DSEI, one of the world’s biggest arms fairs, is scheduled to return to London’s docklands in September 2013. One year before it plans to open its doors, Stop the Arms Fair pledges to resist the arms fair and is calling for a massive day of action on 10 September 2013 if the fair goes ahead.
We resist the arms fair because…
- When the people of Egypt took to the streets calling for an end to military rule they faced weapons made and sold by the companies that exhibited at DSEI.
- The repressive regimes that gunned down democracy protesters on the streets of Libya and Bahrain were courted and equipped at DSEI.
- The world needs more healthcare and education, not more weapons.
- The arms fair is where the UK supports tyrants and puts arms company profits above democracy and freedom.
- Conflict and destruction around the world are fuelled from here, and repression is supported, promoted and sold here.
We cannot let this go unchallenged. We will resist the arms fair in our local communities and in London.
Make the most of this chance to impact on the international trade
> Make sure you and your friends are there on 10 September 2013 if the fair goes ahead. Put it in your diary and start spreading the word.
> Build resistance in your local community. Chances are there’s a DSEI exhibitor near you. Local action is showing the companies which attend that wherever they operate, there is opposition. A die-in in Norfolk, a vigil in Edinburgh, and a critical mass cycle ride in London are just a few of the ways people are building links, awareness and pressure in their communities. Find your local exhibitor here.
> Think big! In 2011, the fair was challenged with blockades of arms dealers, banner-drops, a bubble action, mass die-ins, street theatre and MP lobbying. Take a look at what people got up to last year and start planning how you want to intervene.
Why we’re resisting the arms fair
Stop the Arms Fair is is a coalition of groups and individuals campaigning to put a stop to DSEI and all future arms fairs. Here’s a few of the reasons we’re taking action – and hope you’ll join us.
East London Against Arms Fairs (ELAAF) have been opposing the fair since it came to ExCeL in 2001 and will continue to do so until it is cancelled. While the profits of this arms fair and ExCeL are exported to their owners in New York and Abu Dhabi, the shame of hosting the fair remains in London, and the slaughtered, bereaved and maimed victims are all over the world.
We will resist the arms fair – and the industry behind it – until it is shut down for good. Whatever it takes.
Every bomb that is dropped, every bullet that is fired, has to be made somewhere. And wherever that is, it can be resisted.
The arms fair is one of the grossest manifestations of the global arms trade – and of how our government promotes arms sales to human rights abusers and conflict zones. Huge profits are made by arms companies, but the costs are borne by the UK taxpayer and the millions of people whose lives are blighted by the arms trade.
Stop the Arms Fair! www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk
Headlines in the year following the 2011 DSEI fair have confirmed that it is critical to oppose to the business of war. As I noted in an article last year (http://blog.caat.org.uk/2011/09/07/dsei-playground-of-the-power-elite/), to systematically encourage armed confrontation is irresponsible. . . to put it mildly. The arms trade ‘profits’ on misery and mayhem–dangerous stuff to us all.