In the light of the recent series of tragic gun deaths numerous media commentators and politicians of all political parties have expressed their anxieties about the ease of access to weapons in our society and condemned the fact that these weapons are now more available than ever. This month these concerned citizens have a real opportunity of making a direct contribution to the campaign which has effectively mobilised for decades against the root source of these weapons.
On Tuesday 11th September the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) is organising a peaceful demonstration against the DSEi arms fair being held at the ExCel exhibition centre in East London, assemble at 11am at Plaistow Park.
The DSEi arms fair is one of the largest arms fair in the world and is organised every two years in London with the full support of the Government. Arms dealers and buyers come from all over the world to shop for weapons, ranging from small arms to fighter jets, to battleships. These weapons will contribute to the armed violence which kills 500,000 people every year, one person every minute. It is estimated that at least 80-90% of all illegal small arms start in state sanctioned arms trade. As CAAT points out, it is an irony that this arms fair is being held in Newham where gun crime has become an increasing problem in recent years with many victims under 20.
CAAT has been an extremely successful campaign.This year its successes include persuading Reed Elsevier, the company organising arms fairs, to sell off its arms fair operation. In addition the campaign has played the key role in pushing the Government into announcing in July that its Defence Export Services Organisation is to shut by the end of the year. This is the body which on behalf of the Government promotes and supports arms sales by the arms industry in Britain.
So supporting CAAT is one of the most effective ways of tackling gun crime and preventing more people being brutally killed by guns and other weapons both in Britain and across the world.
I have always supported the work of CAAT and used its research but through lethargy never made the effort to actually join. So today I am sending off my cheque and application form to join to support its work. If all those media pundits and politicians who have recently pronounced on gun crime are serious about tackling this issue there can be no better way than supporting CAAT www.caat.org.uk and email to enquiries@caat.org.uk
8 Comments:
Sorry to go off topic John but thought you might like to read this...
"crisis of colossal proportions that no accounting gimmick will be able to stave off"
http://tinyurl.com/2j7ay7
Hi John - agree 100% see you at the protest ( The excel building is just behind my house)
"Prince Bandar, challenged as to whether there is corruption in deals with the Saudi royal family, replies:" "Yes. So what?"
http://tinyurl.com/2zvlr3
BAE's lobbying...
http://tinyurl.com/2vpojy
Taken from the BlairWatch site...
"Once again the news has broken about the excessive number of passes given to BAE to wander the corridors of the Ministry of Defence."
"I'm reminded of this quote by Robin Cook in his book Point of Departure2"
"In my time I came to learn that the Chairman of British Aerospace appeared to have the key to the garden door to Number 10. Certainly I never once knew Number 10 to come to any decision incommoding to BAE, even when they came bitterly to regret the public consequences, as they did when they overruled me on the supply of Hawk spares to Zimbabwe"
BlairWatch site...
http://tinyurl.com/yqpbgv
The true and EVIL face of New Labour...
Britain acquires thermobaric weapons for Afghanistan...
"Human Rights Watch (HRW) states that these have a capability to" “kill and injure in a particularly brutal manner over a wide area,”...
“When they admitted to MPs they had already bought two batches, they then told us these were not thermobaric weapons. They withdrew that claim five hours later and refused to put anyone up for an interview.”...
"impossible for civilians to take shelter from their destructive effect.”
http://tinyurl.com/29s25x
Although not directly linked with Britain's Arms Industry, I thought it was disgusting when it was found the Americans were flying bombs through Scotland to Israel - I really wish more was made of that, as how low can the government really go.
If it wouldn't say no to an act like that, there seemed to be very little New Labour would have done to bend over backwards for Bush and Co.
"Britain accused on cluster bombs"
"The UK government has been accused of trying to reclassify two kinds of cluster bombs so they can still be used after a proposed global ban begins."...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7000083.stm
"Labour tries to block new BAE inquiry"...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/story/0,,2173947,00.html
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