Full version of the report that appears in The Spectre issue 5
DSEi (Defence & Security Equipment International), is one of the biggest events on the international arms fair circuit, taking place every two years at the ExCel centre in London’s Docklands. It exists so that arms buyers and sellers can come together, network and make deals.
It is organised by Clarion Events and the Government department UK Trade & Investment’s Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO). UKTI DSO’s support is crucial to the success of DSEi and its continued existence.
This year’s event took place from 13-16 September and featured over 1,300 arms companies from around the world, displaying arms ranging from rifles to tanks to fighter jets to battleships. They were joined by arms dealers, “trade visitors” and military delegations, including countries involved in conflict and human rights abuses, as well as those with desperately underfunded development needs.
Around one in three of the world’s militaries was at the last arms fair in 2009. Adversaries browsed alongside each other for weapons to use against each other. Bahrain, Egypt, Libya and Saudi Arabia – each of whom have turned weapons on democracy protesters in 2011 – were all present at the last London arms fair in 2009. (http://www.caat.org.uk/issues/armsfairs/dsei/)
The 13th September 2011 was designated by many groups opposed to militarisation as a day of action against the arms fair, including lobbying your MP. I had been down before to days of protest against the arms fair but this time decided to go and see ‘my’ MP as well, fortunately she had responded to my email with a generic letter setting out the governments position, including an economic argument and assurances of concern over regulation. That gave me time to research and prepare and so we started our time together going through the letter exploring the points and her defence of the government using tax payers money to facilitate the selling of the means of killing and repression for profit. Overall I found it an odd experience of meeting someone who seemed unconcerned and passionless about the whole issue, though she is a Tory!
So having got out of Parliament I met up with one of the groups of protesters who were off to protest outside the HQ of General Atomics who make Reaper drones which have killed many civilians in Afghanistan. At the HQ we met up with another group were there already, the protest was good, chalking slogans on the pavement, chalking round ‘dead’ people to leave ‘corpse’ outlines and a fair amount of singing, and generally the cops were pretty OK. After this the next call was BAE HQ where I guess most of the protesters had gathered for a mass ‘die in’. I’ve never done this before but as an act of symbolism it seemed to me to be very effective, the whole road outside the HQ covered with the ‘dead’ with complete silence for 10 minutes. Then we were off again (keep up!) to the National Gallery where they were holding some sort of soiree for those involved with the arms fair. There was an impromptu protest here overlooking Trafalgar Square, with another ‘die in’, a sound system playing the noise of war, a speech and banners and we were there in time to crowd round the two entrances and give anyone going in to the soiree a lot of abuse! By now it was 7pm and I had to leave.
So was it worth a 2 hour train journey, money and a day off work? Yes! On the day there was loads going on that I didn’t see as small groups disrupted the DLR, protested at the Excel Building and generally let the government and arms industry know that flogging death and repression is not OK with everyone and that some of us find this particular expression of capitalism’s pursuit of profit even more appalling than their normal exploitative practices. Protest is often about symbolism and contesting norms, communicating to those in power that we haven’t accepted their corrupt obscene version of the world. Its also about alerting the wider public to what’s going on and I was able to chat with a couple of women in Trafalgar Square about the reason we were protesting. It is also about giving expression to your own convictions, stopping yourself becoming passive and assimilated. It was an important day for all those reasons and was another opportunity to give expression to the belief that another, non destructive, world is possible, and to reassert that there are still people who have vision and ideals that challenge the capitalist version of the world we all have to live in at present.