Arms trade

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.
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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…

From 11 to 14 September, DSEi (Defence Systems Equipment International), the world's largest arms fair, returns to East London's ExCeL Centre.

Despite massive local opposition, and a huge bill to the taxpayer, arms dealers will once again be free to deal in death and destruction. “Stop the War” (whichever war) is useless sloganeering unless it is accompanied by a commitment to stopping the global arms trade. No wars will ever stop whilst weapon sales are a booming capitalist business…

Our corruption correspondent writes: Britain's biggest contributor to the global death trade - BAE Systems - is fighting attempts by campaigners to expose its dirty tricks campaign against its opponents.

As reported in the last PN, the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) wants a judicial review of the government's decision to drop legal action against BAES over alleged corruption relating to its sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia. The preliminary court case referred to…

The latest skirmish in the 30-months-old campaign to drive arms company EDO-MBM out of Brighton, and out of existence, took place on Monday 19 February.

Eight students from Sussex University (conveniently situated just up the road from the factory) - including the current student union president, Dan Glass - continued a great tradition of Sussex students' pre-dawn anti-militarist activities when they locked themselves to the factory entrance soon after 5am. Banners saying “Books not…

The Serious Fraud Office's dropping of one of its corruption cases against BAE Systems on government “advice” had led to widespread national and international condemnation, the threat of legal action against the government by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and Corner House ... and more BAE dirty tricks.

BAE Systems - British Aerospace as was - is Britain's largest armaments manufacturer, and faces accusations of bribery and corruption in connection with a whole string of…

Having made a living out of ridiculing the evil antics of arms companies and other corporate criminals in his stand-up shows and on national television, Mark Thomas has finally got round to writing his first book.

Unsurprisingly, the butt of his written jokes is of course the arms trade. Well, the arms trade, the government, fellow activists and anyone else he cares to point the finger at. Starting with a good old rant about “why the reader should care about the arms trade”, it's…