It’s been a busy year of campaigning for London Campaign Against Arms Trade so we thought we would have a look back at what we got up to in 2021. From informative videos, lively panel discussions and moving vigils, it’s all here!
Yemen day of action
We started with the International Day of Action on Yemen on January 25th – we joined a student-led rally and then the global rally (you can see the large number of organisations who supported the day and called for an end to the war on Yemen here). We made a short video highlighting BAE Systems’ involvement in the war and you can watch that here.
Security & Policing Fair
Next up was the Security & Policing Fair in March, a fair where arms, border, policing and surveillance companies gather to exhibit equipment and technologies. It took place online so we went online too with a video parodying the Policing Minister’s plug for the fair. London CAAT members also produced a number of articles covering issues related to the fair, such as this piece on the increasing militarisation of police and border forces, drone usage and universities involvement in related research and this one challenging the government’s notion of security. Finally we also produced a map showing the links between universities and Academic RiSC, a network that links academia and national security research.
Yemen vigil
On March 26th, we marked the anniversary of the start of the war on Yemen with an online vigil. We had a video from the Yemeni freelance journalist Ahmad Algohbary a reading of a poem by Amina Atiq and we finished by lighting candles and holding a powerful period of silence for the victims of the war. Our vigil was preceded by Stop the War Coalition’s rally, which you can watch here.
Black Lives Matter
Next up we produced a video highlighting the UK’s complicity in the violence meted out to Black Lives Matter protesters in the US, which you watch here. This was an online version of our walking tours, highlighting the companies whose equipment was likely used against protesters.
Pension funds
London CAAT member Neil took up the important issue of councils’ pension funds being invested in the arms trade and had a letter on the topic featured in the Islington Tribune. He also wrote a blog post for the CAAT website, as well as securing a follow up article in the paper.
Arab Spring
In July we launched our video marking ten years since the Arab Spring and UK complicity in the suppression of the uprisings. We held a well-attended launch event with excellent contributions from David Wearing (author of the book “AngloArabia: Why Gulf Wealth Matters To Britain.”) and Sayed Alwadaei (Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy) – you can watch that here.
DSEI arms fair
In August, we held our first in-person event of the year – a walking tour to highlight some of the arms companies that would be exhibiting at the DSEI arms fair the following month. We visited Boeing, Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. DSEI itself was met with a strong and varied resistance including military helicopters being scaled, lock-ons and car blockades to disrupt the fair and themed days of action covering vital issues such as Stop Arming Israel, borders and migration and climate justice. Read more about this resistance here and Phoenix Coops’ day by day summaries are here. Art the Arms Fair were back with another fantastic exhibition and there was also a Portrait of Resistance exhibition featuring CAAT campaigners and activists, including those of Yemeni heritage – it was accompanied by this amazing short film.
Saudi Arabian grand prix
In October, we held a protest outside the Formula 1 headquarters to highlight the fact that a grand prix was going to be held in Saudi Arabia for the first time, despite the regime’s human rights abuses and continued brutal war on Yemen. We followed this up with a series of infographics in the run up to the December grand prix that highlighted the regime’s various human rights issues. On the day of the grand prix, we held a panel discussion with Madawi Al-Rasheed (Visiting Professor at the LSE Middle East Centre) and Andrew Feinstein (author of the Shadow World book about corruption in the arms trade) to discuss the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia and UK complicity in the war on Yemen (video of that to come). We also sent a letter to Lewis Hamilton asking him to speak out on the issue and he did so – see here.
In short, it was a busy 2021 for London CAAT and we will continue to challenge the arms trade in 2022, covering issues such as militarised borders. Thank you to everyone who got involved and supported us in any way. Our meetings are on the third Tuesday of every month at 6.30pm – please email us at londoncaat at riseup.net if you want to get involved!