Repression of protest

For the last few weeks Turkey has been experiencing one of the most significant and widespread socio-political upheavals in recent years. The detention of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, on 19th March triggered an outpouring of anger in Turkey against the government, President Erdoğan and the discomfort caused by the ongoing socio-political-economic crisis. The protests turned into a street mobilisation not seen in Turkey for a long time.

Australia’s largest weapons expo, Land Forces, was held in the city of Melbourne from September 11 to 13 last week, with several thousands of us showing up to protest and disrupt the event as much as possible.

In recent weeks we have seen a number of significant acts of violence that have directly impacted WRI affiliates. We want to draw attention to two of them – not to compare them (they are radically different in scale, context and level of brutality), but to highlight the way different manifestations of militarism around the world are interconnected, even when they are being experienced in very different contexts nearly 14,000km apart.

Cheddite is a French-Italian company with headquarters in Livorno, Italy and Bourg-lès-Valence, France. They are one of the world’s largest manufacturers of empty shot gun shells and primers.

The German antimilitarist group Antimilitaristische Aktion Berlin (Antimilitarist Action Berlin) have found evidence that Berlin’s domestic intelligence agency (“Verfassungsschutz Berlin”) is monitoring their activities.

An investigation by France24 has found evidence that shotgun cartridges manufactured in Italy and France by the company Cheddite have been used by Iranian security forces against protesters.

In late May, a journalist working for website Declassified UK identified UK-made tear gas being fired against protesters in Oman.

Social movements across Colombia are facing severe repression and violence from the police and military. The demonstrations began on 28th April 2021 as a general strike was called in response to an unpopular tax reform and the mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jennifer Wickham, a member of the Wet’suwet’en people, explores her community's resistance to the CGL pipeline across their territory in Western Canada, the importance of the land to the Wet'suwet'en people, and the militarised response from Canada's militarised police units.

Amnesty International has identified a sub-machine gun used by security services in Myanmar against unarmed nonviolent protesters as a BA-94 or BA-93 Uzi clone.

On 1st April, activists the Make West Papua Safe (MWPS) campaign occupied the lobby of a Thales Australia building, and displayed images of West Papuan activists killed by security forces in the last year.

WRI denounces the military oppression and violence in Myanmar, calls for a nonviolent civil response to the crisis, and demands recognition and safety to the conscientious objection of military/police personnel who have refused to participate in such atrocities.