CAATnews August/September 2006

CAATnews August/September 2006 - Action Report

Farnborough International Arms Fair 2006

It is a cruel irony that as Israel was bombing Lebanon, killing dozens of civilians in retaliation for Hizbollah attacks on the Israeli Army, Farnborough International 2006 opened its doors for 5 days of hardcore trading in military aircraft and related weaponry. F16s were on display – the very planes that Israel uses against its enemies – and BAE Systems were showcasing their latest Unmanned Ariel Vehicles (UAVs) whose ‘lethal-payloads’ were first used in Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. In the years following the curiously named ‘operation peace for Galilee’, UAVs have been used routinely in conflicts including Kosovo, Afghanistan and the Gulf War, and are potent examples of how the perpetrators of war try to distance themselves more and more from their victims.

Farnborough International 2006 took place over a whole week in July in Hampshire. Around half of the world’s biggest arms companies were exhibiting their wares and DESO, the government’s arms export unit, were key organisers of the event, coordinating military delegations from over 40 countries including Indonesia, Libya and Saudi Arabia. To top it all, Prime Minister Tony Blair himself made a special visit to the fair – proving that the UK government will bend over backwards to provide the arms industry with corporate welfare of the highest order.

Protest
Around 40 people came along to peacefully demonstrate outside the fair on the opening day of trade, which attracted a great deal of press attention and enabled us to convey the reality of Farnborough International to a wider audience. We made it clear that rather than being a family-friendly air show, this is a government-subsidised arms fair that is helping to fuel conflict all over the world.

ANNA JONES

My Farnborough protest

‘Collateral damage’
I arrive late for the demo at Farnborough Air Show. It’s funny how the more local you are, the later you get there. The crowd is lively, the banners large and loud. As I approach the gathering, a policeman takes a photo of me with a camera that has a lens as long as a truncheon. I’ve brought a placard with me, a blown up photo from the Guardian of a Lebanese woman who was part of the previous day’s ‘collateral damage’.“ Collateral could be your daughter”, it reads. I mingle with the crowd a little and watch Anna being interviewed by local ITV News. Then I decide to wander off and show off my banner to people on the other side of the fence hanging around a BAE Systems tent.

Dangerous
I smile sweetly above my banner at one man, who stares at me. We are just getting into an eyeballing contest when a policeman comes up behind me and asks me to rejoin the demo. He insists that I am acting beyond the agreed bounds of the demonstration, and he will censure the demo if I do not return. The policeman with the phallic lens clicks away, I click him, and our official photographer Patrick clicks everybody. I must look very dangerous, as when I leave and walk to my car I am followed at a distance by two policemen.

ROB THORBURN

Campaign Against Arms Trade, 11 Goodwin St, Finsbury Park, London N4 3HQ
Tel: +44-(0)20 7281 0297 | Fax: +44-(0)20 7281 4369