Last Time SPEAK BUS-ED PEOPLD IN WE BUSTED OUT DESO
In 2004 SPEAK people knelt in a prayer in a sack cloth trench outside the Defence Export Services Organisation, 2 years later this department was closed by politicians. SPEAK people lobbied. This was a the last time we did a bus-in for a Day of Action.
We need to ramp up the action for peace.. and bus people in to bust the arms traders out! Its time go beyond the clickivisim to get physical bodies in the way of the murderous arms trade!!
SPEAK people should kneel in prayer and physically block, all injustice and oppression SPEAK honorary president Tony Campolo the day after the first ever SPEAK meeting 1998..
The Arms Fair is a UK-based coalition of groups and individuals who joined forces in January 2011 to put an end to DSEi and all UK arms fairs
http://www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk
SPEAKS JOURNEY SO FAR WITH DESO DSO AND DSEI----(main Title)
(and generally words beginning with D) take D- Note
General Information
what happened last few times people from wider speak family visited DSEI...
- - SPEAK Network did prayer and actions against drones in September 2011,
- - September 2013 members of the SPEAK affinity group did an action covered by The Guardian and acknowledged by a former archbishop. Read here about the activists being arrested for blockading an entrance to the arms fair in 2013 in The Guardian Sunday 22 September 2013: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/sep/22/rowan-williams-arms-trade-activists
Here is a snippet:
The five activists, who include a Methodist minister. are among a larger group of campaigners who obstructed delegates trying to get into the Defence Security and Equipment International (DSEi) event at the ExCeL centre. Those involved included members of the direct action group Christianity Uncut and the SPEAK Network, a Christian charity that campaigns on human rights, as well as other Christian groups.. Rowan Williams said he is grateful to activists for drawing attention to the international arms trade. The Guardian Sunday 22 September 2013
On 4th of Feb they were acquitted at a court in Stratford and found not guilty!! Yeah!!
Now its time to unite in prayer and action once more...
.. Anything that happens on September 14th 2015 will be safe even for first time activists.. the rest of the week up to you as autonomous individuals..
Previous SPEAK Days Of Action 2004 and 2009
In 2004 SPEAK day of action and pray and posts focused on the closure of a government department that subsidized the arms industry called DESO. After much prayer and lobbying DESO eventually closed in 2007 (also several Pray and Posts Later).. (insert pray and Post Pic here)..
In 2007, three campaigning groups - CAAT, the SPEAK Network and Fellowship of Reconciliation - organised campaigns for DESO to be shut down. On July 26, 2007, Gordon Brown announced that DESO would be closed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_Export_Services_Organisation
and then .. SADLY the government re opened the DSO as part of the UKTI. So in 2009 SPEAK took a big cardboard tank outside here as part of our prayer day of action the . Unhappy thing is that this group still subsidizes DSEI the arms fair.
What CAAT Says About DSOs Role Supporting DSEI
It might be a good thing to have meaningful governmental control over the arms trade. But the government, and especially UKTI DSO, defines its role rather differently. UKTI DSO exists to help arms companies sell weapons. Many of their target countries are involved in conflict or are have poor human rights records, including countries classified in the UK Government's own human rights report as having "the most serious wide-ranging human rights concerns". The focus of UK government policy is on arms promotion, not control. UKTI DSO co-organises DSEI, providing political, financial and logistical support, and giving legitimacy to this deadly trade. https://www.caat.org.uk/issues/arms-fairs/dsei/faq March April Pray and Post https://www.caat.org.uk/issues/arms-fairs/dsei/costs
https://www.caat.org.uk/issues/arms-fairs/dsei/costs In answer to a parliamentary question by Caroline Lucas, Mark Prisk stated (23 June 2011) "Costs associated with hosting official overseas delegations invited by Government to attend DSEI '11 will be met by the organisers. UKTI DSO will part fund a Capability Showcase which is expected to cost around 100,000. This will at least be in part offset by income from industry in support of the showcase and other support. No direct costs, other than staff time and related staff travel expenses, will be incurred on hosting official delegations." Costs for staff time and travel expenses were not provided. UKTI DSO
UKTI DSO UKTI stated that its budget for DSEI 2009 was around 200,000. It acknowledged that "some travel costs may be met from other budgets but these are not held centrally." We are going to a pioneers feature section on the blog in coming weeks and months