As the latest wikileaks show, the royal family is deeply involved in the military-industrial complex. While Prince Andrew acts as a blunderbuss, mouthing patriotism and interfering in anticorruption investigations against BAE Systems, the queen plays a more subtle and perhaps insidious role. On 18th November she ‘launched’ construction work on the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre outside Sheffield. Described as a “factory of the future” it will house research projects…
This month’s drawings come from a graduate recruitment fair, held at the NEC, Birmingham at the end of October. The impact of the recession was clear – the show barely filled one of the twenty exhibition halls, and it was dominated by defence. Exhibitors included BAE Systems, EADs, Rolls Royce, Selex, the army, air force, GCHQ and M15. In spite of this, defence was curiously absent from the list of careers in the show guide.
BAE Systems appeared, instead, under almost every other…
Edinburgh students shut down their university’s career fair for 30 minutes on 6 October during protests against the presence of leading arms dealer BAE Systems.
Student pressure led the university to divest from BAE Systems in 2005, but the company – which is known to have supplied parts for the F-16 aircraft used by Israel to bomb both Lebanon and Palestine – continues to be invited to the fair.
A Ban BAE Campaign Pack – including an “Action Guide to Disrupting arms company…
A mass siege of the EDO arms factory in Brighton took place on 13 October.
The Hammertime demonstration effectively closed the factory for the day. However, with massive resources and the invoking of public order powers, the police kept control of the streets.
At the start, over 100 police surrounded the convergence centre, and demanded everyone go to a “designated protest area”. Protesters insisted on going to the announced start point, which the police had to…
On 30 June and 2 July, the seven remaining defendants in the EDO Decommissioners’ case were found not guilty of conspiracy to cause criminal damage despite their admission that they had damaged £180,000 worth of property on 16 January 2009 in a plant producing weapons for Israel. On 30 June, a unanimous jury acquitted five of the activists, and on 2 July the judge cleared the remaining two defendants of wrongdoing. The court found that the activists broke in with “lawful excuse,” as the…
In a stunning vindication of their disarmament action, seven defendants in the EDO Decommissioners case were found “not guilty” at Hove crown court, despite admitting causing £180,000 damage to the EDO/MBM arms factory in Brighton. (See PN 2506.)
Five of the activists – Simon Levin, Bob Nicholls, Ornella Saibene, Harvey Tadman and Tom Woodhead – were cleared by unanimous verdicts of the jury on 30 June, and the last two defendants – Chris Osmond and Elijah Smith – were cleared by…
British prime minister David Cameron’s heavy-weight ministerial and trade mission to India at the end of June was accompanied by the announcement of a £500m BAE Hawk jet contract with India. The 57 jets would be manufactured under licence in India with BAE’s Indian partner, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), with technical and other support from BAE in the UK.
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) spokesperson Kaye Stearman responded: “This announcement comes just a week after it was…
The EDO Decommissioners (see PN 2506) spent the first week of their trial grilling the head of EDO/MBM, Paul Hills, on the firm’s supply of vital components to Israeli F-16 fighter jets (which Hills denied).
After nine days, on 16 June, Brighton peace activist Rosa Bellamy was cleared of conspiracy to participate in the property destruction inside the EDO/MBM arms factory in January 2009. The action took place as Israeli F-16s were bombing Gaza, killing hundreds of civilians.…
At the end of May, seven anti-arms trade protestors were found “not guilty” by district judge Quentin Purdy at Westminster magistrates court.
The seven were arrested in September 2009, as they demonstrated outside the Park Lane Hilton while a dinner was being held inside for delegates attending the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEi) arms fair at the ExCeL centre in east London.
The protestors refused to obey the direction of the senior police officer to confine…
BAE Systems, the world’s largest arms manufacturer, is to develop lead-free bullets for the British army. This more environmentally-friendly bullet (lead poisoning is apparently a danger at firing ranges, don’t laugh) is a response to the army’s call for greater stopping power in Afghanistan. A longer bullet will cause more impact against unarmoured targets such as lean Taliban footsoldiers, and have a longer range.
On 20 May at Nottingham magistrates’ court, anti-arms-trade activist Kirk Jackson was found guilty of aggravated trespass for his part in a protest that shut down an arms company for a day. (See PN 2519.) Jackson was given a twelvemonth conditional discharge and ordered to pay £350 court costs for his role in the 18 February rooftop protest at the Nottingham warehouse of international arms company Heckler & Koch. Mike Thornton, managing director of Heckler & Koch, refused to answer…
The six EDO Decommissioners, who caused £300,000 damage to the EDO MBM arms factory in Brighton to protest against the war on Gaza, go to trial on 17 May. They are charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
The trial will be held at Hove Crown Court on Lansdowne Road BN3 3BN. There will be a solidarity demonstration at 10am on the Monday morning.
Because the courtroom lacks a large public gallery, people are also encouraged to turn up throughout the trial to…
Recent opinion polls suggest an increased likelihood of the 6 May general election resulting in a hung parliament, something last seen in 1974. In order to avoid this, one party must win a minimum of 326 seats. The Labour party will forfeit its absolute majority if it loses 24 seats; the Conservatives will only achieve an absolute majority if they gain 116 seats. Otherwise, a hung parliament results and smaller parties gain value as the two major parties try to pass legislation.
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On 12 April, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute declared that BAE sold £21bn of arms in 2008, though arms sales from BAE’s British factories actually fell, making it the largest weapons manufacturer in the world. On 13 April, four BAE senior executives cashed in share options ahead of military spending cuts expected after the election. Ian King, chief executive, Nigel Whitehead, group managing director, Andrew Davies, group strategy director, and Alastair Imrie, personnel…
Events have moved rapidly since 5 February, when the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced a plea bargain with arms giant BAE Systems (see PN 2519).
As reported last issue, activist organisations Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House believe that the SFO decision is unlawful and have requested a judicial review of the plea bargain.
They contend that the SFO did not follow correct prosecution guidance (including its own guidance) on plea bargains. They also…
