Symon Hill of Campaign Against Arms Trade is buzzing with the excitement of a remarkable High Court victory. He forages through my hefty pile of BAE-judicial-review-related clippings–the story was strewn across the pages of all the national dailies–and upon finding the desired article takes great delight in quoting the Financial Times:
“What started as a David versus Goliath challenge, brought by a group of activists dismissed as ‘treehuggers’, yesterday culminated in a…
Mike Turner, the head of BAE, is used to getting his own way. He wrote furiously to Gordon Brown last July, ranting against Brown's decision to close the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO).
DESO is a marketing agency for private arms companies, paid for by taxpayers.
DESO's closure follows years of campaigning. In 2006-7, groups including Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) focussed on the economic arguments against DESO. Brown realised that he could save money by…
I had a sort of New Year resolution not to write about the “Defence Systems & Equipment International Exhibition” (DSEI) arms fair for a while and focus on other issues.
I have changed my mind for two reasons.
Firstly, there is a rumour going round that 2007 was the last DSEI arms fair. Would that it were so, but it is too early to rejoice.
Bill, who runs the Café which is the regular meeting place of East London Against the Arms Fair (ELAAF), is…
On Monday 9 February a group of students from Aberystwyth University staged a lunchtime “die-in” in the busy Arts Centre plaza. The students, members of People & Planet and Amnesty, were highlighting University unit-trust investments in companies such as BAE Systems, Europe’s largest “defence manufacturer”.
The students are petitioning the University to adopt an ethical investment policy. Students’ Guild Environmental and Ethics Officer, Tom Marshall, stressed that the…
In a dramatic ruling, the High Court has given the go-ahead for a review of the Government's decision on BAE's Saudi arms deals.
The ruling came on 9th November, in response to a legal challenge brought by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House, an anti-corruption NGO. The judge, Justice Moses, insisted that the issue “cries out for a public hearing”.
He gave permission for a judicial review - a process by which a court considers if the Government has…
America's largest annual gathering of peace and human rights activists took place last month when over 20,000 people demonstrated at Fort Benning - the US Army's training school for Latin American military and security personnel. Formerly known as the School of the Americas (SOA), it has been renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) although its role remains the same: providing training for the military officers who have gone on to commit human rights abuses…
The biennial Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi), one of the largest arms fairs in the world, has once again been met with protests in East London, where it has been held since 1999.
The recently announced decision by publishing company Reed Elsevier to pull out of organising the event has rightly given anti-arms trade activists cause to celebrate. But judging by the unusually low turnout at this year's “Day of Action Against DSEi” on 11 September, it would seem…
I have been asked to write this column alternating with Jeff Cloves who lives in the lovely town of Stroud. I live in the London Borough of Newham. Anyone who knows both areas will be aware of the contrast.
Newham - home of DSEi
One distinction of Newham is that every two years we are the unwilling hosts of the DSEi Arms Fair at the ExCel Exhibition Centre, at Custom House E16. Despite unceasing opposition all year round, it is due to come back again this year starting on 11…
September will see the DSEi arms fair return to London in a year that has seen political and commercial support falling away from the UK arms trade.
DSEi's current owners Reed Elsevier - best known as publishers - announced in June that they would sell their arms fairs by the end of 2007.
The news followed a campaign co-ordinated by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) which included Reed's own writers and shareholders. Commentators have now predicted a reduction in…
Anti-arms trade campaigners are celebrating a historic victory following the prime minister's announcement that he will close the infamous Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO), a unit of the Ministry of Defence that promotes sales for private arms companies.
DESO has long been seen as a channel through which arms dealers exercise excessive influence over government.
The news follows decades of activism against DESO, with a particularly high-profile campaign in the last…
Questions about corruption dominated the questions to directors at the recent annual shareholders' meeting of Britain's biggest weapons merchants, BAE Systems.
In addition to some nominal shareholders organised by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), several “real” shareholders also embarrassed the board with related questions.
Outside the meeting too, street theatre (see picture) by CAAT activists featured in the financial pages of most serious papers the next day.
…
Some years ago, the BAE AGM was an annual free-for-all, with dozens of token shareholders shouting, standing on chairs, trying to stop the meeting and generally causing mayhem.
After a few years it started to feel ritualistic and I began to question the value of such tactics. In more recent years, however, things have got a lot quieter.
This year the focus was the abandoned SFO enquiry into corruption in BAE's deals with Saudi Arabia. Everyone trooped in quietly, sat quietly,…
The Campaign Against Arms Trade, with Corner House Research, has now lodged its full application for a High Court judicial review of the Serious Fraud Office's dropping of a corruption case against BAE Systems, Britain's biggest weapons producer. The corruption relates to a massive arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
The application was on hold pending other legal proceedings to stop BAE's access to CAAT's internal documents relating to the High Court case -- see the February and March PNs…
Seven British doctors recently embarked on a 10-day visit to the Dove and Dolphin International Medical Centre in Gaza to spend time with Palestianian doctors and medical students. The doctors hope to collect information on common medical problems which they will then collate and offer for publication in medical journals.
In March, 138 academics from 17 countries signed an open letter to academic publisher Reed Elsevier, demanding an end to its role in the arms trade. Reed's…
It's taken some time to come to this conclusion, but The Mole is now totally convinced that there's a conspiracy to be uncovered about the story of the collapse of the two World Trade Centre towers in New York in September 2001.
There's a film going the rounds called Loose Change, explaining how the towers were brought down by previously placed explosives, not by the impact of the planes which people think hit them. In a Guardian article recently, Tim Sparke - the producer of that…
