Editorial

We cover a number of civil disobedience actions against war profiteers in this issue. There are many tactics to use against these corporations – lobbing, demonstrations, shareholders resolutions, divestment, boycotts, direct actions – we need a combinations to effect change. What this civil disobedience does is to create a conflict that makes what the corporations doing more visible. The goals of the civil disobedience need to be clear, as in the Raytheon 9 “decommissioning” where they acted to “put a stop to war crimes” and at the ATK plant, as Michael Gavin from Project to Stop the War Industry in Anoka, Minnesota, US. “Someone has to lay their body down because elected officials aren't blocking the cycle of war with legislature so we have to put our bodies in the way.” These actions can give us strategic victories – winning a court case, gaining visibility for a war profiteers' factory. But we also need to be clear they are steps in a process, that shutting down a plant for a few minutes or even hours is not enough, but can lead to more pressure on the profiteers, including discussions in the community about weapons production. Read here a reflection on strategic nonviolent action by Andreas Speck.

The pressure is mounting and is coming from around the globe as we often report in this newsletter. It is important to find ways to communicate between the efforts, connecting the actions against Raytheon in the US, the UK and Australia, for example. War profiteers are everywhere, and knowing that we are part of a larger effort can motivate activists and coordinating and communicating with each other can help us develop more effective strategies. We hope to continue reporting on more actions and successes against war profiteers!

Javier Gárate