No to Saudi Arabian sports-washing!
Saudi Arabia is hosting a Formula 1 grand prix for the first time later this year. Join us on October 16th at 2pm to call out this blatant example of sports-washing. The Saudi Arabian regime has carried out a brutal war on Yemen, causing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and killing thousands of civilians. They have bombed schools, funerals and hospitals as well as being involved in other atrocities such as the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The World Food Programme has recently said that 5 million people in Yemen are facing famine and another 16 million are close to starvation.
The UK is complicit in this crisis due to its continued supply of weapons to the Saudi Arabian regime and the support it provides to the regime’s bombing campaign. Since the war began in 2015 the UK has licensed £5.3bn worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia. Join us to protest against Formula 1 allowing Saudi Arabia to whitewash its crimes – see here for more details. You can also share the Facebook event.
The DSEI arms fair was resisted!
As the DSEI arms fair rolled into town again, it was met with two weeks of fierce and inventive resistance. From people getting on top of military helicopters to military vehicles being prevented from entering the fair to lock ons, people showed their strong opposition to its presence. As in previous years, there were themed days of action covering vital issues such as Stop Arming Israel, borders and migration, climate justice and, particularly pertinently, solidarity with Afghanistan. It was great to see so many varied groups involved in taking action, including Friends of Al Aqsa, Kurdistan Solidarity Network, Palestine Action and many others. The police’s handling of the protests has rightly been condemned and you can read more about that here. Phoenix Coop did great summaries of each day of action and you can find them all here.
London CAAT meetings
Our meetings are on the third Tuesday of every month at 6.30pm and are still taking place online. If you want to attend a meeting, please reply to this email and we will send you details.