Norfolk CAAT

CAAT's February email bulletin

2010-02-23T08:24:17Z

More on the shameful plea bargain BAE has made with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), on-going actions against UKTO DSO and Universities Day of Action

http://www.caat.org.uk/emailbulletin/1002EB/

CAAT and The Corner House launch legal challenge against UK Serious Fraud Office's BAE settlement

2010-02-15T20:22:43Z

On February 12 lawyers acting on behalf of Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House issued a letter to the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) laying out their intention to request a judicial review of the 5 February 2010 decision by the SFO to enter a plea agreement with BAE.
]]> The basis for the legal challenge is that the SFO failed properly to apply prosecution guidance (including its own guidance). In particular, the plea agreement reached fails to reflect the seriousness and extent of BAE's alleged offending, which includes corruption and bribery, and to provide the court with adequate sentencing powers.

The groups argue that the SFO has unlawfully concluded that factors weighing against prosecuting the more serious charges of corruption outweigh those in favour of prosecution.

Nicholas Hildyard, for The Corner House, says:

"Plea bargains should only ever be entertained when companies have really come clean. BAE has not. Once again, an SFO decision has reinforced the UK's reputation for letting big companies get away with bribing. Once again, it has shown a blatant disregard for the rule of law."

Kaye Stearman, CAAT's spokesperson, says:

"The SFO plea bargain is unlawful. Investigations into alleged corruption in at least three countries have simply been dropped. It is in the public interest that BAE should not be let off the hook."

The groups' lawyers also requested that the Serious Fraud Office delay applying for court approval of its settlement with BAE Systems. If it does not do so, the two groups will seek an injunction against the court application.

Summary of Serious Fraud Office investigations into BAE

Stop your bank funding cluster bombs

2010-02-15T20:17:02Z

A report released by Cluster Munition Coalition members IKV Pax Christi (Netherlands) and Netwerk Vlaanderen (Belgium) has found that 138 financial institutions worldwide still provide over $20 billion to the producers of cluster bombs

]]> The report's findings show that in the UK, 15 banks and financial institutions are investing in cluster bomb producers. Barclays, HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland, between them provide loans and investments to the tune of some £800 million. This means that some of the UK's most prominent high street banks are providing some form of financial support to these shamefull and indiscriminate weapons.

Visit the Amnesty International website to take action.

CAAT January bulletin

2010-02-01T14:02:19Z

UKTI, regional gatherings and students actions against the arms trade.

Bulletin

BAE in the news

2010-02-01T13:51:03Z

"Police in the UK are planning to use unmanned spy drones, controversially deployed in Afghanistan, for the "routine" monitoring of antisocial motorists, protesters, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers, in a significant expansion of covert state surveillance."
CCTV in the sky: police plan to use military-style spy drones

"One of BAE's former confidential agents, Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, has been charged with bribery over arms deals in the first ever criminal case brought during long-running corruption investigations into the British arms maker."
Former BAE agent charged with bribery over arms deals

CAAT December bulletin

2009-12-23T12:01:31Z

Support CAAT, more on UKTI DSO and putting pressure on parliamentary candidate, Election Watch and Democracy Club and CAAT events for 2010.

Bulletin

CAAT November bulletin

2009-11-29T13:43:29Z

CAAT gatherings, UKTI DSO, BAE and the Serious Fraud Office and more...
http://www.caat.org.uk/emailbulletin/0911/

CAAT invites you to the Secret Peaceman's Ball

2009-11-29T11:41:23Z

CAAT invites you to the Secret Peaceman's Ball (masks optional, unless you're special branch) - to meet, greet and have fun with other activists.

Monday, 21st December 7.30 - 10.30pm

St Thomas Church Hall, Earlham Road, Norwich (map)

]]> For activists who like activists.

What to bring - food, drink, any info or activities you'd like to share, raffle prizes you'd like to pass on.

Surplus stuff for swapshop - (but you have to take it away if nobody else does).

Here are some suggestions:

Co-operative games
Make a friendship tree from branches
Make an origami Christmas stocking with your campaign wishlist and put on tree
Campaign Christmas cards to send to decision-makers
Cards for people in prison

STOP PRESS - Collective Christmas newspaper - 'as if' stories from people's wishlists.

Raffle of campaign items - pens, bolt croppers, coach tickets etc.

CAAT October email bulletin

2009-11-13T18:57:18Z

CAAT's October bulletin can be read here:
http://www.caat.org.uk/emailbulletin/0910/

Arms exports only endanger us all

2009-11-13T18:51:27Z

The following excellent letter was published in the EDP on 7th November:

Sadly, I have read that the Conservative Party, if elected next year, seems set to do the arms industry leaders' bidding.
]]>
What the world needs now and in the future is new policies for peace and security, not the failed dinosaur policies of the
past which have failed people. If we spent as much time, energy and ingenuity in promoting peace and healthy conflict management as is spent on making war, our world would be transformed.

This is of course a message for everyone, whoever is in power. It would be good to see Britain taking a lead role in this vital
matter, for our own sakes and those who follow us. This is a timely reminder at this season as we remember the dead of two world wars and innumerable "minor" wars in between, the civilians as well as the soldiers.

PETER KEMP

Miliband and the need for an arms trade treaty

2009-11-12T09:52:08Z

David Miliband writes in the Guardian today on the need for an arms trade treaty to counter the spread of illegal weapons. It's hard to read to the end of the article. There is only so much hypocrisy you can absorb in one sitting before it starts to become painful.

]]> extraordinary levels of support the legal arms trade receives. Never mind that "civil society groups have a vital role to play"; they have and continue to call on the government to end its support for the arms trade, a call the government continues to ignore. For obvious reasons: there is money to be made.

I don't dispute the consequences of the trade in illegal weapons. In many ways they are quite similar to the trade in legal weapons. In short, people, usually women and children, die. To rail against the former while actively supporting the latter undermines every single point he makes in this article. The sale of illegal weapons may well be one of the "great tragedies of our time". Other great tragedies include the sale and promotion of weapons to countries the FCO consider "areas of major concern", such as Saudi Arabia. Or countries involved in a "major armed conflict", such as Colombia and Israel. Which brings us to the ludicrous notion that a Palestinian in Gaza killed by an illegally exported weapon becomes part of the tragedy, while those killed with the aid of officially licensed and exported weaponry... don't.

Just this week the EU lifted the arms embargo on Uzbekistan, in no small part due to the work of David Miliband. This is another tragedy, this time for the people of Uzbekistan. The "protection of life and dignity", so desired by the foreign secretary, is not extended to those unfortunate to live in a country where information obtained under torture is a valuable commodity for the Labour government.

CAAT National Gathering

2009-11-03T22:58:18Z

Getting the half seven train on a Saturday seemed like such a good idea when I booked the tickets for the CAAT national gathering, but was a bit hard when it actually came to it. However, I managed and arrived at the venue in plenty of time, surprised to see I'd been there before (although I did recognize the name). I'd only been into the arts centre before, but CAAT had organized rooms on at 4 floors for the different workshops available on the day. We started on the 3^rd floor with coffee and stalls from CAAT, PSC and Stop the War amongst others. Then all down to the theatre for the real start of the day.

]]> Andrew Feinstein was elected to South African parliament for the ANC in the first elections following apartheid and resigned in 2001 when his attempts to investigate corruption surrounding a major arms deal were repeatedly blocked. He gave a fascinating and passionate talk outlining the experience which he has written about in his book. The consortium involving BAE won the contract to supply the South African air force with combined training/fighter planes. A deal for which they had not even originally been short-listed; as their bid did not meet the technical requirements and was 2 and a half times more expensive than the first choice at the time! Adjustments to exclude cost as a procurement criteria(!) and to change the weighting of economic offsets helped move them to first position, despite the fact that the air force only accepted the equipment as forced to do so by the politicians (Feinstein said they went on record as saying this). The deal was backed up with 'commissions' (read bribes) and supported by visits by both Tony Blair and the royal family. The corruption has had a big impact on democracy in South Africa; with the new ANC government telling investigators what they could and could not do fundamentally undermining what they had fought so hard to achieve. Feinstein provided a striking example of the arms trade putting a drain on resources that could be put to better use, saying that Mbeke told 5 million South African aids sufferers that he couldn't provide retrovirals through the public health system, at the same time as purchasing jets that the air force didn't need and barely used. Feinstein also briefly touched on researching his new book on the global arms trade (due out next year) saying that BAE constantly came out as one of the worst bribers bringing corruption and suffering.

For me the rest of the day was about jobs. I went to a workshop on jobs where suggestions were discussed to counter the argument that the industry provides a large amount of employment and to a workshop on non-violent communication related to the jobs argument. Even the final panel discussion was about jobs.

With Copenhagen high on people's minds links between the arms industry and environmental issues were also a recurrent theme of the day. In the final panel discussion Paul Dunne from Economists for Peace and Security and Louise Hutchins of Greenpeace discussed 'Ending arms production: Is the answer blowing in the wind?' Dunne said that powerful group of invested interests in the military industry is not as important as it thinks it is for our economy: the claim that cutting military expenditure leads to loss of jobs is 'nonsense' (as a move away from military to civil expenditure is less capital intensive and therefore likely to lead to more jobs). Hutchins focused on the need for a revolution in energy production and efficiency, saying that there is an opportunity to transform our economy from one which is over-reliant on finance and the military industrial complex to one which is focused on the growth area of clean energy. To win the support of people who are suffering under the current economic crisis the argument about shifting production away from the arms industry needs to be framed in a way which is relevant for being a solution to the crisis and not about it being about the loss of arms trade jobs. We have the skill sets to turn the natural resource of the coast line into energy by building offshore wind farms, with panellists mentioning the report 'Oceans of Work: Arms Conversion Revisited' (PDF).

I think one of the most important things for me to take away from the day was the need to be positive. Quite often campaigning groups are criticized for constantly being 'against' things. Feinstein pointed out that using money for expensive unnecessary equipment meant money couldn't be spent on health care. Many of the discussions around jobs concluded that if we are to meet the challenges of climate change we need our skilled engineers to be working on solutions; not producing arms. During the day someone (sorry I can't remember who!) even suggested that maybe one of the ways this positive direction could take would be for CAAT should become 'Campaign for Alternatives to the Arms Trade'.

DSEi 2009

2009-09-30T19:12:14Z

DSEi is the world's largest arms fair, held every other year in East London. It has been a focus for action against the arms trade in the past and this year was no different. The exhibition took place from 7th to 11th Sepetmber, with events planned for each day and Tuesday 8th September the nominated 'day of action'.
]]> 2007 demo which was directly outside the main entrance and prior to which protesters here in Norwich targeted our vey own arms dealer MSI Defence Systems. The atmosphere on the sunny morning of 8th September 2009 improved as the crowd grew, with many people joining the choir and plenty of media interest.

At around 12 we posed for photos outside the wonderful routemaster buses that CAAT had organised to transport the protest the the UKTI offices in Victoria. The buses certainly generated interest as we travelled through London, including a few laps of Parliament Square to show solidarity with the Parliament Square peace camp.

Once at the UKTI headquarters Dan Viesnik carried on his hunger strike in the doorway to the offices, while others chanted, held placards and handed out leaflets informing people of the support UKTI provides to the UK arms trade.

For further reports about 2009 DSEi related actions see here, here and here.

CAAT September email bulletin

2009-09-22T07:23:30Z

Thank you for a great DSEi demo!
National Gathering - speakers, times, practicalities, register now
See an honest BAE ad campaign
Arms industry PR offensive - and CAAT's response
The Libyan connection
CAAT goes webwise
Running away with success

http://www.caat.org.uk/emailbulletin/0909EB/Bulletin.php

Targeting Britain's war industry

2009-09-15T14:49:40Z

"Warfighters around the world rely on Brimar products every day," a small company from Manchester in northwest England boasts on its publicity material. Brimar makes screens and viewfinders which allow helicopter pilots and tank gunners to carry out their bloody jobs in Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan. But a new local campaign is looking to turn Brimar's boast on its head, and it's just one of a number of British campaigns confronting the companies which arm the Israeli military.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10773.shtml