No 8 / August 2007
War Profiteers' News
The email newsletter of WRI's Global Initiative against War Profiteers || español | Index of past issues
Editorial
These last months have come with many new developments around campaigns against war profiteers. We have already announced some of them in previous issues of the WPN - for example that Reed Elsevier will not organise the DSEi arms fair any longer. Now this month comes with news from the UK and the closure of the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO). Also we learnt that AXA who was our War Profiteer of the Month in April, has started to disinvest partly from landmines and cluster munitions. These different news shows that campaigning against war profiteers can have an impact and make a change. But also brings up the question of what do we consider success in campaigning against war profiteers, as for example that Reed is not organising DSEi does not means that the arms fair will not continue to take place, but that someone else will be running it next time. One of the main exhibitors at the DSEi Arms Fair will be EADS - this issue's War Profiteer of the Month.
In WRI we are preparing for our annual Council meeting and Seminar “Gender and Militarism” in Israel at the end of August. During our Council meeting we will have time to discuss and work on where to go with our work against war profiteers. We would bring reports back from that meeting, and I hope to see some of you there!
Javier Gárate
Upcoming events
WRI Seminar and Council 2007 in Israel
The annual WRI seminar and Council meeting will take place in Israel in 2007,from 23-26 August. The theme of the seminar will be on militarism and gender.
The Gender and Militarism Seminar will bring together activists and academics from all over the world to study the mutual connections between militarism and gender. The seminar is organised by War Resisters' International together with the Israeli feminist antimilitarist movement New Profile, and will be followed by the annual meeting of the WRI International Council. Topics to be discussed at the seminar include: Gender and the militarization of culture around the world, Willingness to serve and masculinity, Mothers for peace and mothers for war, Sexist public discourse in Israel during the 2nd Lebanon War, Militarised masculinities and femininities, Redefining and demilitarising economic priorities, The concept of security, Militarism and homophobia, Gender, sexuality and military service, Sexual harassments of women in the military, Human rights in the military and the antimilitarist response, Domestic violence after military service, Rape - weapon of war and tool of hate propaganda, Gender in nonviolence training, Gender in the refusal movement, The Palestinian feminist movement, Taking gender analysis serious in our movement work, and many others.
The seminar will also see the first presentation of WRI's upcoming worldwide anthology of women's conscientious objection.
Please contact the WRI Office if you are interested in participating, and want to be kept informed.
More information is available on the WRI website.
Shut Down DSEi 11TH SEPTEMBER 2007
ONE DAY – MANY ACTIONS
Blockade? Party? March? Infiltrate? Invade? Picket? Clown? Dance? Light candles? Lock on? Vigil? Disrupt?
YOU DECIDE!
From 11-14 September, DSEi (Defence Systems Equipment International), the world's largest arms fair, returns to East London's ExCeL Centre.
DESO closing party!
- When: Wednesday 22nd August, from 6.30pm
- Where: The Queen Boadicea Pub, 292-294 St John Street, EC1V 4PA (www.thequeenboadicea.com)
- What: CAAT has hired a lovely function room. Buffet food will be provided and there will be a pay bar.
Please RSVP if you can so we have an idea of how much food to provide.
Keep Space for Peace week
October 4 to 13, 2007
International week of protest to stop the militarisation of space
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War Profiteer of the Month
EADS
EADS is a perfect example for our war profiteers of the month. As one of the biggest arms manufactures. With the main European states heavily involved in it, the close relation of EADS with the states of France, Germany, Uk and Spain gives them privilege access and contracts with not a clear cut what is for civilian or military equipment.
Background
EADS was established on July 10th 2000 from the link-up of Deutsche Aerospace Agentur (DASA) from Germany, Aerospatiale Matra from France, and Constructionnes Aeronauticas S.A. (CASA) from Spain, and is registered in the Netherlands. EADS shares are mainly controlled by the German car builder DaimlerChrysler, the French media group Lagardère and the French state. It has more than 70 facilities in France, Germany, Spain. While Airbus is its dominant project it has a wide range of military interests and is seeking to increase the proportion of its turnover that is military-related.
EADS is a partner in the Eurofighter programme, manufactures military transport aircraft, owns Eurocopter which produces the Tiger attack helicopter as well as military utility helicopters, is a co-owner of MBDA, the world's second largest missile company, has military space programmes through Astrium and produces nuclear missiles.
Missiles
EADS brings together the products of missile manufacturers MBDA and EADS/LFK-Lenkflugkörpersysteme, resulting in over 40 guided missile programmes. EADS also develops and manufactures, both alone and in joint ventures, missile subsystems such as warheads, guidance systems and propulsion units. MBDA, owned by EADS, BAE Systems (37.5% each) and Finmeccanica of Italy (25%) is the world's second largest guided missile manufacturer (after Raytheon). In 2002, MBDA had 10,000 employees, sales of 2bn Euros, an order book of more than 13bn Euros and 70 customers worldwide. It has 32 missile programmes in production and a further 23 in development.7 MBDA is working in cooperation with India's Bharat Dynamics and in June 2003 signed a co-operation protocol with EADS and Russia's Sukhoi Corporation and sales agency Rosoboronexport.
Nuclear Missiles
EADS Launch Vehicles, and its predecessors are reported to have been responsible for the design and production of every French ballistic missile since 1960. This includes a December 2000 contract with the French government for the new generation of sea-based missiles, the M-51, which will be equipped with a nuclear warhead. The other component of Frances nuclear force is missile for strike aircraft. In December 2001 Aerospatiale Matra Missiles (a subsidiary of EADS) was contracted for the initial development and purchase of such medium-range nuclear missiles.
Ballistic Missile Defense
In addition to being involved in nuclear deterrence, EADS, like many other nuclear weapons companies, is involved in the contradictory strategy of a missile 'shield'. EADS has been involved in a NATO feasibility study into 'Theatre Missile Defense', is part of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) programme, and in 2002 it announced that it was linking with Boeing to work on Ballistic Missile Defense. 'We believe ballistic defence to be an important focus in the shifting defence environment and key to ensuring peace in a free world,' said EADS joint chief executives Phillipe Camus and Rainer Hertrich.
Cluster munitions
EADS is also involved in the business with cluster bombs. This is exactly what is documented in films of the international armaments fair EUROSATORY in Paris in June 2004. At the stand of the MDBA, a participating corporation of EADS, a poster for 2005 showed the production of missiles which scatter their submunition over wide areas - which is forbidden by the Geneva Convention. In cooperation with the US-American licence-giver Lockheed Martin, EADS offers missiles with cluster bombs for the rocket launcher MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System).
Exports
EADS has so far had little success in its search for Eurofighter customers, but other programmes have seen more impressive results. It has sold Cougar helicopters to Brazil, Super Pumas to Indonesia, Exocet missiles to Oman and Qatar, anti-tank missiles to Turkey and Mistral missiles to South Korea. It has sold hundreds of military transport aircraft to more than 89 operators in 38 countries including Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Indonesia, South Korea, Oman, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand; Poland, The United Arab Emirates.
Bribery
In 2003 Tony Yengeni, former chief whip of South Africa's ANC, was convicted of fraud relating to an arms deal with South Africa, in which EADS were major players, worth around $5bn. The BBC reported that EADS had admitted that it had "rendered assistance" to some 30 senior officials to obtain luxury vehicles, including defence force chief General Siphiwe Nyanda.
Campaign of the Month
CAAT's campaign against Arms Fairs
Arms Fairs are the trade exhibitions for military industry which are an integral and important part of the international arms trade. They happen all over the world, from Paris to Jakarta and provide arms companies with a forum for marketing their goods and services, and an opportunity to discuss collaboration on military projects. Britain's two main fairs (though there are others), take place on alternate years and are Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEi) and Farnborough International, which focuses on aerospace. Arms Fairs allow the weapons manufacturers an opportunity to promote their products to regimes in conflict, those with terrible human rights records, or without adequate resources. For all the reasons that CAAT opposes the arms trade, we oppose the presence of arms fairs.
International Arms Fairs
Defence Systems and Equipment International and Farnborough are just two stops in a constant global circuit of arms fairs. Most happen biennially, and over the course of two years there are more than thirty major arms fairs and numerous minor ones. They vary from 'tri-service' arms fairs (which exhibit weaponry and equipment for land, sea and air armed forces), to aerospace exhibitions, naval exhibitions and other specialist fairs. Of dedicated military events, DSEi is possibly the world's largest, with only France's Eurosatory to compete with in terms of size and importance. However, some of the bigger aerospace exhibitions such as Farnborough International and the Paris Airshow boast more exhibitors due to the additional presence of civilian aerospace companies.
For a list of arms fairs around the world go to:
http://www.caat.org.uk/armsfairs/intfairs.php?url=intro
The UK Arms Fairs
DSEi
Defence Systems and Equipment International is one of the world's biggest arms fairs and has been held in the ExCel centre in East London's Docklands since 1999. Organised by Reed Elsevier through its subsidiary Spearhead Ltd, and supported extensively by the British government's Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO), DSEi competes with France's Eurosatory to be Europe's most important place to deal in military equipment.
Farnborough
Farnborough International sells itself to the public as an airshow and family day out. Many visitors don't realise that the public days are preceeded by a full trade exhibition for aerospace and military products. It is organised by the UK's Society of British Aerospace Companies with international invitations managed by DESO.
Take action against Arms Fairs
There are many ways in which you can help in the campaign to stop arms fairs - from writing letters to taking part in non-violent direct action. Here are a few ideas.
Write a letter
Spread the word about the negative impact of arms fairs to make it harder for decision-makers to support them. You might want to write to your local newspaper or MP, using some of the main arguments which we think are important.
Take local action
A range of other groups are taking action to try to stop arms fairs.
East London Against the Arms Fair (ELAAF) holds regular musical protests outside the ExCel centre as part of a campaign to persuade other groups not to hold events at the venue until the DSEi arms fairs have been cancelled. They are also lobbying decision-makers and working with local people to get the arms fair out of Newham. The group meets on the second Monday of each month at the Garden Café (7 Cundy Road, London E16 3DJ).
Disarm DSEi is co-ordinating a week of action and resistance to the DSEi arms fair. They are also facilitating monthly pickets and calling for email blockades of Spearhead Exhibitions, who organise DSEi and other arms fairs.
Local CAAT groups are involved in anti-arms fair campaigning, including against Helitech in Cambridgeshire. Contact the office to find your nearest local group.
Put pressure on the organisers of the fairs.
More information at:
http://www.caat.org.uk/armsfairs/
No Nukes! No Wars! No Profiteers!
From August 6th–9th a US national coalition marched, rallied, and held vigils, teach-ins, and non-violent direct action in over 70 cities in 27 states, commemorating the 61st anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki under the banner, “From Hiroshima to the Yucca Mountain to the Middle East: No Nukes! No Wars! Support Indigenous Rights!” While the major events on the 6th focused on key US nuclear weapons facilities, many of the events later that week shifted their focus to the Bechtel Corporation, one of the world’s top nuclear and war profiteers. August 9th also marked the UN’s “International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples,” and many of the day’s events reflected this, noting that indigenous peoples around the world have been victims of the entire nuclear cycle, from uranium mining to atmospheric testing.
In San Francisco, over 200 protestors gathered at Bechtel’s corporate headquarters, and were met by a march from the UN plaza organized by the International Indian Treaty Council. Speakers included Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) Keiji Tsuchiya, who served as a rescue worker in Hiroshima, and Antonia Juhasz, Bechtel scholar and author of The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time. Protestors then marched around the block in a Four Corners ceremony, after which the two female Native American MCs read a litany of Bechtel’s abuses, negligence, and greed over drums. Finally, roughly 20 people participated in non-violent direct action, successfully shutting down all entrances to Bechtel headquarters for roughly an hour. Seven people were arrested.
In New York over 50 representing a wide variety of groups converged on Bechtel’s office in Manhattan. Code Pink distributed 1500 fake pink checks made out to Bechtel, signed by George Bush for nearly $3 billion to illustrate the lucrative no-bid contracts Bechtel has received for rebuilding in Iraq, and the Billionaires for Bush performed street theater.
Following protests at the Y12 National Security Complex on August 5th and 6th, two dozen protesters gathered at 6:30am at the Federal Building in Oak Ridge, TN on August 9th to call for an end to war profiteering. Shelley Wascom read an open letter to Riley Bechtel, CEO of the Bechtel Corporation. The group marched three miles from the federal building to Bechtel's Oak Ridge headquarters building near the Y12 nuclear weapons complex.
Demonstrators hoped to deliver their message to Riley Bechtel through the local office, but discovered that Bechtel officials had barricaded themselves in the building. Demonstrators attempted to gain entry, but were informed that Bechtel had asked Oak Ridge police to clear the premises, arresting the demonstrators if necessary. Wascom noted the Bechtel response was perfect proof of our message—a company that received four billion dollars of our taxes last year believes it has absolutely no responsibility whatsoever to account for those funds to the public.
50 demonstrators walked to the entrance of the Trident submarine base at Bangor, WA, located 20 miles west of Seattle, and 6 demonstrators entered the highway and briefly blocked the main entrance to the base while Navy and support personnel were arriving for work. After Kitsap County Sheriffs arrested the six demonstrators, four more entered federal property to block the same entrance. Those four were arrested by Naval Base security. Bangor Naval Submarine Base currently has nine D-5 missile submarines carrying approximately 1,760 nuclear warheads, and demonstrators note that Trident submarines, which operate in secrecy, are ideally suited for use in a nuclear first strike.
In Colorado Springs, CO, nearly 100 demonstrators gathered outside the gates of Peterson Air Force Base, home of the Air Force Space Command, on August 11. The protest spotlighted the role the base plays in coordinating first strike for both nuclear and conventional weapons.
The group protesting outside the base included “Sisters Witness Against War,” a gathering of more than 60 sisters from Catholic orders around the nation. The event featured keynote speaker was Liz McAllister of Jonah House in Baltimore.
For more information:
www.august6.org
www.bitethebullet.us
UK - Government announces closure of arms marketing unit after public campaign
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has welcomed the Prime Minister's announcement that the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) is to be shut down. The news follows a high-profile campaign by CAAT and other groups for the closure of DESO, a Government unit whose purpose is to promote sales for private arms companies, despite being funded with taxpayers' money. CAAT hopes that with the closure of DESO, the undemocratic power of arms companies in the UK will be brought to an end.
Whilst applauding the announcement, CAAT made clear that it would closely monitor the implementation of the plans. CAAT insisted that military exports, which form less than 2% of total UK exports, must not use a disproportionate amount of the resources of UK Trade and Investment, which is now taking responsibility for them.
AXA disinvests (partly) from landmines and cluster munitions
In a press release AXA announes to pull out investments of companies that produce anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions. This is surprising good news from the Paris headquarters of this bank-insurance company. For last years AXA has shown heavy reluctance to adopt stricter weapon investment policies.
For more information: http://www.netwerkvlaanderen.be/en/
Troops 'traded gold for guns'
A contingent of Pakistani peacekeepers was accused of selling gold and guns between 2005 and 2006 to Congolese militia groups they were meant to disarm.
The investigation, which began in early 2006, found no evidence of gun-running.
Pakistani officials have previously denied all the accusations, describing the allegations as "baseless".
In May the UN said it would seek to discipline anyone who had compromised peacekeeping in DR Congo by trafficking in gold or guns.
Mr Guehenno told the BBC on 13 July: "The investigation has found no evidence of gun smuggling but it has identified an individual who seems to have facilitated gold smuggling.
"We have shared the report with the concerned troop contributor and I'm confident they will take the required action. This issue is closed."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6681457.stm
Corpwatch annual report
For the past ten years San Francisco Bay Area-based CorpWatch has been educating and mobilizing people through the CorpWatch.org website investigating multinationals that profit out of war, fraud, environmental and human rights abuse. It a very good resource on war profiteers, you can now read their annual report at: http://corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11314
This year long with their in-depth investigative reporting, CorpWatch supported three films on war profiteering and helped arrange whistleblower testimony to four Congressional hearings.
More information: www.corpwatch.org
Action at Alliant Tech
Tuesday, July 3 - Nine legal shareholders of Alliant Techsystems stock were denied entry to the annual shareholders meeting and arrested when they refused to leave. Images and report at: http://www.alliantaction.org
Poll: 63% of Iraqis Oppose Privatizing Nation's Oil Resources
A new public opinion poll, has found that a majority of Iraqis oppose plans to open the country's oilfields to foreign investment. 63% of respondents said they would prefer Iraq's oil to be developed and produced by Iraqi public sector companies rather than foreign multinationals. The US government has been pressing Baghdad to pass an oil law by September but most Iraqis say they do not feel adequately informed about the law. Meanwhile UPI is reporting a top member of the Iraqi prime minister's party says the new oil law should be delayed until U.S. occupation forces leave Iraq. Ali al-Adeeb said the Iraq National Oil Company should take the lead in developing and managing Iraq's discovered but undeveloped oil.
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