Launch event for our film that highlights UK complicity in the suppression of the Arab Spring uprisings
Join us on July 26th at 6.30pm as we launch our brand new film ‘10 Years of winter since the Arab Spring – the uprisings, the aftermaths and what we had to do with it all’. The film highlights the ten year anniversary of the Arab Spring uprisings, the decline in democracy and freedom since then and the role UK weapons and support played in suppressing the protests. It is a fascinating and disturbing insight into the uprisings and their brutal suppression. We made this film in collaboration with the wonderful Rainbow Collective.
We will hear from David Wearing, author of the book “AngloArabia: Why Gulf Wealth Matters To Britain.”, which exposes the UK’s close relations with Gulf Arab monarchies. More speakers are to be announced. You can sign up to the launch event here and there is also a Facebook event you can share.
An important victory for the right to protest
Protesters who blockaded the DSEI arms fair in 2017 won an amazing and important victory last month centring on the right to protest. The supreme court quashed their convictions for highway obstruction after they locked on outside the fair. The judge said “There should be a certain degree of tolerance to disruption to ordinary life, including disruption of traffic, caused by the exercise of the right to freedom of expression or freedom of peaceful assembly”. As one of the protesters Henrietta Cullinan said “That our simple protest, which lasted only a few minutes [it took police 90 minutes to remove them], though possibly disruptive, led to four years of legal toing and froing, illustrates very well the power of non-violence. Our government, like many governments, sees any protest as a threat to its authority, as well it might. Selling arms is a rotten, dangerous business.” You can read more about the ruling here.
This is a very welcome ruling in the run up to the next DSEI arms fair in September this year. There will be a day of action on the opening day of the fair on September 14th so keep an eye out for more details about that. On August 7th, London CAAT will be doing a walking tour of some of the arms companies that will be exhibiting at DSEI so please save the date.