arms trade

Background

In April 2009, President Barack Obama declared in Prague that he was committing the United States to a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. His vision was almost universally welcomed and, eventually, honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Since then, it has become apparent that the President’s vision is not driving a change in US nuclear policy. Instead things have gotten, as Alice said in Wonderland, curiouser and curioser. The path to a world free of nuclear weapons, the President seems to believe, leads first through the largest increases in nuclear weapons funding in history—the weapons production budget will nearly double, to $13 billion, in the next five years.

From this weekend's edition of "NONVIOLENT NEWS", produced by INNATE (Irish Network for Nonviolent Action Training and Education) in Belfast...

Despite two men being found guilty of minor miscellaneous charges, there was another great victory for Derry Raytheon protesters and for opposition to the arms trade when all nine women charged were acquitted by a jury at Belfast Crown Court on 4th June after a trial spread out over 3 weeks.

An evening full of inspiring actions and new ideas

May 28 in Amsterdam / May 28 live on internet

Venue of meeting Lombokstraat 40 Amsterdam
Chatroom http://www.stoparmstrade.org

Venue and chatroom open 19.30 h.-22.00 h.

Read the article 'Mouse against the elephant; campaigning against arms trade' (http://www.stoparmstrade.org/publicaties/2010/friedensforum_english.html)

Program

Press release the 5th of May 2010

They hammered on weapons – were sentenced to prison

Today the sentence for the two peace activists, Anna Andersson and Martin Smedjeback, was announced. The Svea court of appeal gave them four months in prison for the disarmament action in the city of Eskilstuna in October 2008, where they disarmed fourteen bazookas at Saab Bofors Dynamics weapons factory in Eskilstuna.

For many who are involved in campaigning against war profiteers, spring in the northern hemisphere means it's time for shareholders actions! This is when most major companies hold their Annual Shareholders Meeting. Companies are obliged to announce the date of their shareholders' meetings and you can usually find this on their website. Annual General Meetings (AGMs) are good opportunities to bring up campaign issues to the owners and smaller shareholders of the company.

The Transnational Awareness Group (TAG) collects and spreads information about the way companies contribute to armed conflicts. Initiated in Belgium by Vredesactie (Peace Action), this form of action - to track, expose and label war businesses - is now spreading internationally.

Rafael Uzcategui

On his most recent visit to Venezuela, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin revealed that the value of arms bought by the government in Caracas amounted to over five billion US dollars.

According to statistics provided by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in the past ten years, 77.6% of total arms imports to Latin American countries were from Russia. Amongst these acquisitions, Mi-17 and Mi-35 Sukhoi fighter planes , Kalashnikov assault rifles, and an agreement to install a factory which produces rifles and munitions, S-300 tanks, and anti-aircraft missiles.

According to SIPRI "the arms transfers in South America for the period between 2005 - 2009 were 150 percent higher than for the period of 200 -2004, reflecting the significant upswing in both military spending and arms acquisitions [...]Chile was the largest importer of conventional weapons in South America and the 13th largest in the world.

BAE Systems which has been embroiled in allegations of bribery and corruption, has topped a list of the world's 100 largest arms manufacturers, the first non-US company to do so, according to figures released today.
BAE produces a wide range of weapons systems, including Eurofighter-Typhoon jets and Trident nuclear missile submarines. It sold $32.4bn (about £21bn) of arms in 2008, says the Stockholm international peace research institute (Sipri).

In the autumn of 2008, activists from the antimiltaristic network Ofog disarmed fourteen rocket propelled grenades at Saab Bofors Dynamics weapons factory in Eskilstuna. The two activists, Anna Andersson and Martin Smedjeback, were sentenced to four mounths imprisonment each in Eskilstuna district court. At the same trial Smedjeback was also sentenced to pay damages of 155 000 SEK (about 15 000 euros) for having climbed the fence at arms factory Aimpoint in Malmö. Both these cases where put on appeal and will now be tried again in Svea hovrätt (Court of Appeal) in Stockholm.

Control Arms Foundation of India together with more than 20 partner organisations and think tanks from across India hosted the “Delhi Disarmament Events and United Nations Arms Trade Treaty Experts Conference and 2010” from 14 to 17 February 2010 in New Delhi. The events were held to coincide with India’s Defence Expo (http://www.defexpoindia.in/) where several hundred arms companies from around the world had gathered to display and sell their arms in New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan.

According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration of South Korea[1], the total turnover of arms exports by South Korea exceeded 1 billion dollars in 2008. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration of Korea plans to raise this figure to 1.5 billion dollars by 2015, expecting to become one of the world's top ten arms exporting countries by 2012. The alleged arguement that South Korea should deter the North from provoking a war works as an excuse for spending huge amounts of money on the arms industry.