The Saudi regime has no place in the Premier League
Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund, which is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is planning to buy Newcastle United FC, one of the Premier League’s largest and best supported clubs. In light of the serious humans rights concerns around the regime and the Saudi-led coalition’s devastating assault on Yemen, this would be a travesty of a decision if the purchase was allowed to go ahead.
Lawyers for Hatice Cengiz, the widow of Jamal Khashoggi, have written to the Premier League asking them to prevent the deal from taking place, citing the killing of Khashoggi and the rules of the league. Cengiz wrote a powerful editorial in the Guardian.
We sent an email to the Premier League chairman Richard Masters urging him to take into account the Saudi regime’s woeful human rights record and stop the sale. This sportswashing of the Saudi regime cannot be allowed to take place and the Premier League must not be party to this sportswashing.
The military and arms companies’ carbon destructiveness
Scientists for Global Responsibility have produced an illuminating report on the carbon emissions of the UK military and arms companies. They produce more carbon emissions than 60 individual countries and, according to the last data available, pumped 6.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent into the Earth’s atmosphere in 2017-2018. This large figure is despite a senior military commander saying that the threat posed to UK security by climate change is just as grave as that posed by cyber attacks and terrorism.
Unsurprisingly, BAE Systems were the largest contributor to Britain’s arm industry’s emissions, contributing 30%. These companies should focus on the real security concerns facing the UK and the globe and work on more socially beneficial products. You can read more about the report here and download it here.
Our meetings
As we said last month, we have moved our meetings online – if you want to attend a meeting, please send an email to londoncaat at riseup.net and we will send you details. The meetings are still the third Tuesday of every month at 6.30pm.