National Gathering

Mark Thomas

12.15pm-1.15pm

Mark Thomas has always found a unique way for laugh-out loud comedy to go hand-in-hand with cutting-edge political activism. In 2003 for a Dispatches programme, he attempted to make an inspection at the UK's nuclear submarine base at Faslane using a pedalo and armed with a lawyer in a wet suit and a copy of the Geneva Convention! Three years later, he helped school students set up arms brokering businesses in England and Ireland to expose loopholes in UK and European arms control laws. Mark was acquitted of criminal damage after he and some friends "locked on" to a bus full of arms dealers, and is an honorary doctor of Bradford University for services to peace and his contribution as a comedian, political activist, presenter and investigative journalist, in particular in recognition of his effective campaigning on the ethics of the arms trade.

Recently, Mark has also taken on the ethics of Coca Cola, the criminalisation of protest, and the banking system. We are delighted to have Mark as the keynote speaker for CAAT's National Gathering, to get his witty take on the way forward in the campaign to end the arms trade.

Countless reasons to act

10.45pm-12noon

Choose from one of the following fantastic speakers and workshops...

1. Direct action to end the arms trade
2. Modern mercenaries and bankers' profits
3. No Nonsense guide to the Arms Trade
4. A new government... a different policy?
5. Ban BAE: Kick arms companies off campus

Direct action to end the arms trade

Short films and talks about anti-arms trade direct action.

The Decommissioners

On 17 January 2009, during Israel's attacks on Gaza in which 1400 Palestinians lost their lives, six activists entered weapons factory EDO/ITT in Brighton calling themselves "citizens' decommissioners". They barricaded themselves inside and proceeded to break computers and other equipment, with the aim of preventing the factory from being able to produce weapons. They put an assembly area and machinery used to make bomb release mechanisms out of action. EDO/ITT later estimated the cost of the damage at £250,000. This summer, all defendants in the case were acquitted: an important victory for arms trade campaigners everywhere. Hear from them in this session about their actions, the court case and where they think the campaign should go next.

Raytheon 9

Campaigners in Derry celebrated victory in February after ten years of action, when arms company Raytheon announced that it was going to leave the city. The campaign included two "decommissioning" factory occupations, the most recent just weeks before the arms company decided to pull out of its operations in Derry. Learn from the Raytheon campaigners about how they achieved such success.

Modern mercenaries and bankers' profits

With Yasmin Khan, Senior Campaigner at War on Want

War is one of the chief causes of poverty. It can completely undermine a country's development prospects, destroying schools and hospitals and put agricultural land out of use for years to come. Multinational corporations are complicit in wars throughout the world often legitimising and fuelling the conflict. This workshop will examine the privatisation of war and how corporations are putting profit before people.

Yasmin Khan is the Senior Campaigns Officer at War on Want. She runs War on Want's campaigns on corporations profiting from conflict and justice for Palestine. War on Want fights poverty in developing countries in partnership with people affected by globalisation and campaigns for human rights and against the root causes of global poverty, inequality and injustice.

No Nonsense guide to the Arms Trade

With Nicholas Gilby, author of the 'The No Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade' and Anna Stavrianakis, author of 'Taking aim at the arms trade'

Nicholas Gilby led Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)'s efforts to expose the long history of corruption at the heart of Britain's arms deals with Saudi Arabia. In 2008 he defeated Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office in an Information Tribunal to force the disclosure of many documents concerning corruption in Britain's arms deals with Saudi Arabia. His research on arms trade corruption has been extensively featured in The Guardian (and on the newspaper's 'BAE files' website), TV (BBC Newsnight and Al Jazeera) and in an academic journal. He was previously a director of TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.

Anna Stavrianakis is a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Sussex. Her main research interests are NGOs and global civil society; the arms trade and military globalisation; and international security. She is the author of "Taking Aim at the Arms Trade. NGOs, Global Civil Society and the World Military Order," published by Zed Books in June 2010. She sat on the CAAT Steering Committee between 2005 and 2009 and is the author of a CAAT Goodwin Paper, "The Facade of Arms Control. How the UK's export licensing system facilitates the arms trade."

Their talk at the National Gathering will aim to give those who know a little or nothing about the arms trade a basic overview. It will explain how the arms trade works and its devastating consequences. It will also set out the arguments that can be used against the justifications for the arms trade.

A new government... a different policy?

With Ann Feltham, CAAT's Parliamentary Co-ordinator and Sarah Waldron CAAT's Campaign Co-ordinator

On the day the budget announced big cuts in public services, Conservative Minister Peter Luff said there's no "embarrassment in this government" about selling arms, and pledged a "very, very, very heavy ministerial commitment to the process". Perhaps this is all that could be expected with a return to power for the Conservatives? But what about the LibDems now in Government who've supported CAAT in the past? This workshop examines the changed terrain for campaigning following this year's election and looks at lobbying skills and strategy under the ConDem government.

Ban BAE: Kick arms companies off campus

With Abi Haque, CAAT's Universities Network Co-ordinator and Anne-Marie O'Reilly CAAT's Outreach Co-ordinator

Dick Olver (Chairman of arms company BAE Systems) has said, "Without action, the UK's widening skills gap will have become an irreversible gulf". There is already a shortage of students wanting to work for arms companies: by taking action against BAE's student recruitment, we can help create that irreversible gulf between university graduates and the arms trade! If you're a student or work at a university, come along to this workshop to find out more and make links that will mean we can Ban BAE!

Taking on the arms trade

3.05pm-4.20pm

Choose from one of the following fantastic speakers and workshops...

1. Feeling the impact
2. What to do about the arms company on your doorstep?
3. How to change perceptions of the Arms Trade
4. Stopping the world's largest arms fair
5. Virtual links

Feeling the impact

First hand accounts of the effects of the UK's zealous arms sales

Carmel Budiardjo

Carmel Budiardjo was born in Britain, moving to Indonesia in 1952. She worked for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry and was active in the Indonesian Communist Party. Following General Suharto's rise to power, Carmel was dismissed from her position and in 1968 she was arrested and held without trial for three years. In 1973, she helped to found TAPOL, which under her leadership has campaigned against economic aid and arms exports to Indonesia, as well as all forms of human rights abuses. Carmel found in the repression she suffered at the hands of the Indonesian Government the energy and dedication to campaign for over twenty years for Indonesian political prisoners and the oppressed and slaughtered people of East Timor.

Sharyn Lock

Sharyn Lock went to the Gaza strip with the Free Gaza Movement. Soon after her arrival Israel attacked Gaza by land, air and sea. With others from the International Solidarity Movement, Sharyn volunteered with Palestinian ambulances, assisting them as they faced overwhelming civilian casualties. Sharyn is able to provide an insight into the conflict that the mainstream media, unable to enter Gaza, could never provide.

A speaker from South Asia Solidarity Group

A £700 million sale of Hawk jets to India was sealed during the Prime Minister's visit to India in July. We will hear from the South Asia Solidarity Group about their reactions to the deal, its impact on public spending and fuelling potential conflict, as well as the response of grassroots groups in India.

What to do about the arms company on your doorstep?

With Sarah Reader, London CAAT and Climate Camp activist

Wherever you live in the UK, you are unlikely to be more than a few miles from from an arms company site. The arms trade is not some distant "bad thing" but is right on our doorsteps. There is huge potential to get local people campaigning against the arms trade through your local site. But what are the opportunities and potential pitfalls? How do we emulate the success of campaigns such as the one in Derry that got arms company Raytheon to pull out? What can we achieve with limited resources? Come to this workshop to discuss and work out solutions to questions like these, and to pick up a few campaign-planning skills.

How to change perceptions of the Arms Trade

With Ian Prichard, CAAT Research Co-ordinator and Anne-Marie O'Reilly, CAAT Outreach Co-ordinator

The arms lobby is incredibly effective at creating the impression that government support for arms companies is essential for everything from British employment to national security. This workshop aims to equip you with the facts to counter their myths, as well as practising the skills to put the truth across: whether in your local area, in the media, or talking to MPs.

Stopping the world's largest arms fair

With Sarah Waldron CAAT Campaigns Co-ordinator

Next September, London will once again host the world's largest arms fair, DSEi, the "Defence & Security Equipment International". Tyrants will rub shoulders with arms dealers to secure their deals at the expense of the British taxpayer. To put a stop to this biannual event concerted efforts will be required to end the public funding without which it could not take place; to expose Clarion Events, the private events company who own DSEi; and to delegitimise a trade that has devastating consequences for human rights, development and conflict around the world. Find out more and help build an action plan to put an end to the grotesque event that is DSEi arms fair.

Virtual links

Using Twitter as a campaign tool

With Tom Allen, ActionAid's International Web Manager and Kirk Jackson, CAAT's Online Communications Co-ordinator

Online social networking creates immense opportunities for our campaigns to reach a massive new audience and build the number of people taking action against the arms trade. This workshop will show how to make the most of Twitter and related tools, to build a movement, to create a buzz, to track the response, and to gather information on arms companies and their unsavoury customers.