The arms convention

Not right place for arms 

Although it is (terribly) necessary for peaceful states to arm themselves in the deterrence and resistance of tyrants and their invasive forces, your correspondent (Letters, 13/9) is  right that for arms companies  to display their wares in such a  commercial and open fashion in  a civilian place is entirely inappropriate – indeed, the very idea  of it to many of us is rightfully  obscene.

Peter Drum, Coburg 

Perpetual war

The weapons of war are, necessarily, terrible things and have always been such. Often deployed unwisely and unjustly they can, however, be equally used to defend the innocent against an unjust aggressor or deter an adversary from embarking on a destructive military campaign. Because it seems sadly true that “only the dead have seen the end of war”, the weapons of war seem destined to persist despite any amount of moral outrage. Perhaps a sizeable percentage of those protesting the Land Forces expo in Melbourne might have remained silent if its hardware were intended or destined for their preferred causes and actions.

Lawrence Pope, Carlton North 

Unchain ourselves 

Warwick McFadyen’s Faith article (8/9) is a sober reminder of the precarious state of the world. The 24-hour news cycle and social media have in so many ways desensitised us to this instability. The violence of wars, poverty and inequality renders the need of millions to seek refuge. As he writes, we must “fight against the hammer shaping the hand”. I am reminded of a poem by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, Earth Poem. The last line is “But could only see themselves in chains”. Let us not be chained to destruction.

Judith Morrison, Nunawading