What is DSEI?

DSEI (Defence & Security Equipment International) is one of the world’s largest arms fairs. It is run by Clarion Events, who are headquartered in London, but who also host 24 other arms fairs around the world (alongside other less bloodthirsty events such as the Baby Show).  DSEI takes place once every two years in September, at ExCel – the huge exhibition centre in London’s Docklands.

The UK government helps to organise this arms fair, invites military buyers an arms companies  from around the world, all at taxpayer expense.

In 2023, DSEI brought together 1,600 exhibitors and 45,000 delegates from over 100 countries to network and make deals. This year, exhibitors will be selling everything from guns and bombs to fighter jets and warships, with live action demos promised to take place in the Royal Victoria Dock. They will be joined by companies selling surveillance equipment, drones, digital technology and other tools of repression to police and state agencies, as Counter Terror Expo takes place alongside DSEI.

DSEI is an important event for the UK state, which heavily subsidises and promotes the arms industry and helps organise the arms fair.  The guest list includes delegates from countries involved in military conflicts and at war, and on the government’s own list of human rights abusers.

You can find out more on Campaign Against Arms Trade’s webpage dedicated to resisting DSEI

Can we actually stop the arms fair?

Shutting down a multi-million pound arms fair protected by security fences and police lines, with a huge amount at stake for the organisers and the UK state might sound like a pretty big ask.  But it has been done before.

The Australian International Defence Equipment Exhibition was shut down for good by protests in 1991.  APDSE was intended to be the first arms fair held in Australia for 17 years, but didn’t go ahead, in the words of the Acting Premier Kevin Foley, because of concerns about “the scale of the planned protests”, “the cost of security” and, without any hint of irony, supposed “possible threats of violence”. Then, in 2008, the Asia-Pacific Defence and Security Exhibition (APDSE) was cancelled due to public opposition.

More recently and closer to home, the Defence, Procurement, Research, Technology and Exportability (DRPTE) arms fair was chased out of Cardiff then Birmingham in 2019, after having been driven from Bristol in 2014.  Glasgow sank Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) in 2018, with the local council vowing never to host arms fairs in the city again.

Where is the ExCeL centre?

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The ExCeL centre is in London’s docklands.

Tube: nearby stations include Royal Victoria, Custom House, and Prince Regent on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). On the Jubilee line and DLR, slightly further away, is Canning Town.

Car: Follow signs for Royal Docks, City Airport and ExCeL (postcode E16 1XL).

If you’re from outside London: the TFL website explains how to get around London.

For more transport information, see ExCeL’s website. They also have an interactive map so you can get a sense of what it looks like inside.