Photo call: At 11am outside Defence Export Services Organisation[1], St George’s Court, Bury Place, London, WC1A. Four whimsical civil servant look-a-likes with missiles (stage props) will hold aloft a giant banner reading Stop Government Promotion of Arms Company Exports
. Civil servants will also hold placards saying I promote arms exports in the civil service
and have thought bubbles saying I’d rather not!
and I’d rather promote peace
.
LONDON: Over a hundred people are expected to assemble at the Government’s Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO), Bury Place, London, WC1A to protest at the continuing Government promotion of arm sales abroad on Tuesday 21 September 2004 at 11am[1]. The crowd will move-off and reassemble at Downing Street at about 12.30pm to hand in a petition of more than five thousand signatures and nine hundred postcards calling for the closure of DESO. The event will end at about 1pm
Speakers at the DESO protest include: Beccie D’Cunha – CAAT Campaign Co-ordinator, Paul Ingram (Defence Economist and Analyst), and Chris Cole (Director of Fellowship of Reconciliation).
Beccie D’Cunha, from Campaign Against Arms Trade said The British Government’s promotion and marketing of arms from UK based companies is fanning the flames of violent conflict around the world. On the same day as the United Nation’s Day of Peace, an arms fair opens in South Africa and civil servants from Britain will be promoting arms sales at it. The subsidies to arms companies for sales abroad should stop and the Government department for export arms closed down.
[2]
ENDS
Editors Notes
- The Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) exists to market and sell UK military equipment and services. It co-ordinates most of the direct government support for arms exports, providing marketing assistance and advice on negotiation and financing arrangements, as well as organising arms exhibitions and promotional tours. It has over 600 civilian and military employees in London and offices overseas. DESO’s forecasted net operating cost for 2003-2004 is £16m.
- Africa Aerospace & Defence 2004 opens on September 21, the same day as CAAT’s protest and the United Nations International Day of Peace.
