DSEi and the arms trade.

BAE, Europe's biggest arms company, claims there is 'no evidence' that it has engaged in massive corruption to sell arms overseas. David Leigh and Rob Evans have published the evidence and documents gathered round the world in support of those allegations. Readers can judge for themselves.

The 4th Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi) to be held at the ExCeL Centre in London's Docklands was the focus of a concerted campaign in response to the callout for a Week of Action".

Some actions took place in advance of the opening, with Army recruitment adverts subvertised in Oxford, and a lock-on and weapons inspection at MSI in Norwich by Norfolk Campaign Against the Arms Trade. Actions on the previous day included a picket of a defence conference in Central London, and an action at AWE Aldermaston.

On the opening day, Tuesday 11th September, the security cordon around DSEi, was breached shortly after 7.30am , when a group of about 20 activists ran into the car park. Later a solidarity blockade of BAE took place in Manchester. About 80 people joined a CAAT march and rally, and about 50 cyclists arrived at Custom House DLR station from a critical mass style ride that left Bank tube station mid-morning. Two people were arrested after 'rivers of blood' were poured onto the ramparts of the Arms Fair venue.

Space Hijackers managed to get a tank and sound system to the main entrance of ExCeL, after diverting the police with a decoy tank. They auctioned off the tank and invited the 200 strong crowd to a party against the arms fair to let the fair's delegates know what they think about their murderous business.

Brighton-based arms manufacturer EDO are producing electrical weapons components for the US, UK and Israeli militaries. For over a year, the Smash EDO campaign has been trying to shut them down by direct protest at their premises. Recently, EDO MBM have applied for a High Court injunction to stop all protest at their premises except at designated times. The Smash EDO campaign regards this as a direct attack on freedom of expression and calls for a week-long protest camp.

Lots of links to promotional & marketing videos produced by arms companies

The home page of the campaign to shut down the DSEi arms fair

A brief summary of the events leading up to and during the DSEi 2003 WMD-fest, plus links to stories and sites with more information, provided by your humble webmaster.

Every two years East London plays host to the worlds largest arms fair and every two years thousands attempt to shut it down. This year, there were 4,000 police to protect the dealers in death from maybe a few hundred protestors and direct-action groups before and during the fair.

During events like this, the Indymedia slogan "Don't hate the media, be the media" takes on special significance as independent journalists and media workers provide reports, photos, videos and more of the protests, while the mainstream media looks the other way.

Follow this link for all the features and reports covering this year's DSEI.

On 25th March, Smash Edo, Bombs out of Brighton and 14 individuals were issued with intended injunctions under the 1997 Harassment Act, to be heard in the High Court on April 14th. The law was first introduced to protect people from stalkers but was then used against anti-vivisection groups.. This is the first time it has been used against an anti-war or anti-arms trade group. “SmashEdo” aims to shut down EDO MBM using awareness-raising and Non-Violent Direct Action tactics.”

If the injunction were granted it would limit demonstrations to no more than ten people for two and a half hours on a Thursday afternoon. Other prohibitions would include the banning of musical instruments/amplified sound, and protest camps within 3 miles of Edo’s factory or any of the employees’ homes. These terms are very similar to those on injunctions against animal rights campaigns, and the now defunct Stop Bayer Campaign.

If granted on the terms requested by injunction specialists Solicitors Lawson-Cruttenden it will represent a further twisting of the law’s originally stated purpose. One of the reasons that companies and the police use civil, rather than criminal law is that the burden of proof necessary to get an “interim” injunction is very low. In the case of this particular campaign there have only been a handful of convictions relating to minor public order offences (Obstruct highway/Aggravated Trespass).

The campaigns tactics have included: a visit by a Citizens Inspections Agency (CIA) team, weekly noise demos, Letter writing,a peace camp, Silent Vigils, demos in town A phone blockade,and a roof-top demo.

Other repression connected with the EDO campaign has included Solicitors threatening UK IMC with legal action and a campaigner who downloaded publicly available information from the Company House Website having his house raided and arrested by Sussex police.

Even without the injunction Sussex Police have used their powers to declare assemblies of two or more people subject to conditions.

A video documentary of the DSEi arms fair held in London's Docklands in September 2003, a highly professional Indymedia UK Video production, 27 minutes. Available in high-quality DivX format at 230MB and lower quality QuickTime format at 13MB.

You really need to be on a broadband connection for this, but if you didn't hear about DSEi 2003 or read the independent news coverage at http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/actions/2003/dsei/ then this film provides an excellent introduction.

It mixes footage and eye-witness accounts of direct actions and protests with over-the-top policing, with interviews with spokespeople from Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Amnesty and more, plus lots of background on what's wrong with the arms trade.

An interactive map showing the locations of companies in London involved in the arms trade

"We have all the potential tools, skills and laws needed to abolish war. Join us in helping to build:

An end to arm sales - Well researched campaign through Parliament and the Media
Economic justice - For those who lack basic resources
The Criminal Court - Every national or military leader to be accountable internationally
A more equitable UN - Give poor and small states a voice
Political Rights - For persecuted minorities
A World Peace force - Instead of gunboat diplomacy
Conflict prevention - Early outside mediation by the UN with Civilian monitors
Honoured treaties - Such as Kyoto, Landmines and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Education for peace - In schools, colleges and the Media"

We are a motley team from all over the country with a wide range of different experiences ranging from peace campaigning and nuclear disarmament to environmental activism, direct action and anticapitalism. We’ve come together to organise anti-war actions that take protest directly to those responsible - the US bases situated in this country. N.O.W. can arrange a skill share or speaker. Ring 07905 913 139 or e-mail mail@now-peace.org.uk to find out more.

A week of protests against DSEi (Europe's largest arms fair) has started.

The much criticised arms fair runs from 13-16th September in London's East End docklands and is held every two years. This year condemnation of the arms fair has also come from Newham Borough Council and the Mayor of Newham. Events against the arms fair include two counter conferences, press briefings, direct action trainings, a Reclaim the Streets Party, candlelit vigils, marches and blockades.

On Thursday 8th anti arms trade campaigners paid a visit to the offices of DSEi organisers Reed Elsevier in Kidlington, Oxford, to raise awareness of the companies involvement in organising and promoting the arms fair. Also see: The Lancet Medical Journal Attacks its Owners Reed Elsevier, Corporate Watch on Reed Elsevier, CAAT on Reed Elsevier.

SmashEdo is a group of concerned individuals who are campaigning to remove EDO MBM Technology Ltd from Brighton. EDO MBM is a wholly owned subsidary of the multinational arms manufacturing company, EDO Corporation. At EDO MBM's factory on Home Farm Road, Moulescoombe, they are manufacturing bomb racks, release clips, arming mechanisms and targeting equipment; all of which has been used in the recent Iraq invasion. It is a glaring hypocrisy that this company is allowed to operate in Brighton as Brighton and Hove is a UN Peace Messenger City. The mission statement of the UN Peace Caucus supports 'reduction of military spending and production', yet companies like EDO MBM need increased military spending to continue to generate profits for their shareholders. How can the progressive ideals of the Peace Caucus which Brighton and Hove City Council are supposed to be promoting be reconciled with the presence of an arms company doing business in our city?

The area of business that EDO MBM is involved with is euphemistically referred to as the 'Defence Industry' by its supporters. It takes a delusional leap of the imagination to see how the supply of weapon components to the brutal Indonesian regime or for the 14 year long bombing of Iraq can possibly be called 'defence'. Maybe the £6.5 million given to EDO MBM from the Ministry of Defence for the Paveway contract helps ease the conciences of EDO's shareholders. The managing director at EDO MBM, David Jones, has openly stated that his company is proud to support the invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq. As for EDO MBM's contribution to the global arms trade, the fig leaf that allows them any sense of legitimacy is the claim that the export of their 'products' are vetted by the government in accord with the Foreign Office's 'ethical foriegn policy', a policy that has long been shown to be a joke.

In a spectacular march through Brighton on Saturday June 11th, 150-200 protestors showed that they would not be intimidated by the violence meted out at the May 31 Big Demo at EDO MBM by Sussex police. After an open mic event on The Level where several protestors spoke out against EDO MBM as well as the draconian Harassment Act interim Injunction brought by the company against peaceful protestors outside their factory, and Sussex Police’s brutality trying to enforce it, the march began.

This UK Indymedia feature includes a report of the march, and links to background information about EDO and related reports.

UK Indymedia's feature on DSEi 2003. Lots of people have been posting reports, videos, photos etc to the newswire, and the IMC techies are doing a grand job of maintaining the feature page which links them all together in a sensible order. Please visit it because the mainstream media are doing a miserable job of covering the event.