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INTERNATIONAL
CALL TO ACTION
STOP EUROPE’S BIGGEST EVER WEAPONS FAIR!
SHUT DOWN DSEi!
LONDON, UK – 6TH – 12TH SEPTEMBER 2003
One of the world’s biggest ever trade fairs for guns,
bombs, military planes, small arms, mines and tanks is taking
place in London from 9th – 12th September 2003.
An international protest. Thousands of protesters, from all
over the world, are invited to travel to the UK to help stop
this market of death, and to work towards shutting down the
whole murderous industry. This is a chance to target not just
the fair itself, but the businesses behind it.
What is DSEi?
Defence Systems Equipment International (DSEi 2003) is an arms
fair, sponsored by the British government. It will host arms
buyers from all over the world – including countries on
Amnesty International’s list of human rights abusers, and
others who should be!
Also shopping at this huge arms fair will be delegates
representing some of the poorest countries in Africa and Asia.
Rich Western governments, including America, Britain, France
and Italy, and their weapons companies, will try to get them
to buy expensive weapons instead of spending money on
education, development and medicine.
The last DSEi exhibition took place over 11th September 2001,
the day of the attacks on New York and Washington in America.
While many businesses around the world closed, the arms fair
stayed open. For three more days, countries including America,
Israel and 14 different Arab nations continued to shop,
side-by-side, for weapons to attack each other with!
The arms trade, of which DSEi 2003 is an important part, is an
international political business made up of multinational
companies which make products that kill and maim for profit.
These companies play a leading role in the unjust global
economic system which causes poverty and abuse of human rights
around the world.
Civilians made up 90 percent of all war casualties during the
1990s. Wars continue today only thanks to the arms trade. Due
to globalisation, the arms companies operate above the law,
outside of trade agreements, and firmly in favour only of the
rich and powerful.
The arms business in the UK harms local communities. The
London borough of Newham, where DSEi is taking place, is one
of the poorest in the country. The people of Newham do not
want this fair for weapons of death to come into their
community. They want better education, housing, health, job
creation and living wages as a minimal starting point.
The British government spends millions subsidising the arms
trade, while people are too poor to eat healthily, their
schools are bursting, their hospitals are run down.
What is being planned?
London, 6th – 12th September 2003.
Most international protest has centred around government
institutions. DSEi 2003 is a chance to directly tackle
companies and government ministers while they are actually
trading in arms.
‘Disarm DSEi’ is co-ordinating a week long festival of action,
protest and resistance against the arms fair and the unjust
global system which supports it. We are planning a full year
ahead, to make it the biggest ever festival against the arms
trade.
A number of vigils, demonstrations and actions will be
arranged against the arms fair, the companies that exhibit
there, the buyers and the governments that pay for the whole
show. Participants are also encouraged to plan their own
actions and demonstrations. Information on the arms fair, arms
companies in London, and other players in the trade will be
available.
The Disarm DSEi co-ordinating group is attempting to create a
space where various groups can use the methods of protest and
tactics of action they believe are most effective. We are
working to create an event where diverse groups respect each
other’s space, methods of protest and tactics of action.
We will be organising workshops, teach-ins and other
gatherings, as well as (very) basic accommodation and a
Convergence Centre. Please let us know you are coming. Please
translate, copy and distribute this call to action. Please get
involved in the organising group. Please mobilise support in
your country.
Email: disarm@dsei.org,
Website: www.dsei.org.
Tel: (+44) (0)781 7652 029
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