Activists shut down Instro Precision factory in Broadstairs, Kent on July 6, 2015. Credit: @blockthefactory

CAAT E-News Bulletin

Charges dropped against ‘Block the Factory’ activists

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has dropped all charges against 19 activists who shut down a Kent arms factory in July of last year in a campaign to highlight the company’s role in Israeli war crimes. Instro Precision factory, owned by private Israeli company Elbit Systems, is accused of supplying drone technology used in ‘Operation Protective Edge’, which the UN says killed more than 2,200 Palestinian people, left thousands injured or permanently disabled, and 100,000 homeless. Amnesty reported that civilians were deliberately targeted with no prior warning, in breach of international humanitarian law.

Activists, who staged a two-day sit-in to draw attention to the company’s war profiteering, were days away from facing trial for aggravated trespass when the CPS dropped all charges, admitting there was little chance of a conviction – a scenario that has played out multiple times in recent years. Block The Factory Tweeted, “The reasons for this decision are unclear but the defence legal team had asked for full disclosure about the military hardware produced by Instro, and which countries it supplied. Yet again Elbit have evaded appearing in open court, and being forced to account for their actions.”

CAAT included in anti-terror watch list

This month, CAAT and other peace and climate groups were revealed to have been named by police in a document briefing teachers and NHS Trusts on “domestic extremism”. CAAT, CND and Greenpeace were just some of the explicitly non-violent groups named alongside banned neo-nazi and white supremacist terror groups.

The Government’s Prevent programme may be repressing dissent, but for decades now, it has also stigmatised and criminalised entire Muslim communities. The programme has seen countless examples of crude religious and racial profiling, such as the 4 year old Muslim boy whose nursery workers threatened to report him for radicalisation after misunderstanding the word ‘cucumber’ as ‘cooker bomb’. Or the Muslim school boy questioned by anti-terror police for wearing a ‘Free Palestine’ badge. Parents of a north London school boy took legal action after he was reported for discussing environmental activism in a French class. The list goes on.

The programme has seen widespread criticism from human rights experts and civil society organisations across the UK, as well as from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and the UN's Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. CAAT stands against the disproportionate targeting of Muslim communities, demanding independent oversight of and real accountability for police surveillance, and for the right to peaceful democratic protest.

Watch Netpol’s video about the problem with Prevent

Clare Balding drops out of arms dealers dinner

Arms company executives kicked off the year with the annual black tie networking event the ADS Dinner, where arms company bosses dine alongside senior civil servants, MPs and Ministers, costing up to £470 a place. As always, diners were greeted by Stop the Arms Fair activists reminding them of the role played by companies like BAE Systems in the death and oppression of people around the world.

Scheduled as keynote speaker for the evening had been sports TV presenter Clare Balding, who supported the Disaster Emergency Committee’s Yemen appeal. As the Observer reports, after CAAT contacted Clare Balding’s representatives to urge her to rethink her appearance, she decided not to attend.

The legitimacy that arms companies gain from associating themselves with respected personalities like Clare is clear. We're glad that Clare Balding has withdrawn her support for the ADS dinner and encourage any other public figures that are approached to do the same.

Thanks for reading. We'll be in touch again soon with ways you can keep up the pressure.

Caroline

Campaign Against Arms Trade

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