Anti-Militarist Network

Repressive regimes and countries in conflict are among the military delegations who will be attending the 2010 Farnborough Air Show. Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will attend, having been invited by the UK government. Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) says that the presence of such countries makes a mockery of the system of arms export controls, which supposedly restrict arms sales to responsible countries.

While negotiations for an Arms Trade Treaty take place in New York, Coalition Government ministers will be participating in trade days at Farnborough. Vince Cable, Business Secretary, with overall responsibility for the government arms sales unit, UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), will be there on Monday 19 July. Defence Minister Liam Fox, who has explicitly stated that arms sales should be a foreign policy tool, will attend on Tuesday 20 July.

A Government Minister has declared that senior members of the Government will promote arms exports to compensate for budget cuts at the Ministry of Defence. Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) says that this brazen support for the arms trade by the new Coalition Government will result in even more suffering as a result of military sales and arms companies gaining ever greater influence over government.

Peter Luff, Defence Equipment Minister, is reported to have said: “There will be a very, very, very heavy ministerial commitment to the process. There is a sense that in the past we were rather embarrassed about exporting defence products. There is no such embarrassment in this Government.”

CAAT says that the statement is unusual in its frankness but, in reality, there is little difference from the policies pursued by the Labour Government. Government support for the arms industry already runs into billions of pounds per annum, including Research & Development spending, generous procurement arrangements and government-backed insurance. Arms exports receive disproportionate support from the special sales unit in UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO).

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Rooftop occupation at Heckler & Koch

On May 20th at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court, anti-arms-trade activist Kirk Jackson was found guilty of aggravated trespass for his part in a protest that shut down an arms company for a day. He was given a twelve month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £350 court costs.

The charge arose from a February 18th protest at the Nottingham warehouse of international arms company Heckler & Koch. Before dawn, four activists locked themselves to the gates, preventing employees from entering, while Kirk and another activist climbed onto the roof and displayed banners accusing the company of “arming repressive regimes”.

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One 12-foot high puppet (literally armed to the teeth) + 30 judge/jurors in wigs and cloaks = a strange sight for civil servants, tourists and shareholders in the City of Westminster this morning. The giant puppet was Dick Olver, Chair of the world’s largest arms company, and the 30 judge/jurors were Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) activists. The scene was set  for the People’s Jury outside BAE’s AGM.

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The UK’s largest arms manufacturer, BAE Systems, may think they have slipped free of serious sanction by agreeing a plea bargain with the Serious Fraud Office.

But campaigners at Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) have hit upon a novel way to bring these alleged corporate criminals to justice. A website, BAE:The People’s Jury has been set up to invite members of the public to air their views on BAE’s activities.

The website includes useful information on BAE’s activities and invites comments from interested members of the public. It already features hard-hitting contributions from prominent US academic Mike Koehler and the anti-corruption campaigner, former ANC MP, Andrew Feinstein whose blog details how BAE’s dealings have undermined South Africa’s fledgling democracy.

BAE: The People’s Jury is open to everybody and all are invited to contribute their thoughts.

CAAT is also hoping that supporters will join them on 5 May, the day of BAE’s AGM. A People’s Jury will chase an effigy of BAE Chairman Dick Olver from the headquarters of the government’s arms sales department (UKTI DSO) to the AGM venue at QEII Conference Centre in Westminster.

Campaigners hope that the People’s Jury campaign will result in a major embarrassment for BAE’s board as campaigners pose tough questions at the AGM.

More details on the day’s events are available on BAE: The People’s Jury website.

For further information or an interview please contact one of CAAT’s Campaigns Co-ordinators, Sarah Waldron or Anne-Marie O’Reilly on 020 7281 0297. Email addresses are sarah@caat.org.uk or anne-marie@caat.org.uk

The Honourable Mr Justice Collins today (24 March 2010)announced his decision to refuse to grant permission to Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House to bring a full judicial review hearing against the decision by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to make a controversial plea bargain settlement with BAE Systems. The two groups are taking legal advice on whether or not to appeal the decision.

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The High Court has granted an injunction prohibiting the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) from taking any further steps in its plea bargain settlement with BAE Systems.

The injunction is in force until the Court has decided whether or not to give permission to Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House to apply for a judicial review of the settlement. It will make this decision by 20 March 2010.

Lawyers acting for The Corner House and CAAT formally lodged papers seeking judicial review permission on Friday 26 February 2010, together with a request for the injunction.

For more information and to sign CAAT’s statement go to www.caat.org.uk

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).