War Profiteers

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The Basque antimilitarist groups KEM-MOC and Kakitzat protested on 23 January in front of the head office of the bank, BBVA, declaring that "BBVA finances war, Gastu Militarrik ez".  Several anti-militarists dived into BBVA's fountain.

BBVA collaborates and profits from war through its participation in the military industry, as shareholders of companies that are providers

to the defence sector.

The Defexpo India exhibition was conceptualised in the year 1998 by the Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence Government of India in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry with an objective to promote defence exports from India at the same time exhibit the capabilities of Indian Defence R&D and production.

For the last four years, activists and socially responsible investors have targeted the annual Caterpillar shareholder meeting in downtown Chicago to attempt to hold the company accountable for human rights abuses and war crimes committed with their equipment. The campaign has been successful in educating about the illegal and unjust uses of CAT equipment and putting pressure on the company to change its business practices.

On the 15th of November 2007, Rio Tinto Canada Holding, an indirect owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto – one of the biggest mining corporation in the world – acquired all of the common shares of Alcan world leading producer of aluminium.

New report reveals alarming investment practices by financial groups

December 11, the financial watchdog Netwerk Vlaanderen NGO (B) launches the report ‘Bank Secrets'. The dossier details the investments by 121 financial groups in companies violating fundamental human rights.

The Center for Public Integrity is releasing their latest investigative report. Following up the Center's highly acclaimed 2003 Windfalls of War, which profiled U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, their staff have worked to expose further information about what's behind those contracts:

KBR, Inc., the global engineering and construction giant, won more than $16 billion in U.S.

Brussels 6 November:Activists from the Belgian and International Coalitions to Ban Uranium Weapons, Netwerk Vlaanderen and Friends of the Earth organised a “radioactive buffet” for staff in the entrance hall of the Brussels offices of The Bank of New York Mellon. The buffet was organised to oppose the involvement of the bank in funding the production of controversial depleted uranium weapons.

During the first two weeks of December, a state of emergency was declared in the Orellana Province in the Amazon region of Ecuador.

This state of emergency is carried out through the militarisation of Orellana which took place after representatives of the town of Dayuma (area in the country that brings in more resources to the nation) started protesting about the complete abandonment from the government in which they live, as they have almost no access to any public services.

What is the main reason behind for the

By Joanne Sheehan

If our goal is to close down weapons production and military bases, we need to consider what happens to the workers, the facilities, the land and the economy of the community. Economic conversion also called defense, conversion, arms conversion or peace conversion, is the planned redirection of resources from military to socially useful civilian activities, primarily new product development. It is a participatory process involving business, government, labor, and the community.

This is the 10th issue of War Profiteers' News, and also the last one for the year 2007.

6th November 2007 -- International Day of Actions against Investments in Producers of Uranium Weapons

For further details: ria.verjauw[at]telenet.be

1 December-- Prisoners for Peace Day: Focus on Turkey

Prisoners for Peace Day 2007 will focus on the situation of conscientious objectors and antimilitarists in Turkey.

UC gets 150 million USD annually from the DoD and manages nuclear weapons labs with Bechtel Corp. 40% of Livermore Lab employees are UC graduates. UC Regent Richards Blum's company gets 125 million USD for work at Los Alomos.

The University of California runs two national laboratories in collaboration with the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. They are Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.