War Profiteers News

Welcome to the first edition of the War Resisters' International's War Profiteers' News!!

This new email newsletter will provide information on the new developments on arms trade; the increasing role of private companies in the outsourcing of the military and private financial institutions as they profit from the arms trade.

It will also provide information and reports from what organisations and movement are doing on this issues.

Regular columns will be the war profiteer and the campaign of the month highlighting one company and promoting one campaign.

The USA section of Amnesty International focuses in their 2006 annual report on the role of private military contractors. PMCs are one of the most scandalous part of the spectrum of war profiteering and the U.S. government is their main contract provider “the U.S. government is outsourcing key security and military support functions, particular in Iraq and Afghanistan, to private companies whose civilian employees carry out the work.

On May 13 in Ghent Belgium, ENAAT (European Network Against Arms Trade) together with the local host Netwerk Vlaanderen, Vrede, Forum voor Vredesactie and For Mother Earth, organised a strategy meeting for campaigners, working on the links between private financial institutions/governmental Export Credit Agencies and the arms industry.

BAE Systems

As Campaign Against Arms Trade reports....

BAE Systems is the 4th biggest arms company in the world.

"Sodexho is committed to Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and in developing Public Private Partnerships (PPP), both as a Facilities Management (FM) service provider and as an equity investor" Sodexho UK website.

Without British and American government policies over the last twenty years encouraging the privatisation of public services known as Public Private Partnership, Sodexho would probably have stayed an inoffensive medium-sized catering company.

Five organisations from Catalunya, Organización Plataforma Detengamos la Guerra, Red de Localidades de la Consulta Contra la Guerra, Espacio Liberado Contra la Guerra,Observatorio de la Deuda en la Globalización, Observatorio de las Transnacionales, and many people that had enough of war have joined for the Preventive Boycott Campaign.

Globalising Nonviolence

WRI International Conference, 23-27 July 2006, Germany

Are you interested in both nonviolence and globalisation?

Are you campaigning against war?

Are you involved in nonviolent direct action or curious to learn more?

The War Resisters' International conference Globalising Nonviolence will be a great opportunity to meet activists from all over the world, to get to know what makes them tick, and to see how you can help each make another