No 12 / April 2008
War Profiteers’ News
The email newsletter of WRI's Global Initiative against War Profiteers || español | Index of past issues
Editorial
It has a been busy times for the movement against war profiteering as you will read in this edition of WPN. We congratulate the work done by CAAT and The Corner House, with their court victory that ruled that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) acted unlawfully when he stopped a corruption investigation into BAE Systems' arms deals with Saudi Arabia. At the same time the fact that a documentary exposing the arms trade was censored in the UK shows the level of impact that the Smash EDO Campaign has had.
The ongoing struggles against Eurosatory arms fairs in Paris and the conference of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power of Space are also reasons to be optimistic. The Disarm the Budget Campaign in Paraguay is a good example of a long term commitment for disarmament and the efforts to boycott ExxonMobil shows how the general public can have an impact against these corporations.
We are not saying that you should only act if you have a long term plan, as that many times would stop you from acting in the first place. But we do recognise the importance of keeping the pressure against these war profiteers as long as is needed and finding ways to escalate the pressure on these corporations and looking for creative ways to make the impact you aim for.
International cooperation can bring new elements to your campaign by helping you look at the bigger picture, looking at how these mega-corporations and governments are acting transnationally, but also to help you learn from other campaign experiences and looking at potential areas of cooperating.
Javier Gárate
Upcoming events
European Network Against Arms Trade(ENAAT) annual meeting
Oslo: 7 - 8 of July
For more information:
European Peace Action at the European Social Forum
Malmo: 17 - 21 of September
For more information:
http://europeanpeaceaction.org/
International Day of Action: War starts from Europe
Europe: 14-15 November, European day of action against military globalisation.
For more information contact:
warprofiteersnews
Email newsletter of War Resisters' InternationaI's Global Initiative on War Profiteers
War Resisters' International, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, Britain; tel +44-20-7278 4040; fax +44-20-7278 0444; email javier@wri-irg.org
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War Profiteer of the Month
ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil is a multi-national American corporation and a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company. Formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil, ExxonMobil is the world's largest company by revenue, at $377.6 billion for the fiscal year of 2006. It is also the largest corporation by market capitalization, at $517.92 billion on July 20, 2007. The company is the largest of the six oil super majors with daily production of 6.5m boe (barrels of oil equivalent). ExxonMobil ranks first in the world in proven oil and gas reserves among corporate oil producers, though it is still eclipsed by several of the largest state petroleum producers. Exxon has been the subject of criticism for its business practices and environmental record.
History
The Exxon Mobil Corporation was formed in 1999 by the merger of two major oil companies, Exxon and Mobil. Both Exxon and Mobil were descendants of the John D. Rockefeller corporation, Standard Oil which was established in 1870.
In 1998, Exxon and Mobil signed a US$73.7 billion definitive agreement to merge and form a new company called ExxonMobil Corporation, the largest company on the planet. After shareholder and regulatory approvals, the merger was completed on November 30, 1999. The merger of Exxon and Mobil was unique in American history because it reunited the two largest companies of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil trust, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey/Exxon and Standard Oil Company of New York/Mobil, which had been forcibly separated by government order nearly a century earlier. As a result of the merger, it became largest merger in US corporate history.
In 2005, ExxonMobil's stock price surged in parallel with rising oil prices, surpassing General Electric as the largest corporation in the world in terms of market capitalization. At the end of 2005, it reported record profits of US $36 billion in annual income, up 42% from the previous year (the overall annual income was an all-time record for annual income by any business, and included $10 billion in the third quarter alone, also an all-time record income for a single quarter by any business). The company and the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and chemical industry's lobbying apparatus, tried to downplay its success in order to avoid consumer criticism by putting up page-long ads in major US newspapers, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, comparing oil industry profits to those of other large industries such as pharmaceuticals and banking
Environment and product safety
ExxonMobil has pumped more than $8 million into more than 40 think tanks; media outlets; and consumer, religious, and even civil rights groups that preach skepticism about climate change.
ExxonMobil and the war machinery
ExxonMobil 2005 profit for 35 billion dollars as it was said before was the biggest in its history, 7 billions of them came directly from the market conditions created by the invasion in Iraq and the rise of oil prices. In the same period it is said that because of oil prices 25 billion dollars were taken out of the US economy, meaning 25 billion dollars taken out from US people's pockets. During all this period ExxonMobil has been setting the oil prices for the market which other companies and distributors have had to keep up with.
ExxonMobil was the biggest seller of oil to the Pentagon between 1999 – 2005 so this means from the build up to the invasion to the invasion itself and the occupation of Iraq. Now BP and Shell are taking over as main oil providers to the Pentagon. ExxonMobil didn't only profit from the rise of oil prices but also by providing the oil to the military that's occupying Iraq to gain control of the oil for these private companies.
This tight relationship between ExxonMobil and the U.S. government characterizes that of other of the oil majors, as noted by James Paul in a report for Global Policy Forum:
http://www.globalpolicy.org/
security/oil/2003/2003companiesiniraq.htm
“Just as governments like the U.S. and the U.K. need oil companies to secure fuel for their global war-making capacity, so the oil companies need their governments’ military power to secure control over global oilfields and transportation routes. It is no accident, then, that the world’s largest oil companies are located in the world’s most powerful countries…
“All producer companies want to gain control of …lucrative profits by fair means or foul. Company rivalry typically leads beyond market-based competition. As many studies show, companies and their sponsor governments do not shrink from backing dictatorial governments, using bribery and corruption, promoting civil violence and even resorting to war, to meet their commercial goals and best their competitors.”
ExxonMobil, Shell and BP and some of their smaller cousins see control of Iraqi oil as critical not only to their profits but their long-term survival as the world’s largest privately-held oil companies. They are also one of the main forces pushing for an oil law in Iraq, if the law is finally passed by parliament, it will mark a milestone in Iraqi history – a shift of Iraq’s massive reserves from public to private hands. Private companies will develop and profit from Iraq’s oil for 15-30 year periods with virtually no possibility for the Iraqi state to renegotiate terms and conditions.
The company between 2000 and 2006 gave more than 4 million dollars to Republican Candidates in the US Congress and they were one of main financial contributors to Bush's election campaign and as soon Bush became president, he announced that the US would pull out of international agreements to stop global warming – exactly the position that ExxonMobil was promoting.
For more information:
Campaign of the Month
Campaign: Disarm the Budget in Paraguay
Campaign Disarm the Budget in Paraguay
The campaign with more than 10 years of existence started from the need to demand a bigger, better and equitable Social Investment with the aim for the State to better distribute their resources. A correct distribution of the country resources would satisfy people's human rights, they are; free universal public health care, free education, drinkable water, housing for everyone, good working conditions, access to land and a sustainable environment.
It can be said that in the last years the resources allocated to social investment have increased; the budget for 2006 was Gs.11.779577 ( 1 dollar = 5350 Guaranies) which was 28% more than the year 2005, but this increase has not been sufficient. If what was budgeted for social investment was really implemented, al the above rights would have had significantly improved, which was not the case.
Paraguay doesn't need more resources to continue doing more of the same, what is needed is the political will to re-divert the budget not for political interest but for fulfilling the basic rights of the Paraguayan population.
The budget grows annually at a rate of 8%, but the State investment on health care, housing and land access its still under the average of the rest of the countries in the region. The main areas where the State resources goes are: transference expenses with 3,205,356 dollars, followed by the expense on Public Debt Services with 1,990,836 dollars and of Physic Inversion, being 1,935,912 dollars. The proposed budget for 2008 includes an increase of 15 million dollars for the Armed Forces. This clearly shows us which are the political priorities on social investment of the state.
The Resources are not missing,but are being wasted! When the General Budget of Expenses for the Nation are mentioned it is referred in millions of dollars or guaranies, but these numbers represent people. Then when it is proposed to cut or raise the budget they are also proposing to benefit or exclude a group or sector of the population, and the right to a decent life.
If you compare the budget for Paraguay and the resources that it invests and spends, you could say that Paraguay is not necessarily a poor country, but that it is a country that has been impoverished and with a huge inequality in the distribution of resources.
Campaign proposal
The Campaign 'Disarm the Budget' demands an equitable distribution of the budget, and the transparency in the transfer of royalties to the different city councils, to be assigned to social projects. The resources for non priority activities and mainly administrative (when they are not necessary) or for reserved expenses, are always a waste. Another factor that can help the social investment in the national budget are taxes. To allocate the increased collection from taxes to activities that bring social benefits, this would allow a better distribution of the budget. It is necessary to have state policies that are sustainable and responsible to create a context in favour for a rapid reduction of poverty, if not the social policies are condemned to failure.
For the year 2008 the Campaign 'Disarm the Budget' demanded the reduction of the Military Budget to 34% that represents the amount of 31.850.000 dollars. Paraguay is a small country in relation to the other countries who are members of Mercosur, however the number of military personnel doesn't reflect this reality. The Armed Forces of Paraguay are formed of 8.395 permanent forces. Paraguay has 20 soldiers for 1.000 square kilometres, only counting the permanent soldiers (officials and sub-officials). Now if you take into account the national population and we include conscripts from the military service and students of the military academies and the staff of the Defence Minister it gives the number of 19.485 members of the Armed Forces. If we make the relation with the national population it gives an average of 32 soldiers for 10.000 inhabitants. This average number of soldiers by square kilometres in relation to the population of the country is one of the biggest in the region, being a small country the numbers are out of proportion, knowing that for 10.000 inhabitants there are only 4 doctors and 4 nurses.
Clearly it is urgent and necessary that the social investment in Paraguay is of quantity and quality. Quality so that the funds allocated to social areas can guarantee the rights of the people, keeping in mind that the amount of social investment inside the budget still is insufficiently to improve the life quality of the Paraguayan people.
Organisations behind the campaign
- Decidamos, Campaña por la Expresión Ciudadana
- Movimiento de Objeción de Conciencia (MOC)
- Servicio Paz y Justicia Paraguay (Serpaj)
- Tesai Reka Paraguay
For more information:
http://www.moc-py.org/
“The Most Dangerous Place on the Face of the Earth”
The 16th Annual Space Organizing Conference and Protest was held in Omaha, Nebraska, USA on April 11th to 13 , co-sponsored by the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and local hosts Nebraskans for Peace. The weekend began with a protest at Offutt Air Force Base, the home of the U.S. Strategic Command. Known as StratCom, it is considered “The most dangerous place on the face of the earth”. The command now fields eight missions – nuclear weapons; cyberwarfare; missile defense; intelligence; surveillance and reconnaissance; global strike; space; combating weapons of mass destruction; and global command and control. StratCom coordinates 6 “areas of responsibility”, dividing the world into regions to be commanded, including the new AfriCom.
Nearly 200 people from 12 countries and 28 US states attended the conference.
One of the first speakers was Jan Tamas of the Czech Republic, who helped form the “No to Bases Initiative” which unites 60 organizations which oppose the US plan to establish an NMD military base in the Czech Republic. We had hoped to hear from Damian Moran who is a co-organizer of the Polish Campaign Against Militarism, opposing the US missile base in Poland. However, he was detained and deported from the US by Homeland Security Agents at the airport. Damian was one of the Pit Stop Ploughshares, who was acquitted 18 months ago for damaging US planes that were refueling on their war to Iraq.
The conference included panels where we heard about StratCom's New Mission: From Waging the War on Terror to the Domination of Space and US Bases Worldwide: Stories of Resistance to Domination. The coming together of people from various networks was an important aspect of the gathering. Workshops gave us an opportunity to further discuss topics such as: Converting the Permanent War Economy, the militarization of universities, the voices of people displaced by US Bases, and missile defense deployments in Asia.
A Sunday strategy session was intended for members of the networks to share ideas and hear new ones to take home and develop. The Global Network's board will take up several suggestions for coordinated efforts. Their website www.keepspaceforpeace.org includes more information on StratCom and opposition to US Missile Defense in Europe, among its many resources.
For more information:
Court rules Government's termination of BAE investigation unlawful
The High Court the 10th of April ruled that the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) acted unlawfully when he stopped a corruption investigation into BAE Systems' arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
The judgment was handed down by Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Sullivan in response to a judicial review brought by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House.
In the light of this judgment, the Serious Fraud Office must reopen the BAE-Saudi corruption investigation immediately. Both groups are calling upon the SFO to work jointly with US and Swiss investigators in doing so.
The judges detailed how BAE lobbied the Government by suggesting that the company would lose a large Saudi arms sale if the investigation was not dropped.
When the SFO was about to obtain access to Swiss bank accounts, Saudi Arabia threatened not only to cancel the arms deal but also to withdraw diplomatic and intelligence co-operation. This threat was made by Prince Bandar, who was allegedly complicit in the corruption under investigation.
The judges described the SFO Director's subsequent termination of the investigation on 14th December 2006 as a "successful attempt by a foreign government to pervert the course of justice in the United Kingdom".
Congratulations to CAAT and The Corner House for this important victory!!!!!!!
For more information:
http://www.caat.org.uk/press/recent.php?url=100408prs
FIDAE: Chilean aerospace and defence fair
From the 31 of March to the 4 of April in Santiago, Chile , there was an arms fair: FIDAE, is a fair that focuses on the aerospace defence
area. FIDAE also welcomes civilian exhibitors but essentially the fair has a military focus. This fair is one of the biggest and most important of its kind in Latin America and is a mayor event for the arms traders to make business in the region. This year's fair hosted
the 11th edition of the meeting of Logistic Commanders of the Air Forces of South America.
The 2006 version of this fair hosted some of the largest arms producers in the world: BAE Systems, Allian Techsystems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, EADS, THALES, Honeywell Aerospace, Afarmade. There is also a strong presence from the Israeli and Russian industry.The Israel Military Industry and Russia Military are on
parade among the exhibitors. Other countries that are strongly present are Argentina and Brazil. The latter one being the biggest industry in the region. The fair is also the occasion for the Chilean defence industry to show their new developments, particularly FAMAE that is the manufacturer of military equipment for the Chilean Army.
For many years FIDAE has been advertised to the Chilean public as a day out for the family especially for the younger generations. Many schools visit the FIDAE as part of their extra-curricular programmes where the children can see the new technology on aerospace. Many times the visitors are not even aware that the fair essentially is a place for selling arms. For many years the fair has been targeted by antimilitarist groups like WRI's affiliates Ni Casco Ni Uniforme, but the actions have not been
successful enough in making the general public aware of what in reality happens at this arms fair.
For more information:
Fermons Eurosatory
Eurosatory is with DSEi in London the biggest arms trade fair in the world. A few figures to show how bit it is. In 2006, there were over one thousand exhibitors from 47 countries displaying military equipments to 48 thousand visitors from 167 countries, amongst them 110 official delegations from 67 countries and nearly 600 journalists. This year, it’ll be held for the third time in the big exhibition center Parinord in Villepinte, 20 miles north of Paris, from 16th June to 20th June.
Different initiatives are taken in the aim of getting this exhibition closed and the arms trade stopped.
June 14th, The Mouvement de la Paix call for a big picnic party at La Villette in Paris from 4 to 9 pm. It clearly aims to be a “disarm the trade fair” with all groups calling for disarmement displaying their arguments from disarm for developement to disarm for a better security and informing about what Eurosatory is about, ie : fuelling war selling more armement to as many countries as possible.
June 16th to June 20th at Villepinte by the exhibition centre Quakers and Canva will do vigil all along the week from 10 am.
June 17th, 7pm By le Louvres museum, The Union Pacifiste call for a demonstration around the place where officials and main arm dealers will celebrate with the French taxpayer money. Bataillons of ths clown army should be around as well in order to get their share in this very profitering business. They’ll demonstrate once more the efficiency of their bones-zookas recycling bones of war victims and other Weapon Massively Derisive.
Contact : union.pacifiste@wanadoo.fr
Other things can happen in order to disturb eurosatory as pacifist minds are still brainstomring nonviolent ideas.
Anti arms trade documentary censor by the police in the UK
Police have intervened across the UK to censor 'On the Verge' an independent documentary about the Smash EDO campaign to shut down the Brighton's weapons manufacturer EDO MBM. So far establishments in Southampton, Chichester, Bath and Oxford as well as Brighton have come under police pressure to cancel film showings. In Brighton police intervened to prevent a showing at the Duke of York's Cinema, just one hour prior to the scheduled premiere.
Using activist, police and CCTV footage plus interviews with those involved in the campaign, 'On The Verge' tells the story of one of the most persistent and imaginative campaigns to emerge out of the UK's anti-war movement and direct action scene. See trailers of the film here(mpg) and here (wmv).
Spokesman for the production company SchMovies, Steven Bishop said "I am extremely disappointed but not entirely surprised by the police's action. There may be issues with certification but as we're not charging for entry this shouldn't be an issue. If the police really had problems over the certificate they could have approached us at a much earlier stage. Our film although focussing mainly on the rights and wrongs of protest shows a number of examples of questionable police behaviour – Perhaps this is why they left their move so late"
For more information:
Dutch Court of Appeal finds insufficient evidence to convict conflict timber trader
On 10 th March 2008, the Court of Appeal in The Hague cleared Guus Van Kouwenhoven, a " member of [Charles] Taylor's Inner Circle, " of breaking the United Nations arms embargo enforced against Liberia.
" The barbaric regime of Charles Taylor was financed and maintained by the revenues generated from the timber trade, in which Guus Van Kouwenhoven was the biggest player. This decision is a sad day for peace and justice in Liberia and for the ending of impunity, " said Alex Yearsley of the watchdog Global Witness.
The conviction was originally bestowed by the Court of First Instance in The Hague on 7 th June, 2006. Guus Van Kouwenhoven was convicted of illegally importing weapons into Liberia that were used during the civil war in Liberia by Charles Taylor's forces to commit horrific crimes. The Court of the First Instance held that the " supply of weapons to Liberia was unjustified " and sentenced him to 8 years of imprisonment.
>From 1999 to 2003, Guus Van Kouwenhoven operated the largest timber concession and dominated the Liberian timber industry as president of OTC, one the biggest timber concessionaires. The timber revenues contributed to the funding of the Liberian civil war, which resulted in sanctions being placed on timber from Liberia by the UN Security Council in 2003. The UN Panel of Experts for Liberia concluded that timber was being traded by rebel and government forces in exchange for arms and that its revenue was being used to fund the conflict. Subsequently, the Forest Concession Review set up in 2005 ruled that all of the timber concessions in Taylor's Liberia were operating illegally.
For more information:
South Korean War Profiteers Study Group
World Without War in South Korea and other peace activists are working on a war profiteers study group. They have started to study the related books to gain information about Korean war profiteers(and enterprises) and weapons Korea produces for now, hoping to plan any kind of active non violent peace action some day soon.
For more information contact: peace@withoutwat.org
Corporate hall of shame
Online poll by Corporate Accountability International's for their annual Corporate Hall of Shame!
This year's nominees made headlines for breaking the law, influencing elected officials, undermining democratic decision-making and outright endangering the environment and public health. They include Blackwater Worldwide, Archer Daniels Midland, Countrywide, Mattel, Nestlé, Toyota, Wal-Mart and Wendy's.
For the full list of nominees:
The email newsletter of WRI's Global Initiative against War Profiteers || Index of past issues