Anti-arms trade campaigners need your help this week : stopthearmsfair.org.uk/events
Activists prepare to Stop the Arms Fair. DEFENCE AND SECURITY EQUIPMENT INTERNATIONAL (DSEI) will take place in London from 14-17 September at ExCel exhibition centre and the AOC event in Liverpool (11-13 October)
To JOIN IN.. uk/events …Stop The Arms Fair Twitter> @StopTheArmsFair …
UK is the 2nd biggest world death merchant. Military leaders, and authoritarian regimes are gathering in London 5 star hotels, wasting their citizens money in a mad scramble to get better murder weaponry than their neighboursand .
On sale also will be the latest cutting-edge tools to massacre any rebellion, as used in places like Yemen, occupied Palestine, and right here.
Despite Covid and Climate breakdown, according to SIPRI, global military spend reached almost $2 trillion in 2020. The top 10 countries represent roughly 75% of this figure, and have increased their spending by $51 billion this year.
Citizens and activists have already been busy trying to stop these activities in London. As armoured vehicles were being brought into the east London venue, one brave anarchist clambered aboard.
Protesters have already tried to block the transportation of weapons and equipment to the world’s largest arms fair which is visited by arms dealers and some of the most repressive regimes in the world. The event will run next week from Tuesday 14 September to the 17th.
The Campaign Against Arms Trade says that DSEI would not be possible without the support of the UK Government and that it is supported by the Department of International Trade and the Ministry of Defence.
A statement from the group said: “Saudi Arabia, which continues to wage a brutal war in Yemen, the cause of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and which ruthlessly represses dissent at home, is a perennial presence at DSEI, honoured guests of the UK government.
“Last time in 2019, the official UK government guest list included delegations from Bahrain, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan, all listed at the time as “countries of concern” by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
“Preparations for the arms fair have already been the subject of massive protests, with activists blocking roads with cars, clambering onto tanks, locking themselves to digging machines, and draping banners from the top of police vans.
“Some have even made camp in the road overnight, as they seek to oppose the setting up of the arms fair. The opening day of the arms fair on Tuesday will see even larger protests, with hundreds of activists expected to make clear that the merchants of death are not welcome in London.”
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has also been a vocal opponent of the arms fair. He tweeted last month: “The DSEI arms fair has no place in our city.
“For London to be used as a marketplace for those wishing to trade in weapons to countries that abuse the human rights of their citizens goes completely against our values.”
Siana Bangura of Campaign Against Arms Trade said: “The DSEI arms fair is a moral disgrace and an insult to the people of London. As the Mayor of London has emphasized, the weapons that DSEI delegates will be eagerly ogling in the Excel Centre are often the very same that have devastated the families and homelands of communities living a stone’s throw away, and across the city.
“We will be there on Tuesday to tell the visiting warmongers and dictators that they are not welcome here.”
More information on events both online and in-person here.
* See Also: Stop The Arms Fair and Art The Arms Fair Twitter> @StopTheArmsFair
Liverpool Against the Arms Fair@AgainstArmsThe march against the @ACCLiverpool Arms Fair is today , now, Sat 11th Sept. Assemble 11.30am Princes Park gates 12.30pm Metropolitan Cathedral
Anti-war activists block roads & scale tanks in UK ahead of planned arms fair in London (VIDEOS)
10 Sep 21, from RT/ declassified/The Canary/Gal-Dem
@declassifiedUK
Follow RT on Footage has emerged of activists clashing with law enforcement while trucks containing weapons arrive under police escort ahead of a massive arms fair in London, to which 30,000 international delegates have been invited.
Declassified UK, a British investigative journalism website, released a video on Friday of protesters being detained by police officers while arms trucks transported weapons set to be displayed at the Defense and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair.
Protesters waved Palestinian flags and slammed the UK’s relationships with “human rights-abusing countries” including Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The biennial event is set to take place from September 14-17, but the massive equipment has been moved to the venue in recent days. DSEI has been publicizing the weapons fair under the slogan “Powering progress – Defining your future.”
Activists blocked entrances to the venue in London’s Docklands and scaled tanks, other photos and videos posted online showed.
Sarah Wilkinson from Palestine Action told Declassified that the only purpose of the weapons was “to slaughter” innocent civilians. “It’s profiting out of death and it has no other purpose,” she said. The video shows multiple British police officers detaining resisting protesters.
Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the British Labour Party, has also joined those protesting the fair, tweeting bluntly on Friday: “This arms fair should not go ahead.”
“The weapons sold at fairs such as these are used to target civilian populations around the world,” he added in another tweet, sharing a motion presented to Parliament calling for the event to be cancelled.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has also spoken out about the event, saying last month it has “no place” in the city.
The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and Extinction Rebellion are among the other groups opposed to the fair.
Between 2016 and 2020, the UK issued £387 million worth of Single Individual Export Licenses (SIELs) for the sale of weapons to Israel, compared to £67 million from 2011 to 2015, according to CAAT.
The UK has sold over £20 billion worth of military equipment and services to Saudi Arabia since 2015, the group said.
Breaking
A Manchester rebel is surfing an APV on its way to one of the world’s largest and most despicable war machine exhibitions, DSEI in London.
Protesters call out the DSEI arms fair’s ‘disgusting display of inhumanity’
The Free 