Anti-Militarist Network

Early this morning anti-arms trade campaigners climbed onto the roof and locked themselves to the gates of the UK headquarters of the major arms company Heckler and Koch to protest against the company’s unethical activities; Unit 3, Easter Park, Lenton Lane, Nottingham NG7 2PX

Heckler and Koch is the world’s second largest manufacturer of handguns, assault rifles, submachine guns, machine guns and grenade launchers (1). Millions of H&K weapons are currently in use in over 90 countries, falling into the hands of child soldiers in Africa, terrorists in the Middle East, militias in Darfur, rebels in Nigeria, arms traffickers in the Philippines, mercenaries in Iraq and organised criminals in Serbia. Heckler & Koch weapons have been used by armed forces in conflicts in which those forces have been accused by international monitors of war crimes, including Bosnia in 1991, South Ossetia in 2008 and Sri Lanka in 2009. In total, H&K weapons are estimated to have caused 1.5 million deaths worldwide to date.
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Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House are shocked and angered by the 5 February decision of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to settle with BAE Systems. As a result of the settlement there will be no opportunity to discover the truth behind alleged bribery and corruption in the many BAE deals that were under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
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In recent years there have been efforts to create a Latin America-wide anti-militarist network, which has produced statements on, amongst other issues, the threat of war between Colombia and Venezuela, and the military coup in Honduras. One of their most significant challenges is the new populist face of militarism in the region, with leaders such as Hugo Chavez garnering widespread support from civilians for potential conflicts.

On Tuesday 2nd February 2010 in London, there will be a discussion of the growing anti-militarist movements in Latin America, featuring activists Pelao Carvallo, a Chilean living in Paraguay, and Rafael Uzcategui from Venezuela. This event will be presented by War Resisters’ International and hosted at Housmans radical bookshop, and will be conducted in English and Spanish, with interpreters.

Housmans has been selling radical books for fifty years, and is one of the last remaining radical bookshops in London. The biggest threat to independent bookshops is Amazon, which imposes poor conditions on its workers, and whose near-monopoly allows it to squeeze small publishers. Housmans recently launched its own online bookshop, with half a million titles, to provide an ethical alternative to Amazon.

The event will begin at 19:00, and the address is 5 Caledonian Rd, London N1 9DX (nearest tube King’s Cross).

For three weeks in January 2009, the bombs rained down on Gaza. At the end of Israel’s brutal bombing campaign and ground offensive over 1400 Palestinians had been murdered, including 314 children.

In Brighton EDO MBM/ITT manufacture some of the weapons components that devastated so many lives. All over the world thousands of people watched appalled at the carnage on the streets of Gaza. Thousands marched and raged at the destruction of peoples’ homes and lives. On January 18th 2010, the anniversary of the final day of Operation Cast Lead, we will come together to remember the people of Gaza.

We will not allow those who supported their pain and profited from their suffering to go unchallenged. We will not let this genocide be forgotten. On the first anniversary after their deaths, we will rise up. We will take to the streets. We will remember…

Assemble at 1pm, wear black…

More details, including the meeting place, will be published here closer to the date.

Anti-militarist magazine Peace News will be hosting a national gathering of campaigners and activists in Nottingham this winter.

People from across the spectrum of the British peace movement will come together for a weekend of exploration, celebration and empowerment – learning from other movements, struggling with challenging issues, and creating greater cohesion and solidarity in a segmented peace movement.

The gathering will be held at the Sumac Centre in January, from the evening of Friday 15th until the afternoon of Sunday 17th. It will be followed by a mass non-violent direct action against a local arms company on the morning of Monday 18th.

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Arms company Heckler & Koch has been in the news this week. It seems that H&K, whose international sales office is located in Nottingham, is still in the business of arming regimes that are well known to commit gross violations of human rights. Notts Anti-Militarism looks at three examples from around the world.

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This afternoon, around 70 people gathered in Chadderton, Greater Manchester at the launch demonstration of the Target Brimar campaign.

The campaign opposes the activities of Brimar, a Manchester-based company which makes military components used by the British and American armies in Iraq and Afghanistan and by Israeli forces in Palestine and Lebanon, and which have also been sold to other militaries around the world.
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The Anti-Militarist Network will be holding a national gathering in Edinburgh on Saturday the 3rd of October. Among other things we will be discussing the resistance to the upcoming NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Edinburgh ( 13-17th November), the decommissioners week in Brighton ( 16-26 October), the newly formed Target Brimar campaign in Manchester (launch demo 17th October) and other anti-militarist campaigns and events across the UK. The AMN gathering is a great opportunity for activists from around the country to network and build a national anti-militarist movement.

See here for more info (will be updated closer to the gathering with more info so check regularly)

Target Brimar Campaign Website

Brimar is a Greater Manchester based company that manufactures a range of screens and viewing equipment, including specialist cathode ray tubes. Although Brimar makes some equipment and components for civilian uses, it has come to mainly specialise in military devices.

Brimar’s devices are found in fighter planes, attack helicopters, tanks, armoured missile launchers.

We are calling for a national demonstration to launch the Target Brimar campaign. This will be on Saturday 17th October at noon.

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The website for the NATO Welcoming Committee has been launched. The NATO WC will provide a convergence space for activists to converge and stay in throughout the Assembly, as well as providing food, medical services in terms of street medics and a well-stocked medics space, legal support through the Scottish Activist Legal Project, trauma support and other forms of support to activists.

They are calling for a mass demo to try and shut down NATO on Friday the 13th of November, the first day of the assembly.