Author: Ian Pocock

Arms dealers dine while the war on Yemen continues

March 23^rd will see the UK arms trade hold its annual fancy black tie dinner in central London. Join us to tell them we do not approve of their immoral and destructive business. The Aerospace, Defence and Security dinner will bring arms dealers, MPs and military personnel together to schmooze, swill champagne, and feast on expensive food.

The companies attending this dinner are responsible for much death and destruction around the world. From supplying weapons to the Saudi-led coalition for their war on Yemen, facilitating oppression in Bahrain and contributing to Israel’s occupation of Palestine, they cause so much misery around the world.

Their 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 advertise (not so proud of their deadly business perhaps?!) so keep checking this page for details of the location.

Seven years of the war on Yemen – join us to mark this inauspicious milestone

On March 26^th, it will be seven years since the Saudi-led coalition started their brutal assault on Yemen. The UN estimates that 377,000 war related deaths will have occurred by the end of 2021, including 12,000 civilians in directly targeted attacks. At the same time, over 16 million Yemeni people face acute hunger. The war in Yemen has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

Join us at 12pm on Saturday 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. We hope to hear from those affected by the war before lighting candles to commemorate those who have lost their lives. Please find more details here.

Liberation have organised an online meeting at 5pm so please check that out as well – details here. Speakers include Shireen Al-Adeimi, Jeremy Corbyn and our very own Kirsten Bayes.

Yemen lobby day, March 10^th

To mark the anniversary of the start of the war on Yemen, CAAT have organised a lobby day – please sign up to talk to your MP and urge them to do everything in their power to stop the war on Yemen. This war has been fuelled by British arms exports, with sales worth more than £20 billion made to Saudi Arabia since the conflict began.

It’s more vital than ever that the UK government stop enabling this war, end arms sales, and make serious efforts to bring the war to an end and promote accountability for atrocities committed by all sides.

If you would like to take part in this Lobby Day, please contact your MP to book a meeting via this link CAAT will send you a briefing pack with the latest information. There will also be an optional online training session to help you make the most of this meeting. Sign up the stop the immoral and deadly arms exports, end the war in Yemen and ensure all those complicit in the death and destruction caused by the war are held accountable.

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 25^th – 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 26^th, 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!

Sign up for a panel discussion with Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed and Andrew Feinstein

On December 5th at 7pm we will host what is bound to be a fascinating discussion about Saudi Arabia, human rights and the UK’s complicity in the war on Yemen. We will be joined by Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed (Visiting Professor at the LSE Middle East Centre) and Andrew Feinstein (author of the arms trade expose Shadow World). They will provide important insights into the issues above and there will be time for questions. You can register for the event here.

This event is taking place on the day of the grand prix being held in Saudi Arabia. We believe Formula 1 should not be hosting the grand prix in the country due to its appalling human rights record and its continued brutal war on Yemen. To drew attention to this, we will be posting a series of infographics in the run up to the grand prix highlighting the many reasons why this is a bad decision. Check out our Facebook and Twitter pages for these images and please share them.

Arms trade activists call for Formula One to Put the Brakes on Saudi

London Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) group is calling for Formula One to put the brakes on the Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia on December 5th, because of the Kingdom’s blood stained human rights record.

CAAT campaigns to end the use of military and security equipment against civilian populations. It says Saudi Arabia misuses weapons and military equipment in attacks that kill and maim civilians – including children – in Yemen. It wants organisers to quit holding international sports fixtures in Saudi because:

• Since 2015 the Saudi led intervention in Yemen has caused the deaths of more than 6,000 civilians.
• Airstrikes by the Saudi led coalition have hit hospitals, schools and markets in Yemen. In 2018 a bus filled with children was bombed, killing at least 26 children.
• Since 2015 Saudi Arabia has purchased £20 billion worth of military equipment from the UK alone.

On November 2^nd 2021 Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was given two Spoilers of Peace awards for Committing Atrocities and Severe Rights Violations, and Violations against Children (https://caat.org.uk/news/boris-johnson-mohammed-bin-salman-named-two-of-the-top-spoilers-of-peace-in-yemen/).

London CAAT says that by hosting events like the Formula One Grand Prix, Saudi Arabia is able to distract from its appalling human rights record and ensure continued support from governments like the UK and USA. They are calling on the Formula One leadership to denounce Saudi Arabia’s undeniably dire human rights record and pledge to not hold further races in the Kingdom whilst its bombardment of Yemeni civilians continues.

London CAAT member Ian Pocock says:

“Fans, sportspeople, sponsors and other stakeholders are becoming much more sensitive to the ethical standards of the brands they support. We recognise that F1 provides thrilling entertainment as well as economic benefits. But we want this to be the very last time F1 is hosted in Saudi Arabia whilst the Kingdom continues to abuse the human rights of innocent civilian families in Yemen.”

CAAT supporter Adhiyan Jeevathol says:

“I’m a huge F1 fan but the thought of Saudi bombs dropping on defenceless civilians in Yemen makes me feel sick. I don’t want my favourite sport to be tarnished by a partnership with a regime that bombs innocent children and abuses the human rights of its own citizens, including women, journalists and political dissidents.”

London CAAT will be posting a series of social media infographics on @londoncaat and facebook.com/londoncaat/ in the run up to the grand prix, starting on November 25^th. Fans can use #PutTheBrakesOnSaudi to air their views about the Saudi Grand Prix on social media.

-0-

For more information on the Saudi-led attacks on Yemen visit: https://caat.org.uk/data/countries/saudi-arabia.

Say no to the Malvern arms fair

Another arms fair but another chance for resistance. Join Three Counties CAAT and others to take action against the Malvern arms fair (otherwise known as the 3CDSE Defence and Security Expo) on November 4th. With delightful companies such as BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Thales attending, they are but three reasons to join the actions against the fair. Full details here. You can also sign the petition against it here.

Some inspiring ways the arms trade has been resisted recently

The last month has seen some excellent work to take on various aspects of the arms trade and related issues of oppression. Firstly, a group of lawyers have filed a dossier on war crimes in Yemen to British police and prosecutors, calling for the arrest of 20 people from two Gulf countries if they step foot in the UK. Read more about that here.

The wonderful media organisation Declassified UK released an excellent short film about Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, primarily focusing on an arms factory in Lancashire that sends a supply flight to Saudi Arabia every week. In another example of the UK supplying weapons to countries with dubious human rights records, Byline Times exposed that the UK government has approved sniper licences to three countries on its own list of countries of concern. Read more about that here. In Bahrain, the jailed academic Dr Abduljalil AlSingace has embarked on a hunger strike to protest against his poor treatment in jail where he is a serving a life sentence due to his role in the pro-democracy uprising in 2011. You can read more about his case here and sign a petition calling for his release here.

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 16^th 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.

The DSEI arms fair arrives in London again and we must oppose it

The DSEI arms fair, which is euphemistically called the Defence and Security Equipment International, is one of the world’s largest arms fairs. In 2019 it brought together over 36,000 arms buyers and dealers from 114 countries to network and make deals. This year military delegations from oppressive regimes will be browsing the wares of 1,600+ arms companies selling everything from guns and bombs to fighter jets and warships. At the last DSEI, the UK invited delegations to DSEI from 67 countries, including countries involved in military conflicts and at war, and on its own list of human rights abusers. This fair is where war and conflict starts and it must be strongly opposed.

Between September 6^th and 16^th there is a whole range of actions taking place to oppose and disrupt the fair, starting with Disarm DSEI’s Critical Mass cycle ride and ending with a Palestinian-led rally. In-between you can join various themed days of action, check out the return of the awesome Art the Arms Fair and take part in the Tank the Arms Fair day of action on the opening day of the fair. Information about all these and more can be found on the Stop the Arms Fair website.

Say no to the Liverpool arms fair

London is not the only venue for an arms fair this month. The AOC Europe 2021 arms fair is scheduled to take place at the council-owned ACC Exhibition Centre and Liverpool Against the Arms Fair have called a demonstration against it on September 11^th. Join them to oppose another arms fair where lethal weapons and military technology will be marketed and sold. Full details here. You can also email the directors of the ACC asking them to revoke permission for the event here.

Come along to our walking tour of arms companies that will be at the DSEI arms fair

The DSEI arms fair is unfortunately returning to London in September. With that in mind, we thought it would be a good idea to put on a walking tour to introduce people to some of the arms companies in our midst, companies which will display their destructive wares at the fair.

DSEI is where military delegations from repressive regimes will browse the latest weapons and make deals to buy even more lethal equipment. This is where war and conflict starts and it must be stopped. Check out the Stop the Arms Fair website for more details about the protests that will greet 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 7^th at 2pm – more details and how to sign up here. We are nearly at capacity for the tour so be quick!

Arab Spring film launched with a fascinating panel discussion

Last week we held a successful launch event for our new film on the Arab Spring uprisings. We had illuminating contributions from Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei and Dr David Wearing. They talked about the torture of political prisoners in Bahrain (including Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, who is on hunger strike to protest his degrading treatment – you can take action regarding that here), how the Saudis wouldn’t be able to replace the weapons the UK and others sell to them easily and therefore their bombardment of Yemen would end and how individual actions can make a difference in putting pressure on governments to stop fuelling violence and oppression. The film itself covered the uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and Libya, outlined how they were brutally suppressed and showed how UK arms sales and other support helped these countries do so. You can watch the film here and a recording of the talks and discussion will be available soon. Thank you to Rainbow Collective for their fantastic work on the video and to our member Nicholas Davis for his amazing work writing and narrating the film.

Launch event for our film that highlights UK complicity in the suppression of the Arab Spring uprisings

Join us on July 26^th 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 14^th so keep an eye out for more details about that. On August 7^th, 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.

Find out how UK companies contributed to violence against Black Lives Matters protesters

London CAAT wanted to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. With that in mind, we worked with Rainbow Collective to produce a video that highlighted the companies that have likely supplied weapons used on Black Lives Matter protesters as they took to the streets after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. The companies in this video are complicit in the violent reaction to the protests and help maintain the structural racism and violent nature of the police. We posted the video on the anniversary of the death of George Floyd to highlight that not enough has changed in that time. You can take action here to call on the UK government to stop sales of anti-protest weapons to the US as well as signing this petition.

CAAT also wrote a blog post on how the UK fuels the militarisation of police globally and helps countries repress their populations. This article how the UK continued to export riot gear to the US after the protests.

There still needs to be further change, both in the US and here, to ensure that black lives truly matter – check out organisations such as Black Lives Matter UK and the United Families and Friends Campaign for ways you can get involved in the struggle for racial equality.

Join the campaign to stop and disrupt the DSEI arms fair

The Stop the Arms Fair Network is gearing up to take action against the DSEI arms fair, due to take place in September. This fair will bring military delegations from some of the world’s most repressive regimes to London to browse the latest military technology and do deals. These deals will lead to more death and destruction globally. This is where war and conflict starts and DSEI must be stopped. The network are meeting monthly online to plan how we oppose this hideous event. If you want to get involved with the network, you can email resistDSEI at protonmail.com to get on their mailing list and find out about these meetings. London CAAT are also thinking about how we can take action against the fair – come along to one of our meetings if you want to get involved – email us at londoncaat at riseup.net for details.

There is still a chance DSEI might move online this year, as have other arms fairs recently. Therefore CAAT are running a session on disrupting online arms fairs. Join the awesome Kirsten Bayes on June 17^th to how we can adapt our tactics to the online space and take action against these heinous events wherever they are. More details and how to sign up here.