Dear friend,

We hope you’re having a restful break and are looking forward to the new year. Here’s our highlights from 2021:

Resistance: Stop the Arms Fair!

The DSEI arms fair saw a week of resistance in September, with theme days covering borders and migration, solidarity with Afghanistan and Palestine, demilitarising education, and culminating in the Stop the Arms Fair day of action on the first day of the fair. One of the world’s largest arms fairs, Covid fears had diminished the number of attendees at DSEI. But it still saw a thousand exhibitors and official delegations from nearly 50 countries, including countries on the UK Government’s own “human rights priority” list, of “particular concern”  like Egypt, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.  Campaigners blocked roads, hopped over the fence, made their voices heard, and reached out to passers-by, including speaking to delegates about the fair. Find out more in our Stop DSEI 2021 highlights video.

Campaigners were not slow to respond to arms fairs in other areas, whether with massive street marches in Liverpool, banner drops and brass bands in Malvern or train station “greetings” and noisy demonstrations in Farnborough. Wherever there was an arms fair, there were people telling it no, and finding novel, creative ways to do it.

In addition to our ground resistance, our student focussed Conference at the Gates also took place online. Featuring student activists, scientists and healthcare workers, and keynote speakers Myriam Kane and Lowkey, we discussed and dissected the role of the arms trade in science and healthcare education, and how this intersects with migrant and disability rights. There were also workshops for activists, to develop their practical campaigning skills. You can view the panel discussion here 

In addition to supporting Conference at the Gates, CAAT’s kind donors helped create a “Stop the Arms Fairs” fund, to support individuals and groups taking action against DSEI and other arms fairs. This covered the cost of things like travel, leaflets, welfare and toilet facilities, so as many people as possible could say no to DSEI.

Nobel Peace Prize nomination and A Portrait of Resistance

We were honoured to receive a joint nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize with our partners, Mwatana for Human Rights, from Nobel Laureate the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW).

AFSC and QPSW’s choice of nomination is intended to highlight the suffering of the Yemeni people, who are faced with ongoing bombardment and blockade from the Saudi-led coalition. The nomination draws attention to our ongoing work to stop the UK government’s sales of arms to Saudi Arabia, in particular our Judicial Review that challenges the UK government’s decision to resume arms sales to the Saudi regime for use in the war in Yemen.

In September, we partnered with acclaimed photographer Cindy Sasha to produce 12 portraits celebrating CAAT’s campaigners and honouring victims of the ongoing war in Yemen. The portraits feature campaigners and activists, including those of Yemeni heritage, photographed in places of significance to their work, whether it be outside BAE systems – the UK’s biggest arms company and hoarders of approximately £17.5 billion in revenue from services and sales to Saudi Arabia since 2015 – or inside their own homes, spaces that, during a global pandemic, have also become our offices as well as places of respite and safety. The works also feature memorialisation of victims of the ongoing war in Yemen, by name.

As well as the 12 portraits, the project also features a short film produced by writer, producer and community organiser, Siana Bangura of Campaign Against Arms Trade and edited by Midlands-based artist, Chloe Deakin. The short film,  ‘A Portrait of Resistance’: Campaigning Against the Arms Trade, can be viewed here 

Research: Exposing the Arms Trade

CAAT’s research team produced three reports this year, all made possible through the support of generous donors.  In “Business As Usual”, CAAT’s Sam Perlo-Freeman investigated whether the flow of arms sales stops once conflict breaks out in a region (in fact, arms sales typically go up where there are established links). 

In “Made in Scotland”, CAAT Scotland researchers investigated the links between conflicts and the Scottish arms industry, showing how government grants from Scottish Enterprise have supported this deadly trade, and the effect Scottish-made weapons have had around the world..

In “Open? The UK’s secret arms sales”, CAAT investigated the Governments flawed and secretive export licensing scheme, revealing that arms trading with Saudi Arabia has been as three times the previously published figures, during the war in Yemen. Find out more about arms companies, exports, political links via the data browsers and links on our Resources page.

In the news

CAAT appeared in hundreds of media articles in 2021

High profile coverage included the news that actual arms sales to Saudi Arabia were three times the level the UK Government has previously admitted to (Independent); CAAT revealing that the UK had sold £17bn of weapons to countries that abuse human rights (Guardian); London Mayor Sadiq Khan telling organisers of DSEI arms fair to cancel and never come back, 

Our research showed that thousands of UK supplied weapons had gone missing in Afghanistan. We discovered that the Scottish Government had thousands of meetings with arms companies over the ten years to 2022.

We also helped uncover that private flights had been leaving Wharton, carrying arms shipments to Saudi Arabia.

Wherever arms dealers want to hide their activities, we will research the truth, then work to expose it.

Local Groups

CAAT has more than a dozen active local groups and networks and works with many more local peace, environmental and social justice groups.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, they have been protesting, hosting events and creating new media to get the word out. This included working with others to say no to arms fairs, make the case for demilitarisation at COP26, saying no to drones at Lossiemouth and Waddington.

London CAAT also produced two high quality documentary films, in solidarity with those struggling to overcome the effects of militarism.

In 'The UK Is Not Innocent': London CAAT BLM Virtual Tour of UK Companies Arming Repression, they showed the links between UK arms companies and the policing of the Black Lives Matter.

In 10 Years of winter since the Arab Spring – the uprisings, aftermaths & what we had to do with it all, they show the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings (content note: discusses human rights abuses). You may like to watch the launch event where invited experts discuss this brilliant film and its content.

Bringing the government back to court

In April 2021 CAAT was granted permission for its legal challenge against the UK government’s decision to renew arms sales for use in the war in Yemen to proceed to the High Court. The hearing is expected to be held  in summer 2022.

This follows our initial Court of Appeal win in 2019, which meant hundreds of millions of pounds worth of arms sales were put on hold after the government was forced to suspend issuing new licences while reviewing all pre-existing arms exports. Yet despite overwhelming evidence of violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen, the government has resumed issuing arms export licences for use in the war in Yemen. 

The pressure is mounting. In February a group of 88 cross-party MPs and Peers called on the government to stop arms sales in Saudi Arabia. 2022 will see CAAT back in court. Our action will continue until we stop these sales once and for all.

#StopArmingIsrael

Following the horrendos bombardment of the Gaza Strip in May, in solidarity with Palestinian civil society, CAAT continued to support activists across the UK calling for the government to impose an immediate two-way arms embargo on Israel. A group of 77 cross-party MPs signed EDM 138 which called for an investigation to determine whether UK-made arms and components have been used in the violence and for a suspension of UK arms sales to Israel.

It Starts Here 2021

Our It Starts Here conference returned for another year, this time revamped and online. ISH 2021 was an ambitious programme of interconnected talks, Think-Ins, and workshops. Defeating the global arms trade is not a single-issue struggle. From the US, to the UK, to Saudi, Israel, Yemen, Bahrain, Palestine, and Nigeria, our speakers and contributors will help us connect the dots. How is Militarism underpinned by other injustices? And what can we learn from each other’s experiences, analysis, campaigning tactics and methods of resistance? These questions, and more, were discussed over a weekend of events, with talks discussing the intersecting issues of the arms trade, how we can demilitarise education, and how art is used as resistance. You can watch recordings of the panels from ISH 2021 here.

A final note 

Despite scaling back some of our work in 2021, we have remained at the forefront of the fight against the arms trade. Our events, research, and campaigns would not be possible without your support. If you have the means to do so, please consider donating to us here so we can continue with our vital work.