War Profiteers News

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A die-in at DSEI 2017
Issue number
55
September 2017
Direct action against DSEI, and how France profits from the war in Yemen

In September 2017, members of the War Resisters' International network joined activists in London to resist the DSEI arms fair.

For the last few years, War Profiteers News has been published every 2-3 months. For the next year we are going to experiment with publishing a shorter version of this newsletter every month - it will continue to have similar stories of resistance to war profiteers around the world! Email info@wri-irg.org if you have a story to share - see our writing guide here.

War Profiteer of the Month: NonLethal Technologies

A Bahraini police officer fires tear gas

NonLethal Technologies is a US-based company, building a variety of “less than lethal riot and crowd control equipment for military and law enforcement applications”1, and also markets weapons to be used in prisons.

Broad coalition escalates campaign against London arms fair

Someone blocks a road outside the DSEI arms fair with a traffic sign reading "stop wars"

In London, thousands of protesters have been taking direct action to shut down one of the world’s biggest arms fairs.

War Stops Here resources

A man looks at a large range of missiles at the DSEI arms fair.

In September 2017, hundreds of weapons companies gathered in London for the Defence and Security Equipment International arms fair, to meet representatives from militaries all over the world. WRI produced a booklet profiling some of the companies attending.

Thailand: land rights activists targeted by palm oil company

Villagers of Khlong Sai Pattana Community. The banner reads: ‘We will stand for justice to protect land to the end. Stop evicting the poor. The Khlong Sai people will fight'.

Since 2008, the Klong Sai Pattana community in Thailand have been resisting the encroachment of a large palm oil company - Jiew Kang Jue Pattana Co Ltd. The company has illegally occupied and cultivated palm oil trees, and the community believes it is behind escalating violence that has led to a number of deaths, in a campaign of intimidation they believe is being waged to drive them from the land.

How France participates in the Yemen conflict

Saudi military personnel marching.

From 11 to 15 September, Geneva will be hosting the Conference of States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty. The world’s third largest purveyor of armaments, France has a privileged relationship in this area with Saudi Arabia and its allies. According to hitherto undisclosed data revealed to Orient XXI by the Observatoire des Armements, the French government used a contract for weapons ostensibly meant for Lebanon to prepare for the Kingdom’s war in Yemen and speed up delivery at the height of that conflict.