News

Arms dealer dinner opposed with passion and fervour

Every year, the UK arms trade holds a fancy dinner in London – while UK arms sales fuel death, destruction and violence across the globe. And every year protesters are there to remind them of the immoral and destructive nature of their trade. Arms companies pay hundreds of pounds a head for the chance to network at “this prestigious black tie event” with drinks reception and three-course dinner – dining out on the profits they have made from the bombing and starvation of Yemen.

This disgusting hypocrisy was challenged with inventive interventions such as eco-grim reapers, glue blockades, powerful speeches read out on behalf of those affected by the arms trade, a myriad of on point chants (e.g. Arms dealers dine while Yemeni starves) and a candle lit vigil for the victims of the arms trade. In a campaign win before the dinner took place, Clare Balding pulled as the key note speaker after representations to her advisers by CAAT. You can read more about the demo here.

Call for the establishment of a committee on arms export controls

After the dissolving of all parliamentary committees after the election, there is an opportunity to call for the introduction of acommittee on arms export controls. The previous one was toothless and chaired by Graham Jones, who was pro-Saudi and didn’t challenge or scrutinise arms exports effectively. With Jones no longer an MP, we have a golden opportunity to have a new committee set up and led by someone who will take this role seriously and analyse all arms exports properly. Read more about the reasons this committee needs to be set up in Anna Stavrianakis’ excellent article here and write to your MP about this here.

Next London CAAT meeting, February 18^th

Join us on Tuesday February 18^th for our monthly meeting – we will be thinking about what actions we will take this year, including another walking tour of arms companies. We meet at 6.30pm in the CAAT office in Finsbury Park – the address is Unit 4, 5-7 Wells Terrace, N4 3JU. All welcome.

Trump’s in town and must be resisted

Tuesday 3rd December sees Donald Trump come to London for the NATO Heads of State summit. NATO is an aggressive military alliance and Trump is a dangerous president with no morals – what’s not to protest against? As the Queen hosts a reception for NATO leaders at Buckingham Palace, we must challenge the world’s largest nuclear-armed alliance and say Trump and his fellow members of the alliance aren’t welcome here.

The summit is a great chance to call for a more peaceful world and oppose the interventionist, militarist alliance that is NATO. Assemble at 4pm in Trafalgar Square for a rally before heading to Buckingham Palace to make some noise – bring glow sticks and fairy lights etc for visibility as well horns, whistles, pots, pans and other instruments. See the Facebook event for more details.

DSEI arms fair court support

The trials against protesters who took action against the horrendous DSEI arms fair have started and the next ones are on December 5^th and 6^th. Please go along to Stratford Magistrates Court if you can to show solidarity with those on trial and also to call for no more arms fairs in London. Details can be found on the Facebook events here and here – do check them in case the dates are changed.

BAE and BP told they are not welcome as sponsors of New Scientist Live

We teamed up with BP or not BP and Demilitarise Kings to ask why on earth New Scientist Live thought it would be a good idea to have the destructive companies BAE Systems and BP as sponsors. A few of us turned up on a wet day to protest against these companies’ involvement in the event. We had good support from the public, including a person who said they worked for the government but supported us on this issue, and our placards got a lot of attention. You can contact the New Scientist magazine’s Chief Executive to ask them to drop BAE and BP as sponsors here.

Come learn with us!

We think it’s good to expand our knowledge on the latest issues related to the arms trade and peace. With that in mind, two of our upcoming meetings will have guest speakers. First up in our November 19^th meeting we have Sam Cutler from the Guardian, who will be sharing what he knows about the situation in Syria, with a focus on the Kurdish people and actions of the Turkish military, as well as the involvement of NATO. Then for our January 21^st meeting we are delighted to have Jenny Dathan from Action on Armed Violence to talk about their work. We meet at 6.30pm in the CAAT office in Finsbury Park – the address is Unit 4, 5-7 Wells Terrace, N4 3JU. Do join us for what are bound to be fascinating talks.

Say no to NATO and Trump

The warmongering Donald Trump is coming to London next month for a NATO Heads of State summit. The world’s largest nuclear-armed military alliance must be resisted, especially as it overseen by one of the worst, warmongering US Presidents in history. Join the protest on December 3^rd to protest against Trump and the dangerous role NATO plays globally with its interventions in Afghanistan and other countries. You can see details of the demo here and there’s also a counter-summit on November 30^th.

Powerful resistance to the DSEI arms fair

Hundreds of people gathered outside the ExCeL centre in east London to take action against the awful and immoral DSEI arms fair last month. The sheer breadth and inventiveness of the actions to impede the fair was amazing to see. There were countless locks on, people clambering onto military vehicles to stop them entering ExCeL, drag aerobics and meetings of worships plus so much more. The set up of the fair was disrupted, with the No Faith in War day blockading the fair for over seven hours, which has to be a record! As for the amazing activists who used a kayak to disrupt a BAE Systems boat display, well, kudos! There was some media coverage, for example in the Guardian and Morning Star. You can also see videos of each day of action here. Sadiq Khan again condemned the fair. Over 100 people were arrested during the fair so do keep an eye on the Stop the Arms Fair website for the court dates and go and support them if you can.

BAE Systems and BP have no place sponsoring New Scientist Live

BAE Systems are returning to the ExCeL centre after last month’s DSEI arms fair with another heinous company BP as part of New Scientist Live. The companies are sponsoring this event about the joys of science, thus dragging it down to their level. Having two of the world’s most destructive companies as an integral part of your event is definitely not a good look. We shall be there from 12pm on Saturday 12 October, along with BP or not BP and Demilitarise Kings to protest these awful companies involvement in the event. See the Facebook event here and do joins us!

Next London CAAT meeting, October 15^th

Join us on Tuesday October 15^th for our monthly meeting where we will plan future actions. We meet at 6.30pm in the CAAT office in Finsbury Park – the address is Unit 4, 5-7 Wells Terrace, N4 3JU. All welcome.

London CAAT were outside the Excel centre on Monday protesting the DSEI arms fair – the world’s largest weapons fair, to which dictators and leaders of repressive regimes around the world are invited. Today the focus was on weapons sales to Israel, as well as on Israeli weapons companies, who make use of the horrific acts of the Israeli Defense Force against Palestinians to advertise their ‘battle tested’ weapons.

There’s a great article by open democracy on the UK’s continued support for the Israeli regime here. .

During the day we heard harrowing stories from people who have lost family, friends and students through the actions of the Israeli Military – a force the UK continues to support and arm. As ever, the police ignored these stories and continued to assist the DSEI organisers by dragging protestors off the road to enable military equipment to arrive at DSEI.

There were brilliant energy levels – with a sound system, street theatre, a Dabke workshop, a performance by Potent Whisperer, live music and even a Stop Arming Israel Cake!

There are a few more photos from the day below, or you can see the full album of photos and videos from the day here (note – unedited ).

Get involved in the week of action against the DSEI arms fair

The heinous DSEI arms fair is darkening our shores again. Military delegations from human rights abusing regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Israel and Bahrain have been invited to the ExCeL centre in east London. They will browse the latest weapons and do deals with arms companies. The deals done here will cause much harm globally and innocent civilians will be on the receiving end of them. All this is being done with the full support of our government, primarily through the fair’s co-organisers the Department for International Trade’s Defence & Security Organisation.

Fortunately, there will be a whole week of action prior to the fair starting in an attempt to stop the fair before it starts. From September 2^nd, there will be themed days of action (see the full list below) that will disrupt the set up of the fair while also linking the myriad issues that the fair impacts on. Art the Arms Fair are also back with their exhibition of peace-orientated art works – after auctioning a Bansky last time, they have secured art work from Shepard Fairey this time. There will also be vigils and so much more! – check the Stop the Arms Fair website and please share the Facebook event as well as this film about the week of action.

Monday 2nd September: Stop Arming Israel
Tuesday 3rd September: No Faith in War
Wednesday 4th September: No Nuclear
Thursday 5th September: Conference at the Gates
Friday 6th September: Climate Justice
Saturday 7th September: Festival of Resistance
Sunday 8th September: Borders & Migration

Next London CAAT meeting, September 17^th

After DSEI has packed up for another couple of years (unless we’ve stopped it of course!), our September meeting will focus on what we do next (we have some ideas but do come along and share any you may have). Join us on Tuesday September 17^th at 6.30pm in the CAAT office in Finsbury Park – the address is Unit 4, 5-7 Wells Terrace, N4 3JU. All welcome!

Arms companies in London exposed

With the DSEI arms fair looming large on the horizon, we took an interested group of people around some of the arms companies that are likely to exhibit at the fair. On 6 July, visits were paid to Boeing, G4S, Rolls Royce, BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin as well as Buckingham Palace (due to the support the Royals have provided in securing arms deals).

We left blue plaques at each of the companies to recognise their horrific acts. Attendees discovered which company made bombs that killed civilians in Yemen (Lockheed Martin), which Royal participated in a sword dance that helped secure the sale of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia (Prince Charles) and who said that ‘weapons sales encourage peace’ (the chair of BAE Systems).

We shone a light on these immoral companies that many people don’t realise have buildings in the centre of London. We plan to do at least one more before September. Keep an eye here or on our Facebook page for the next one. Also check out the Stop the Arms Fair website for details on the DSEI protests that aim to shut the fair down (2-13 September).

Join the Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemorations

Between August 6th and 9^th, there will be several actions to commemorate the dropping of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Deaths in the two cities are estimated to be between 150,000 and 280,000. This year is the 74^th anniversary of the bombings and people will be taking part in various actions such as a peace walk to say never again. Check out the CND website for more details.

Next London CAAT meeting, August 20^th

Join us at our next meeting on Tuesday August 20^th at 6.30pm in the CAAT office in Finsbury Park and the address is Unit 4, 5-7 Wells Terrace, N4 3JU. We will discuss future plans. All welcome!

With the DSEI arms fair looming large on the horizon, London CAAT took an interested group of people around some of the arms companies that are likely to exhibit at the fair. Visits were paid to Boeing, G4S, Rolls Royce, BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin as well as Buckingham Palace, the latter due to the support the Royals have provided in securing arms deals. We also left blue plaques at each of the companies to recognise their horrific acts. Attendees discovered which company made bombs that killed civilians in Yemen (Lockheed Martin) and who said that ‘weapons sales encourage peace’ (the chair of BAE Systems). We shone a light on these immoral companies that many people don’t realise have buildings in the centre of London and we will do at least one more before September so watch this space!

Court victory stops arms sales to Saudi Arabia

In a historic judgment, the Court of Appeal ruled that UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen are UNLAWFUL.

Campaign Against Arms Trade were successful in proving their case that the government had failed to properly assess whether there have been breaches of International Humanitarian Law via their licensing of arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

The government now has to stop issuing new arms exports licences and it has since said it will do so – see here.

It’s shocking that it took a court case for the licences to stop, rather than the government making that decision on moral grounds. When schools, hospitals, weddings, and funerals have been bombed, the government should have stopped all weapons sales to the Saudi regime.

This is a huge victory for our movement but we must keep the pressure up. All MPs to know need to know about this ruling, to keep building the pressure to stop these sales once and for all. Please email your MP today: caat.org.uk/unlawful.

You can read about the verdict here and CAAT’s thoughts on it here. What a victory! Thank you to all those who contributed to this in any way.

Join us for a tour of the sinister side of London

Our walking tour of arms companies is this Saturday and we hope you will join us to find out about the arms companies in our midst. We will visit 6 arms companies, all of who are likely to be at the DSEI arms fair in September. Come along to learn which company made bombs that killed civilians in Yemen and who said that ‘weapons sales encourage peace’.

Join us on July 6^th at 2pm – we’re meeting outside the Victoria Palace theatre. There are still a few places available so do sign up for your free place here and you can also see details on the Facebook event.

Join East London Against Arms Fair for a protest at the venue of DSEI

Join East London Against Arms Fair on Saturday July 13^th at 2.30pm for a musical Protest at the west entrance of the ExCeL centre, where DSEI will take place. Nearest tube: Custom House DLR. More details are on their website.

Next London CAAT meeting, July 16^th

Join us at our next meeting on Tuesday July 16^th at 6.30pm in the CAAT office in Finsbury Park and the address is Unit 4, 5-7 Wells Terrace, N4 3JU. After our walking tour, we will decide what to do next in the run up to DSEI. All welcome so come get involved!