War Profiteers

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.

"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.

BAE Systems

As Campaign Against Arms Trade reports....

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

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.

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.

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.

For the past year, War Resisters' International has been developing a new Nonviolence Programme. The overarching aim of the Nonviolence Programme is to strengthen and deepen our understanding of nonviolence, nonviolent strategies, and nonviolent campaigning, and to develop and provide tools and support to groups using nonviolence (see Broken Rifle No.65).

One aspect of this work is the development of resources for WRI's Campaign Against War Profiteers.

In his Farewell Address in January 1961, American President Dwight D Eisenhower said: "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.

Aug 27- Sep 10: Coulport Disarmament Camp: More information at www.tridentploughshares.org

Sept 10: DSEi, Beat the Bombers! Party for peace. Gather 1pm for location information www.disarmtrade.org/. Cancel the arms fair. 2pm-4:30 pm.

Musical Protest outside the Excel Centre, next to Custom House, DLR Station.

War and tensions imply a very profitable arms race for arms traders. Banks know this well, and are very keen to profit from it. The only problem is uncertainty, which the market doesn't like.

There are many ways to profit from a war. Some may say that even peace campaigns profit from it! The war profiteers we are talking about here are companies having strategies to make a killing from armed conflicts.

Conventional army suppliers Three main categories are distinguished here: arms traders, equipment suppliers, and companies offering services to armies.

Arms traders must not be forgotten.

WRI is not just committed to resist war but to promote nonviolent action to remove the causes of war this is one reason why part of the new nonviolence programme will be a campaign against war profiteering. And to promote our commitment with nonviolence and antimilitarism. Taking WRI's fundamental critique that "War is a crime against humanity. I am therefore determined no to support any kind of war, and to strive for the removal of all causes of war"