Seafair’s 75th year came to a close with the Blue Angels air show, sponsored by Boeing. And whether you’re a Blue Angels fan or not, none of us can deny that they emit particulate matter and other toxins that damage vital organs like the heart and lungs and contribute to cancer. During the show over a weekend, the Blue Angels emit as much CO2 as 30 cars driving 150,000 miles each. Plus, their noise levels are so high that they can shake homes and buildings and damage people’s hearing, especially children.
This year, the Blue Angels were even questioned by Air Force flight surgeon Breck Lebegue, who called for an end to the Seafair air show in an op-ed for the Seattle Times. We’d like to take a closer look at Lebegue’s views and dig a little deeper. Given the health and environmental damage of Blue Angels military air shows, why does Seafair continue to promote them and why does the City of Seattle continue to allow them?
One reason for this is Seafair’s close ties not only to corporate sponsors Boeing, Amazon, Alaska Airlines and Apollo Mechanical Contractor, but also to the U.S. military. The Blue Angels “demonstrate the pride and professionalism of the United States Navy and Marine Corps by inspiring a culture of excellence and service to country through flight demonstrations and community engagement,” says the Seafair website.
Over the past few decades, the Blue Angels have supplanted Seafair as the ultimate source of entertainment, but they have also sent a sugarcoated message about the U.S. military to recruit young people and instill feelings of awe, patriotism and gratitude in viewers. Given that we are in the midst of a genocide and the threat of nuclear war is looming ever larger, this message is especially false.
It is easy for some people in the United States to feel excitement at the sight of fighter jets flying over their cities, because if you have never lived in a place where there is war, you have no reason to fear war.
But the Boeing Super Hornet fighter jets don’t just stay within our borders, performing demonstrations for our enjoyment. These weapons of war are used to kill people in the name of “freedom” or “democracy” all over the world. These same jets were used in the US invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria and are used today in America’s bombing of Yemen. The roar of these fighter jets terrorizes millions of people around the world, and yet here in our backyard they are used for entertainment.
Seafair organizers describe the event as “the place where we can come together every summer without protests or politics.”
But Seafair is not an apolitical event. Glorifying the military or displaying weapons used to bomb and invade other countries is not apolitical. From a business perspective, Seafair is “product placement” for Boeing, and the Blue Angels are military propaganda at its best. We should be fighting against war and imperialism, not glorifying them.
The Boeing Super Hornet fighter jets not only stay within our borders and perform demonstrations for our viewing pleasure.
Seattle prides itself on being a refugee-friendly city, as many of them are victims of war in the countries they left. What does it say about our city that it is willing to subject them to the specter of military destruction?
To On August 3 and 4, the Airshow Climate Action Coalition — comprised of Veterans For Peace, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, 350 Seattle, Extinction Rebellion Seattle, BAYAN Seattle, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, Tanod Lupa and Kaibigan — gathered at Genesee Park for a picnic and protest rally, calling on Seafair planners to “reinvent Seafair.” Protesters even handed out over 800 earplugs to ticket holders heading to Saturday’s show.
Many Filipino interest groups have taken a special stance against the Blue Angels because the Philippines has a direct connection to the show’s sponsors. Filipinos and their allies abroad oppose the US’s use of the archipelago as a military outpost for occupation and exploitation. The two countries have a long-standing relationship that dates back over 100 years and dates back to the US invasion and colonization of the Philippines in 1899. Since that time, the US has maintained an unequal relationship with the Philippines, shaping the country’s economy, military and political landscape.
“The United States is violating the sovereignty and constitution of the Philippines by expanding US military bases on Philippine soil. Filipinos do not want war,” said Jill Mangaliman of BAYAN Seattle. “We just want our country to live in peace and be able to stand on its own two feet economically, politically and culturally. We do not want to become cannon fodder for the US’s war provocations with China.”
Earlier this month, while Seafair was taking place on the other side of the world in Seattle, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had just finalized an agreement with their Philippine counterparts to provide an additional $500 million in foreign military funding to “strengthen the capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).” These meetings followed the introduction of the Philippines Enhanced Resilience Act (PERA) before the U.S. Senate in April. PERA, introduced by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN), seeks to “strengthen and modernize the U.S.-Philippine alliance through significantly increased U.S. security assistance.”
PERA will provide the Philippine government with $2.5 billion in U.S. military aid over the next five years, in addition to the $500 million already allocated. This military aid is being sent entirely overseas while we in Seattle face austerity: looming school and library closures, rising living costs, and the neglect of our homeless. Federal funds are already flowing back into the Seattle area, not to improve our lives, but in the form of profits for Boeing executives through defense contracts with the Pentagon.
Moreover, the relationship between Boeing and the Philippines goes much deeper than just the coincidental timing of the U.S. warmongers’ visit to the Philippines during Seafair. Boeing supplies the Philippine state with ScanEagle drones, Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance, and more, all with the support of the Department of Defense and Congress. This military equipment is being used against its own people in the country, as part of a U.S.-directed counterinsurgency against the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, which has been engaged in an internationally recognized civil war with the U.S.-backed regime in Manila since 1969.
And when we heard the roar of Boeing’s military fighter jets overhead earlier this month, we should have taken the opportunity to reimagine what a people-friendly and climate-conscious Seafair could look like.
We urge our neighbors in Greater Seattle to consider what it means when the focus of our summer celebrations is Boeing – the world’s third-largest weapons manufacturer – and the U.S. military – the world’s largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels and carbon emitter.
As the skies clear and our ears stop ringing, we ask our fellow Seattleites: What can we do about the Blue Angels? Our coalition believes we should put an end to this glorification of weapons of war, this air pollution, and this waste of our tax dollars. We also urge you to sign the Kaibigan – Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle petition calling on Senators Murray and Cantwell to vote against PERA: tinyurl.com/StopPERA.
We want to hear from communities directly affected by the Blue Angels’ presence. Please let us know what you think about the Blue Angels and Seafair in the petition found here:
tinyurl.com/BlueAngelsSurvey.
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Zachary Andrews and James Suddarth are members of the Central Seattle chapter of Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (Kaibigan–FFPS), a solidarity organization of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
Mary Cogan Paterson is a volunteer at 350 Seattle, an organization that advocates for climate justice and deep systems change through nonviolent action and advocacy.
Read more in the August 21-27, 2024 issue.
