Author: Ian Pocock

No to arms companies that helped Israel devastate Gaza

A fragile ceasefire in Gaza has been agreed but Israel continues to kill Palestinian civilians.

Despite the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel continues to kill and oppress Palestinian civilians. According to War on Want, they have killed at least 110 Palestinians, including three children, while also escalating attacks in the West Bank. The pressure needs to be kept up to ensure the ceasefire holds, Israel does not start massacring Palestinians again and that there is a full two-way arms embargo.

On February 27^th, we will visit Leonardo, who are complicit in Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza. They make the laser targeting system for the F35. Another company helping Israel slaughter innocent Palestinian civilians is BAE Systems and we will also visit Westminster tube station to highlight the long running advert for them. BAE are the main UK company involved in the F-35 fighter jet that Israel has used to wreak devastation and death across Gaza and having an advert so close to the corridor of power is immoral.

We must continue to call for a sustained ceasefire and an end to Israel’s oppression of Palestine. Join us to say no to these companies and to UK complicity in Israel’s genocide. Full details here and there is also a Facebook event.

We said no to the heinous arms dealers dinner

We had a lively and boisterous demo outside the arms dealers dinner, the annual event where arms dealers, MPs and military personnel get together to schmooze and network. As attendees of the ADS dinner entered the swanky Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel, they were met with chants, noisy drumming and a picture of Hind Rajab, one of the many victims of their deadly trade. We are grateful to all those who turned up, including Palestine Action and the drumming groups who brought so much energy to the demo.

Say no to the annual arms dealer dinner!

On January 28^th the UK arms trade will hold its annual fancy black tie dinner in central London. This dinner will bring together arms dealers, MPs and military personnel to schmooze, swill champagne, and feast on expensive food. That year on year they gather to celebrate their deadly business is immoral and callous. With BAE Systems as one of the sponsors, a company that is the main UK company involved in the production of F-35 aircraft that are used to bomb Gaza, this event needs to be opposed.

The companies at this dinner have also sold military equipment to the Saudi-led coalition for the war that has devastated Yemen, and facilitated oppression in Bahrain. These companies cause so much death, destruction and misery around the world.

This celebration of their heinous business cannot be allowed to go ahead unopposed. Bring your placards, noise and passion to oppose this horrendous event. More details can be found here. The venue is not something they announce publicly so keep checking this page for details of the location.

We had a busy year!

We took on the evils of the arms trade in a variety of ways this year – please see below for a flavour of what we got up to.

We started the year with a lively protest against the arms dealer dinner (see above for this year’s protest) and the feeling was particularly strong as Israel was three months into it’s brutal bombardment of Gaza and as their genocide continues, we expect the same again this year.

In March, we held a vigil outside Downing Street to mark the anniversary of the start of the war on Yemen, stand in solidarity with the people of the country and commemorate all the lives unnecessarily lost in this brutal war. We heard from Mayer Wakefield from Stop the War, Andrew Feinstein from Shadow World Investigations, Insiya Raja from Bahraini Institute for Rights and Democracy, and the Yemeni freelance journalist Ahmad Algohbary. You can hear Ahmad Algohbary’s message below

Next up was a walking tour of some the arms companies complicit in Israel’s collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population. We visited Boeing, BAE Systems and L3 Harris and outlined the ways they are involved in Israel’s brutal war on Gaza.

We held a protest outside the Counter Terror Expo, an event that pushes a counter-terrorism narrative that entrenches militarised borders and leads to more arms sales, and actually got invited inside to have a look – read more about that here.

We ended the year with a loud protest outside L3Harris, a company that is fully complicit in Israel’s war on Gaza through it’s production of the integrated core processor, the main computer in the F-35. There were chants, leaflets and Palestinian poetry. It was a sobering end to a year of obscene violence against Palestinians.

So a busy year for London CAAT and we will continue to challenge the arms trade this year. Thank you to anyone who came to meetings, attended demos or supported us in any way.

L3Harris supply weapons parts to Israel – they must be opposed

Israel is continuing it’s brutal and callous attack on Gaza, committing more atrocities and it is now widening its sphere of targets to Lebanon. So far, they have killed over 42,000 people in Palestine and bombed hospitals, schools and refugee camps. All with the assistance of many arms companies who are profiting from this death and destruction.

L3 Harris are one such company and a particularly monstrous one. They make bomb release mechanisms for Israeli fighter jets including the F35, some specially adapted for Israel’s use with their own munitions. The F-35 jet is one of Israel’s method of attack on Gaza, having been used to kill thousands of innocent civilians. L3Harris also sell other military equipment to Israel, including components for the Joint Direct Attack munitions, which have been used to bomb Gaza.

Join us on November 29^th to oppose L3Harris’ complicity in Israel’s inhumane bombardment of Gaza. Full details here and you can also share the Facebook event here.

The human rights abusing Saudi regime cannot be allowed to host the World Cup

Saudi Arabia is set to host the 2034 World Cup even though the regime does not meet FIFA requirements for protecting human rights including when it hosted the 2023 Club World Cup. Migrant workers are already dying in the country, political dissent can lead to a death sentence and homosexuality is illegal. There is also the Saudi regime’s brutal war on Yemen and the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi.

We are working with Newcastle Fans Against Sportswashing, Equidem and concerned football fans on how to oppose Saudi Arabia hosting the World Cup – keep an eye on our Twitter page for more on this.

We protested against the Counter Terror Expo

Last month, we went down to the ExCeL centre to protest against the awful Counter Terror Expo. Counter terror powers are used to criminalise communities and, increasingly, protesters. Under terror laws pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested, the Prevent strategy is a racist endeavour and counter-terror powers have been used on our borders. The counter terrorism narrative is used to demonise, harass and criminalise minoritised communities, especially those from the Palestinian or Kurdish communities.

We went down with CAAT and Netpol to let the public know about the worrying nature of the event, highlight the arms companies that were attending and carrying out a bit of street theatre, which you can see here.

What we were not expecting was to be invited inside, which led to CAAT’s media coordinator and Netpol’s Campaign Coordinator being given a tour of the Expo. You can read the blog post about their surreal visit and the inaccurate security briefing given about CAAT’s media coordinator here. Declassified went inside as well and you can read their take on this disturbing expo here.

We joined a range of groups to discuss a campaign against the Saudi World Cup

We joined an online meeting with other concerned groups and football fans to discuss building a coalition to oppose the World Cup being hosted by Saudi Arabia in 2034. Also in attendance were Newcastle Fans Against Sportswashing and Equidem, who have just released a report on forced labour in Saudi Arabia that you can find on their website. We discussed the issues around the awarding of the tournament to Saudi Arabia and various ideas for a campaign to oppose it. There are plans for another wider meeting in September so please reply to this email if you want to get involved in the campaign.

Join us to say no to another arms fair

Join us on June 19^th to protest against another arms fair taking place at the ExCeL centre. This event will bring together arms dealers, military delegations and government officials. These sort of events are crucial to the smooth running of the arms trade. Much of the equipment on display is designed to kill, injure and oppress people.

Join us to say no to this heinous event. Come out of Custom House DLR and follow the signs to the ExCeL centre. Full details are here and there is a Facebook event to share as well.

We marked nine years of the war on Yemen

On March 26th, some thirty campaigners from London CAAT and friends marked nine years of the war in Yemen with a vigil outside Downing Street.

They heard from speakers including Mayer Wakefield from Stop the War, Andrew Feinstein from Shadow World Investigations, Insiya Raja from Bahraini Institute for Rights and Democracy, and Ahmad Algohbary, a freelance Yemeni journalist.

Speakers made the connection between the suffering of the people of Yemen and the billions of pounds of UK weapons sold to the Saudi-led coalition. They also stood in solidarity with Gaza, noting that Yemen has also been bombed by US and UK forces, as part of the wider conflict.

You can hear Ahmad Algohbary’s message here:

The names of some of those killed in the conflict were read out, and the vigil concluded with songs from Raised Voices Choir, and nine minutes silence: one minute for each year of the war.

To quote Ahmad Algohbary, “We won’t stop speaking out, protesting, working hard until peace is a reality”. Thank you to everyone who braved the weather to stand in solidarity with Yemen.

Wevisited arms companies complicit in Israel’s assault on Gaza

On April 6^th, we did a very successful walking tour themed around Israel’s continued brutal bombardment of Gaza. We took around 40 people to three companies complicit in the death and destruction Israel has wreaked on Gaza; Boeing, BAE Systems and L3Harris. At each stop we outlined how these heinous companies supported Israel with weapons and components of the fighter jets used to strafe Gaza and left blue plaques to highlight this as well as doing some chanting to show the public we were opposing these companies’ complicity in the ongoing genocide. We have done walking tours several times before but for the first time, the police deemed it necessary to follow us around for the entire tour ‘for our protection’ – ludicrous waste of their time and unnecessarily intimidating.

Launch event of report on policing of Palestine demos

Sign up for the online launch of an in-depth report from Netpol on the policing of the recent Palestine protests in England and Wales. It takes places on Thursday May 30^th, 6.30pm – 8pm. You can book your free livestream ticket here.

Stand in solidarity with the people of Yemen

March 26^th 2015 saw the start of the Saudi-led coalition’s war on Yemen. Since then the people have endured nine years of bombardment and a devastating human toll. Thousands of Yemeni civilians have been killed by Saudi bombs, facilitated by UK arms sales. The UN estimates that 377,000 war related deaths occurred by the end of 2021. Over 150,000 of these deaths were the direct result of the armed conflict In total the UK has supplied at least £28 billion worth of arms to the Saudi-led coalition attacking Yemen. The war in Yemen has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

Join us at 6pm on Wednesday March 26^th outside Downing Street to stand in solidarity with the people of Yemen and commemorate all the lives unnecessarily lost in this brutal war. Full details can be found here.

Join us for a walking tour of arms companies complicit in Israel’s assault on Gaza

On January 26^th the International Court of Justice found that there is a plausible risk of Genocide in Gaza. As Israel’s cruel campaign in Gaza continue, with the horrifying prospect of ground invasion in Rafah, we are putting on this walking tour to introduce people to some of the arms companies in our midst that have facilitated the obscene collective punishment on Gaza’s civilian population. Come along to find out more about these heinous companies and get inspired to take action against their complicity in one of the great crimes of our time.

The tour will be on April 6^th at 2pm. Please register for the tour here so we can manage numbers.

Say no to the annual arms dealer dinner!

On January 30^th the UK arms trade will hold its annual fancy black tie dinner in central London. This dinner will bring together arms dealers, MPs and military personnel to schmooze, swill champagne, and feast on expensive food. We cannot think of many more immoral and callous things to do than gather to toast their immoral and destructive business, particularly at a time of ongoing conflict in Gaza.

The companies at this dinner have supplied weapons used by Israel in their ongoing bombardment of Gaza, sold military equipment to the Saudi-led coalition for the war that has devastated Yemen, and facilitated oppression in Bahrain. These companies cause so much death, destruction and misery around the world.

Their deadly business cannot go unchallenged. Bring your placards, noise and passion to oppose this horrendous event. More details can be found here. The venue is not something they announce publicly so keep checking this page for details of the location.

London CAAT meetings

As we move into the new year, our meetings will remain on the third Tuesday of every month at 6.30pm and are still taking place online. At present, we’re having a look forward to the next year and have lots of exciting ideas for actions and targets so do come along to get involved! If you want to attend a meeting, please email us at londoncaat at riseup.net and we will send you details.

As a flavour of the things we got up to last year, we organised a vigil to mark the anniversary of the start of the war on Yemen, made a film about the role the UK played in the Syrian Civil War and the deadly effect of militarised borders in the region (see the film here and a panel discussion about the film here), ran a campaign about the BAE Systems advert at Westminster tube (see some street theatre we did here!), held a walking tour visiting some of the arms companies that exhibited at the heinous DSEI arms fair and organised demos about the proposed visit of the Saudi Crown Prince. So all in all a busy year challenging the evils of the arms trade and we plan more of the same this year!

The UK government should not be hosting Mohammed bin Salman

The UK government will be hosting Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this autumn. The Crown Prince is the architect of the war on Yemen, which has killed thousands of people and led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. US intelligence agencies concluded that bin Salman approved the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi. His regime tortures and executes dissidents, most recently sentencing someone to death for tweets against corruption in the country. The government should not be laying out the red carpet for MBS and should in fact cut off all relations and stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Join us on September 27^th at 6pm outside Downing Street to call on the UK government to cancel the visit and work to hold MBS to account for his human rights abuses and orchestration of the war on Yemen. This visit sends the wrong message and it must be stopped. Full details here and you can also share the Facebook event.

Join the resistance to the DSEI arms fair

The DSEI arms fair is back in east London this month and so is the resistance to it. Military delegations from human-rights abusing regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Israel will be networking with arms companies and doing deals that will lead to more death and destruction globally. This is where war starts but also where we can try and stop it.

There are a range of action against the fair, covering both the fair’s set up week and the week of the fair itself – the protests will last from September 4^th to 15^th. There is a peace pilgrimage from Oxford to the site of the fair starting on September 5^th, Palestine Solidarity Campaign have organised a Stop DSEI vigil on September 5^th, a festival of resistance is taking place on September 9^th and there is a Migrant Justice day on September 12^th. This is just a flavour of the actions taking place – check out the Stop the Arms Fair website for more details.

The DSEI arms fair is back. And so is the resistance to it!

The DSEI arms fair is returning to the ExCeL centre next month. Arms companies will be descending on east London for this fair of death and destruction. They will be joined by military delegations from countries with shocking human rights records or those involved in conflict. This is where war starts but also where we can try and stop it.

The Stop the Arms Fair network have helped organise a range of action against the fair, covering both the fair’s set up week and the week of the fair itself – the protests will last from September 4^th to 15^th. Actions include a Palestine Solidarity Campaign Stop DSEI vigil on September 5^th, a No Faith in War day on September 7^th and a Migrant Justice day on September 12^th. There are of course loads more actions taking place so check out the Stop the Arms Fair website for more details.

We visited arms companies that will be at DSEI!

We took twenty people on a walking tour around some of the arms companies that will be at DSEI as well as a couple of other organisations involved in the arms trade. In what could be at best described as variable weather!, we visited Boeing, Buckingham Palace (the Royals have a long history of complicity in and support for the arms trade), BAE Systems, Leonardo, UKTI-DSE (the government’s arms export promotion unit) and L3 Harris. London CAAT members talked about these organisation’s weapons or support for the arms trade and the impact their deadly trade has had globally. We also left blue plaques at each site to highlight an aspect connected to each place – you can see one of those above. It was a sobering but illuminating day and people went away with anger and fervour in their hearts to continue to oppose this deadly trade. We will be putting together a brochure of the talks so if you would like a copy, please email us at [email protected].

A walking tour that will cover some of the arms companies exhibiting at the DSEI arms fair

The DSEI arms fair is a massive bonanza of death and destruction. Arms companies will be there to hawk their deadly wares to military delegations from countries with awful human rights records or involved in conflict. It is unfortunately returning to London in September so we thought it would be a good idea to put on a walking tour to highlight some of the arms companies that will be at the fair.

We will visit these companies’ offices, hear about their disgraceful work, and get inspired to take against the heinous monstrosity that is DSEI. Join us on August 5^th at 2pm – more details and how to sign up here. You can also share our Facebook event.

Plans to oppose the fair are already taking shape – check out the Stop the Arms Fair website for more details about that and email [email protected] if you want to get more involved in planning the opposition to it.

We handed in our petition about BAE’s ad on the tube to the Mayor

Last month, we popped into City Hall to hand in our 450+ petition calling on the Mayor and TfL to stop BAE System’s advertising deal with London Underground. BAE are a company heavily complicit in the war on Yemen through billions of weapons sales to the Saudi regime not to mention their involvement in nuclear missile submarines and the Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft programme.

As London CAAT members commented, it is outrageous that an arms company can have an advert in such a public space, especially on so close to government. We handed in the petition and did some leafleting around the nearby DLR station. You can read more about this here and watch a video of the hand in here.

The petition has closed but you can still email your support for removing BAE Systems ads from the Tube to the Mayor Sadiq Khan at [email protected].