A letter to the Woodstock Times, 1/31/2019:
Thanks to DeeDee Halleck for her letter about Rotron’s expansion. Here’s a bit more on that from woodstockpeaceeconomy.org,
"The Rotron facility has the distinction of being Woodstock's only
Superfund site, after Rotron poured TCE in the groundwater for decades
-- the byproduct of earlier generations of Rotron ballistic missile,
tank, fighter jet, rocket launcher and warship components. . . The TCE
is still there."
Sure,
jobs are important. Bills have to be paid, kids have to go to school,
play ball, rents have to be paid etc. Essentials and more. Rotron does a
good job of supporting all that in our community. It’s just a shame
that in order to survive and thrive families here in Woodstock are
dependent on jobs that contribute to the horrific and inexcusable deaths
of other children and families in places like Yemen, Syria, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Niger, Somalia, and Palestine – Rotron also sells essential
parts for weapons to Israel. Rotron also sells warplane parts to Saudi
Arabia, even as
it bombs Yemen.
Is this the best we can do?
It
all comes down to dollars, huge profits for weapons manufacturers,
doesn’t it? Do those executives making millions from war give a damn
about the workers, or about the thousands of innocent children being
injured and dying from our global war-making? Are these wars about
democracy and freedom or about profits and power?
OK,
what about jobs? Yes, Woodstock needs all the jobs it can get. How
about jobs that don’t indirectly contribute to death and injuries? Green
economy, funding human needs creates more jobs (per dollar spent) than
funding military technology. Rotron has the technology, with a little
effort, to lead the effort for conversion to a “Green Economy.” If we
want that, it’s we, the people, that must demand it. See saisjournal.org/posts/the-transition-to-a-green-economy for more on that.
Tarak Kauff
Woodstock, NY
Woodstock, NY
