Arms trade

1 May 2010Feature

Recent opinion polls suggest an increased likelihood of the 6 May general election resulting in a hung parliament, something last seen in 1974. In order to avoid this, one party must win a minimum of 326 seats. The Labour party will forfeit its absolute majority if it loses 24 seats; the Conservatives will only achieve an absolute majority if they gain 116 seats. Otherwise, a hung parliament results and smaller parties gain value as the two major parties try to pass legislation.

1 May 2010News in Brief

On 12 April, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute declared that BAE sold £21bn of arms in 2008, though arms sales from BAE’s British factories actually fell, making it the largest weapons manufacturer in the world. On 13 April, four BAE senior executives cashed in share options ahead of military spending cuts expected after the election. Ian King, chief executive, Nigel Whitehead, group managing director, Andrew Davies, group strategy director, and Alastair Imrie, personnel…

1 April 2010News

Events have moved rapidly since 5 February, when the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced a plea bargain with arms giant BAE Systems (see PN 2519).

As reported last issue, activist organisations Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House believe that the SFO decision is unlawful and have requested a judicial review of the plea bargain.

They contend that the SFO did not follow correct prosecution guidance (including its own guidance) on plea bargains. They also…

1 April 2010News in Brief

On 3 March, Hove crown court accepted that the EDO Decommissioners can argue a war crimes defence at their trial. The trial takes place in Brighton on 17 May. The EDO Decommissioners caused over £250,000 damage to the EDO arms factory in Brighton in January 2009 in protest at the war on Gaza, Write to EDO Decommissioner Elijah Smith, still in prison after 15 months: Elijah Smith, A3186AM, HMP Lewes, 1 Brighton Rd, Lewes, Sussex, BN7 1EA.

1 April 2010News in Brief

Five people who blockaded the Heckler & Koch small arms office in Nottingham (see PN 2519) pleaded guilty and were fined between £40 and £195. One activist pleaded not guilty: his trial is at Nottingham magistrates court on 20 May at 9.45am.

1 March 2010News

On 5 February, a brief press release from the serious fraud office (SFO) announced that it had reached a settlement with BAE Systems, the UK’s largest arms company. Four months earlier, the SFO had made headlines announcing that it intended prosecute BAE for alleged bribery and corruption relating to arms deals in the Czech Republic, Romania, South Africa and Tanzania.

The settlement saw all charges dropped in regard to the first three countries, with BAE pleading guilty to…

3 February 2010Comment

Arms dealers from all over the world have been invited back to the biggest arms fair in the world at the ExCeL centre in Newham, east London for 13-16 September 2011. This vile event has been held at this venue every two years since 2001. They call it the “Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEi)” Exhibition though the only accurate bit of that title is “international”.

When East London Against Arms Fairs started over a decade ago we knew that previous arms fairs had…

1 February 2010News

The arms manufacturers Raytheon are to end their computer software manufacturing operation in Derry following a concerted campaign by Derry Anti War Coalition (DAWC) and the Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign (FEIC).

DAWC occupied the offices of Raytheon three times: in 2003, together with FEIC, after 62 people were killed in a Baghdad marketplace by a missile that Robert Fisk identified as a Raytheon one. Then in the aftermath of the Qana massacre of 30 July 2006, the DAWC again…

1 February 2010News

About 50 people braved the melting snows in mid-January to come to the first-ever Peace News Winter Gathering, at the Sumac Centre in Nottingham. The gathering was followed by street theatre focussed on Nottingham arms traders Heckler & Koch.

Gathering participants heard the legendary Keith McHenry, co-founder of Food Not Bombs; the equally legendary George Farebrother of NETLAP and World Court Project UK; as well as workshops on “Killer Drones” (by Chris Cole of FoR and Jim…

1 December 2009News in Brief

Neither the Ministry of Defence nor British Aerospace properly accounted for nearly £1bn paid by the MoD to the arms company as part of the al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) investigation kept secret for 17 years.
The Sunday Telegraph published details of the NAO findings on 15 November, based on correspondence it had seen between the NAO and the MoD.
The NAO also criticised as “irregular” a £30.3 million management fee paid to BAe…

16 November 2009Feature

Brimar – a Manchester-based weapons manufacturer – is the latest armaments firm to feel the heat from campaigners. 17 October saw the launch of a new campaign “Target Brimar” with a colourful procession and Critical Mass bike ride to the company’s factory in Chadderton, where there were speeches, music, food and a children’s playspace.

Two of the EDO “decommissioners” – on bail for damaging equipment at the Brighton EDO weapons factory last January, during the Israeli attack on Gaza…

1 November 2009News

On 1 October, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced that it was taking steps to prosecute BAE Systems in relation to arms deals in Eastern Europe and Africa. This move again places the spotlight on the activities of BAE, Britain’s largest arms company.

BAE is alleged to have paid bribes in the form of commissions to “advisers” to clinch sales. The SFO began investigations several years ago into BAE’s alleged corruption and false accounting in the Czech Republic, Romania,…

1 September 2009News

On 13 July the UK government announced that it had revoked five arms export licences to Israel, reportedly on the grounds that the exports breached “Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria”.

These criteria state that arms exports should not be used for “internal repression” (although Gaza and the West Bank are not Israeli territory). These and other arms export licensing criteria have generally been ignored in relation to Israel, up till now.

The…

1 July 2009News

In May and June, five people were up on charges arising from the April 2008 “Carnival Against the Arms Trade” at the EDO-MBM arms factory in Brighton. At the carnival, 800 people marched through police cordons into the factory car park and smashed windows and the managing director’s car.

Four people were found guilty by Brighton magistrates of aggravated trespass for entering the premises, though the case for this was flimsy: no business was going on as the factory was shut, and…

1 June 2009News

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) welcomed the ruling on 21 May, by the court of appeal, that the Metropolitan police broke the law in its routine surveillance of lawful and peaceful activity, including storing photographs on police computers.

On 27 April 2005, police officers openly photographed and followed CAAT staff and supporters after they had attended an AGM of a public company, Reed Elsevier, in their capacity as shareholders, to question directors about the acquisition of…