small arms

Tear gas by remote controlA new report exploring the development of the use of remote control technology to deliver tear gas and other 'riot control agents' (RCAs) has been released by the Remote Control Project, the Omega Foundation and the Bradford Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project.

In October, War Resisters' International and our South Korean affiliate World Without War will host an international seminar with a specific focus on skill sharing for taking action against war profiteering. “Stopping the War Business” will take place on 16th and 17th October, in Seoul, South Korea. The seminar will be followed by nonviolence training, and then an action to oppose the ADEX arms fair, which will be taking place the following week.

Turkish antimilitarists protest the IDEF arms fairOn Friday 8th May, ten protesters met in front of the IDEF 2015 Defense Industry Fair in Istanbul, Turkey. The protesters, who came together with the call from the Conscientious Objection Association were met with a heavy police presence including 15 civilian police, tens of riot police and one water cannon truck.

A summary of news and updates about War Profiteers and the arms trade, from international media outlets and industry newsletters.

Law enforcement agencies around the world regularly misuse so-called “less-lethal” weapons and equipment for torture and their use can also have deadly consequences, according to a new briefing by Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation.

Wendela de Vries describes the action Stop Wapenhandel took against the presence of Dutch companies at the IDEX arms fair.

Two new projects featuring a broken AK-47 (based on WRI's famous broken rifle logo), have been created by artist Ralph Ziman in Los Angeles and Cape Town. The mural in Los Angeles featured 408 names of victims of gun violence, while the Cape Town piece was painted in the middle of the Manenberg district, an area of Cape Town that has endured years of gang violence.

For photos and other information see the Resistance Project's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/Resistance-Project

Theme groups New developments in war profiteering: (Coordinator: Wendela de Vries, Campagne tege Wapenhandel, the Netherlands)
How do we respond to new developments such as Privatisation of war, (the growing use of commercial companies instead of national armed forces.) the use of Drones (you don’t go to war, you just take your joystick) and homeland security as a new profitable branch, used for crowd control, catching refugees and spying on opposition. How do we develop arguments, can we make new strategic connections with other campaigns?

Between the 22 -25 of January 2010, WRI held its international conference in Ahmedabad, India. One of the main topics of the conference was the issue of war profiteering, with a special relation to its impact to the livelihoods of local communities. Here we report on some of the workshops on this topic.

Transnational campaigning against war profiteering – making links with the arms trade movement (ENAAT) and the local communities

Facilitator: Wendela de Vries

Heckler & Koch is the world's second-largest manufacturer of handguns, assault rifles, submachine guns, machine guns and grenade launchers. Their UK HQ is an anonymous unit on an industrial park off Lenton Lane, NG7. It is responsible for selling guns around the world. Half a million people are killed by small arms each year, three quarters of whom are civilians. Literally millions of Heckler & Koch small arms are in use in around 90 countries.

An US government audit has found the private military company Blackwater has obtained dozens of contracts meant for small businesses. The Inspector General of the Small Business Administration says Blackwater was awarded $110 million in small business contracts despite uncertainty over whether it qualifies as a “small business.” >From 2005 to 2007, Blackwater was awarded thirty contracts intended for companies with revenues under $6.5 million. Blackwater’s revenues exceeded $200 million for each of those years.

Congo remains in the grip of civil war. The reason is clear. A flood of small arms and light weapons undermines the 17,000 United Nations troops' mandate to protect civilians.