that fear on to their children.
The real enemy is fear and, as Frank Herbert says in ‘Dune’ - fear kills the mind. It stops us thinking.
Would you shoot your neighbour to defend your shelter?
It occurred to me that many of the children who were being fed fear and living in fear at that time went on to become part of the Hippie culture in America – ‘What the hell – let’s have a good time while we can’.
The Russians do love their children too…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHylQRVN2Qs
Unfortunately the Russian people don’t have much say in what’s happening – it’s in the hands of mad old Putin.
The world got through the Cuban Missile Crisis. That’s about all that I can say. It’s a different world now. There is more fire-power available.
We’ve messed the place up a lot since 1962.
At the end of the story Sam suggests that the man who built fall-out shelters, and has therefore pretty much lost his livelihood – could change to building swimming pools ‘Building for fun instead of fear’. A sound basic approach.”
***************************************************************************
From CAAT….
“Last week saw a historic mobilisation against the first day of the UK’s largest arms fair - Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI). Hundreds of protesters from over 130 campaigning groups caused mass disruption to delegates trying to enter London’s ExCel centre to make their deals in death and destruction. It is thought to have been the biggest disruption to DSEI in the past twenty years.
There was heavy police violence at the protest, and our friends at Netpol are collecting witness testimonies. On the side of the demonstration that broke off from the blockade of the West gate main entrance, protesters were violently assaulted and kettled by riot police from the Metropolitan Police’s Territorial Support Group and British Transport Police’s Operational Support Unit. Please share this call out for witness testimonies widely: CALL-OUT: did you witness police violence at the arms fair protest on 9 September? - Netpol. We hope that if you were impacted, you are recovering.
No Faith In War and our friends the Quakers held a powerful silent demonstration in between the two blockaded entrances, bringing together a diverse range of tactics in an incredibly moving way. A couple days prior, Shut the System highlighted that activists allegedly took direct action against DSEI organiser Clarion Events, cutting cables and throwing red paint on Clarion’s London headquarters. Last week also saw delegates hiding their faces in shame as they were forced to walk by a massive “No Pride in Genocide” banner, while protesters chanted and created a solidarity space of music and dance. Independent activists also took to the water and challenged warships head-on, bringing the peace movement to the seas.
CAAT also recently spoke about the F-35 “genocide jet” at the Gaza Tribunal, and jointly authored a statement addressing UK complicity in the Gaza genocide, as the UN Commission of Inquiry declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, following Palestinian and international human rights organisations, the International Court of Justice and the world’s leading association of genocide scholars, amongst many others. The UK government’s duplicitous arguments around Palestine must be called out as nothing other than the bureaucracy of genocide.
CAAT also wrote to the war crimes unit at the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command (SO15), informing them of the criminal liability held by a number of individuals for atrocity crimes currently taking place in Gaza, individuals who attended DSEI last week.
None of this could have happened without your enduring support. As our government ramps up defence spending to astronomical levels, with a £75 billion increase over the next six years, the need for a strong peace movement remains more vital than ever before.
All our solidarity to everyone who takes part in this indispensable fight, from trade unionists who successfully passed a motion urging for “wages not weapons” over an increase in defence spending, to activists on the ground who can claim Elbit’s Bristol factory reportedly being shut down as a monumental victory, and everyone in between.
Please support CAAT in our continuing work to STOP the arms trade by making a donation to Keep CAAT Campaigning.
If you are in a financial position to do so, please do make a donation to support CAAT's continuing campaigning - we can't do it without your support. While any donation is a real help, choosing to make a regular monthly donation by Direct Debit has a great impact, helping us to plan ahead, knowing that funds are coming. You can use the button above to set up a Direct Debit very easily, and can stop it at any time.
Thank you for your continued support in resisting the deadly arms trade,
Zoe and all the CAAT team”
***************************************************************************
From ‘Caithness Broch Project’….
“The Final Push to Help Secure The Broch Site!
WOW!
That's all we have to say about your kindness and belief in our project - we've raised just over £21,000 in just under a month towards the acquisition of the site.
We are truly blown away by your support, and we cannot thank you enough!
We're now entering the final few days of our fundraiser, and we'd love to to make £25,000. We're so close!
If you are able to get us there, then please donate on the link below
If you would like to know about our progress so far, please check out the updates below!
Our Progress
We’ve already made excellent progress with our ‘ultimate aim’ over the last ten years, and we have selected a site to build our broch.
We have worked with award-winning Hoskins Architects (now Hamilton Hay Van Jonker) and Jura Consultants on the replica broch project. Now is the time to buy our chosen Flygla site.
Recently we have:
- Signed memorandums of understanding with the landowner of our chosen site, The Flow Country Partnership and the Environmental Research Institute (Part of the UHI).
- Submitted our initial planning application
- Produced a traffic assessment and junction design – this was a significant risk as we have looked at several sites that were discounted due to problems with road access.
- Gained feedback from council archaeologist.
- Obtained feedback from Nature Scot and first stage protected species survey.
- Held discussions with SSE regarding working under their power line infrastructure.
- Secured a map from Scottish Water which shows no water main or drainage on or near the site…
- …Then had initial discussions with drainage designer on drainage layout!
- Prepared site sections to demonstrate that the broch will not be overly prominent on the site (as per Planning pre-application feedback).
- Drafted a site plan prepared showing an indicative site layout with paths and roads with gradients.
- Had a peat survey completed over areas of most interest.
- Delivered community consultation with online survey and in-person events in Latheron.
- Consulted on the croft status of part of the land.
A project of such unprecedented ambition – if we do say so ourselves! - means that there is a lot to understand and to plan ahead for. But though it sometimes moves slowly, it is still incredibly exciting, and we are committed to pushing the project forward, bit by bit, every day.
It’s a lot of work – we are all volunteers – but today we ask you to show your support by donating to help us buy the site.
We can’t thank you enough for helping a shared dream become a shared reality!
So, please visit our Crowdfunder, and help us make it all happen:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/...
Keep on brochin' in the free world!
Add your comment
