València, 26/12/2025
Demonstration at the entrance to Feria València against the presence of the army at ExpoJove.
This morning, activists from MOC-València and the Assemblea Popular València Contra les Guerres gathered outside Feria València during the opening of Expojove 2025, to protest against the presence of exhibitors from the Armed Forces and the UME (Military Emergency Unit) at the children's and youth fair in Valencia.
A group of twenty people gathered at the gates of the exhibition centre and unfurled a banner with the slogan: ‘Let's demilitarise! War is not a game. Get the army out of Expojove!’ They also handed out information leaflets to people queuing at the entrance.
According to the protesters, "education is an essential part of the socialisation process of children and young people. During this stage, they acquire the knowledge, tools, values and behavioural models necessary to live in society. Children deserve options that promote peace: games, culture, science, art and sport, activities in which they learn to cooperate, to respect, to think, not to blindly obey authoritarian hierarchies, nor to accept war as something inevitable. We need to foster empathy and peaceful conflict resolution."
"Building a peaceful, just and caring society and world requires fostering positive values among young people, such as respect, humility, peace, solidarity, empathy and responsibility, and at the same time, the rejection of others, such as authoritarianism, arrogance, blind obedience, violence, the glorification of force, etc., which pervert human relations and fuel patriarchy, militarism, war, xenophobia, sexism, racism, and homophobia. Expojove should be a fun and festive space for discovery, creativity and coexistence, not a showcase for promoting militarism. The military presence at children's fairs presents the army as something ‘attractive’ or ‘adventurous’, trivialising the real impact of war and directing young people's attention towards career paths that should be explained critically, not through playful military displays. In this context, we denounce and express our rejection of the militaristic indoctrination presented at Expojove through the exhibition and glorification of the army and its war material, disguised as harmless and fun games."
For anti-militarists, ‘Normalising the military is not innocent. Because weapons do not educate and war is not a game.’
They have also denounced that Spain's military spending in 2025 was the highest in history, at almost €80 billion, or 4% of gross domestic product (adding together the defence ministry's budget and military spending hidden in other ministries: industry, interior, finance, foreign affairs, science and technology, etc.).
At the same time, Spain is the ninth largest arms exporter in the world. The government has even excluded from the arms embargo on Israel components manufactured by Israeli companies for, among other things, A400 military aircraft and drones manufactured by Airbus, which are mainly intended for export to countries in conflict.
The protesters dispersed peacefully around 12 noon.
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Because weapons do not educate and the army is not fun: Get the army out of Expojove!