What can we do about the arms trade?

14 Jul

My friend Sue Beardon posted this on Facebook yesterday.

Very few industries can create their own markets, but one industry that can is the vile arms trade. An example of the cynicism these companies are capable of is the growing Israeli arms industry promoting its wares as “battle-tested in Palestine”. And now with the economic uncertainty of Brexit looming, we can be sure that the British government will not be feeling too picky about who it gets into bed with – BAE systems have recently provided Bahrain with state of the art surveillance software to track the movements of the opposition, all conveniently labelled as ‘terrorists’, and Turkey and Saudi Arabia are high on the list for further weapons transfers. At this very moment British made fighter jets are bombing the hell out of traumatised men, women and children in Yemen, Mosul and Raqqa.

This September London Docklands will be hosting the biggest arms fair in the world. Held every two years under the auspices of DSEI (Defence and Security Equipment International) it attracts thousands of visitors, political, industrial and military from every quarter of the globe. We can and must do something to stop or at least seriously disrupt it!

To this end CAAT (Campaign Against the Arms Trade) is holding a week of action in the lead-up to the arms fair and is calling on us all, Friends and non-Friends alike, to take part in what promises to be “a colourful and powerful carnival of resistance, with music, art, drama and creative action”.

The arms fair is from 12th-19th September, but the main actions will be the week before – Monday, 4th to Saturday, 9th September. It would be wonderful if we in South Yorkshire could organise at least a couple of minibuses – hopefully more – to one or two of the planned actions. The bigger we can make these events the greater will be the impact!

On Tuesday, 5th September, there will be a ‘No Faith in War’ day. Faith groups of all kinds will come together for a day of worship and non-violent action. Services will be held in the streets, thus blocking the way for the arms fair’s organisers and their lethal equipment. But the really big event, ‘Holding the Space’, will be Saturday, 9th September. This is the one that we hope will make headlines!

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TAKE PART IN EITHER OR BOTH OF THESE EVENTS PLEASE GET IN TOUCH with derekguiton@yahoo.co.uk Tel: 07966063579.

We are invited to the NVDA training day at Carlton Hill Meeting in Leeds (LS2 9DX) on 12th August, 10.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m. Soup and light refreshment provided – but feel free to bring something to share!

One Reply to “What can we do about the arms trade?”

  1. Mr. Roddis, have you seen this?:

    Billions of dollars’ worth of arms against Syria by Thierry Meyssan
    Over the last seven years, several billion dollars’ worth of armament has been illegally introduced into Syria – a fact which in itself is enough to disprove the myth according to which this war is a democratic revolution. Numerous documents attest to the fact that the traffic was organised by General David Petraeus, first of all in public, via the CIA, of which he was the director, then privately, via the financial company KKR with the aid of certain senior civil servants. Thus the conflict, which was initially an imperialist operation by the United States and the United Kingdom, became a private capitalist operation, while in Washington, the authority of the White House was challenged by the deep state. New elements now show the secret rôle of Azerbaïdjan in the evolution of the war.

    http://www.voltairenet.org/article197144.html

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