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Government arms pushers - we've got you surrounded

On Monday 16 October, more than 300 people forced the temporary closure of the UK's Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO), with all of them hoping that it will lead to the permanent closure of this government department.
DESO exists to help British arms companies gain contracts from governments overseas. The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has calculated that the department receives over #14m in taxpayers' money every year to keep running. The head of DESO is seconded from the arms industry and receives a salary from both the government and the traders.

Fuelling conflict

About 500 civil servants work for the arms trade through DESO, aiding less than 2% of British companies' exports. DESO receives thirteen times the budget (proportional to its share of UK exports) of UK Trade and Investment, the body responsible for promoting the UK's civilian exports.
In the past few years DESO has specifically targeted India, Pakistan, China, Taiwan, Colombia, Libya and Saudi Arabia as markets for British arms. CAAT has raised concerns that DESO is effectively working to fuel conflict, pushing arms to states that the British government is greatly concerned will commit human rights breaches, and sabotaging development in those countries (see last month's PN).

Get a proper job!

At the event on 16 October, activist comedian Mark Thomas addressed his fellow activists saying, "arms should not be exported around the world, peace should be built around the world." He also used a megaphone to encourage the gunrunners inside DESO to get proper jobs.
    Speaking later to Peace News, Mark Thomas said, "We have won the argument at government level that this kind of department is dubious for good governance, but we still have to win this argument at the public level. That makes events like today so important."
    After surrounding DESO, some activists hit the streets of London and conducted a poll about the department. Of those questioned, 88% had not heard of DESO. However, once they learned more about the arms exporters, only 5% of interviewees said that they were in favour of DESO's work.
    The final part of the day's action was a mass lobby of MPs in parliament. CAAT estimated that 45- 50 MPs met constituents to discuss the closure of DESO. To date almost 50 MPs have signed Early Day Motion 1798 which calls on the government both to close DESO and not to redirect the funds saved into promoting the arms trade in any other way.

The campaign to close DESO is led by CAAT and is supported by several other organisations including the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Pax Christi and SPEAK. See http://www.caat.org.uk/campaigns/calltheshots/deso.php or call 020 7281 0297.

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