By Noah Hudson
In March 2024, the Arms Out film tour by Shadow World Investigations, Demilitarise Education, Forces Watch, Declassified UK and CAAT came to the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.
I organised the event based on its aim to “help boost knowledge of the arms trade and militarism, and to inspire action against it.” In the end, after two films and a Q&A with Matt Kennard, Declassified, and Kirsten Bayes, CAAT, it was clear that the Arms Out Tour does so much more than boost knowledge. It was powerfully emotive, and provided a space to engage with reality, rather than passively consume it.
Two films “Warton’s War on Yemen” and “When the Music Stops” (both produced by Declassified), were shown, exposing the UK’s arms trade with Saudi Arabia and the devastating implications for the people of Yemen. Despite both films being released over 2 years ago, the time elapsed since then added a depressing sense of continuity – and inevitability – with which our government keeps the global arms trade alive.
A common theme throughout the films is the journey that ordinary citizens take in hearing about the arms trade, and their own proximity to it, for the first time
A common theme throughout the films is the journey that ordinary citizens take in hearing about the arms trade, and their own proximity to it, for the first time. These journeys are told in conversation with residents unwittingly dependent on the economic benefits of a local arms factory, a former foreign office lawyer, and a couple who fled to Scotland to escape threats from Yemen’s Houthi rebel group and now live just an hour away from an arms factory that profits from the devastation of their hometown via sales to Saudi Arabia.
The testimonies of these citizens feature alongside images and accounts of the death and suffering of Yemeni people at the hands of Saudi Arabia’s UK-supported war machine. We watched and were led along a similar journey; confronting the reality of the arms trade and how evasively it operates so close to home.
And it’s this realisation of our relative ignorance, alongside a reminder of the humanitarian disaster it enables, that evoked an atmosphere of anger, disbelief, and despair.
And it’s this realisation of our relative ignorance, alongside a reminder of the humanitarian disaster it enables, that evoked an atmosphere of anger, disbelief, and despair. The message is unequivocal in its portrayal of reality, fortified by the blunt and unflinching tone of the reporting.
I was moved by the films despite having seen them on YouTube prior to the screening. Like any successful political film, undeniable truths are grounded by a humanity often lost in the stale ‘neutrality’ of mainstream reporting. The films themselves have the power to inspire resistance to the arms trade, and the more people that watch them the better.
And yet, after the event, I realised the power of the Arms Out Film Tour lies outside of the films. It’s not just the information, nor the medium through which it was presented, but the fact that it gave the audience an opportunity to engage with reality and ensure that the truth isn’t passively absorbed.
Part of our desensitisation to war and suffering, despite access to instant, graphic information, is the space in which we engage with it. As we passively consume news about numerous humanitarian crises, the scale and persistence of the devastation evokes a perplexity in us at how flagrant atrocities go unchallenged in the mainstream media.
The value of the film tour was that this perplexity was given a voice, and addressed by experts who validated the sentiment felt by the audience.
The value of the film tour was that this perplexity was given a voice, and addressed by experts who validated the sentiment felt by the audience. One audience member, for instance, asked with despair, why the deaths of civilians go unpunished, and why our legal systems, so robust as they seem, cannot deal with blatant violations of human rights. The kind of thought that easily goes unanswered was brought to life and answered by Matt and Kirsten, backed by years of experience investigating the arms trade.
What started with a film grew into discussions ranging from the power of community organisation and local activism to the mainstream media’s failure to hold our government to account. The films may act as a guide to our messy and unbearable reality, but it’s in the conversations they ignite, and in our collective voice, that lies the power to change it.
Devastatingly informative, emotive, and a space to properly engage with the truth; that was my experience of bringing the Arms Out Tour to my community.
