diary of campaigners against the arms trade
Campaigners in Edinburgh are calling for their council to end its investment in arms companies.
Yesterday our friends at Edinburgh CAAT and the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre presented a 400 strong petition to Councillor Chas Booth, the Convener of Edinburgh Council’s petitions committee.
Continue reading “Edinburgh activists call on council to end its investment in arms companies”
Every two years London hosts one of the largest arms fairs in the world. Two mayoral candidates have spoken out against the fair, and hundreds of emails were sent to others. Here, London CAAT member Jessie describes putting questions about the arms fair at a hustings.
The hustings I attended on Thursday 26th April had almost more organisers than members of the public, so it was easy to raise my question about what the candidates can do to end the arms fair in London. In fact the candidates seemed to be grateful to have something not scripted to talk about!
The panel consisted of three GLA candidates who also spoke for their parties’ mayoral candidate, plus Steven Norris, whose support for Boris consisted of an after dinner speech which he began with ‘I won’t bother telling you Boris’ policies…’!
Continue reading “London candidates challenged on the arms fair”
CAAT activist Jessie has been focusing on the London Mayoral & GLA elections, May 3rd 2012.
With Mayoral & GLA elections coming, we need to know what the candidates think about hosting a major, bi-annual arms fair in London. The arms trade does not appear in their manifestos, so we had to contact them directly to get their views. Between the London CAAT group, the central CAAT office, and with me collating information, we have contacted all four major mayoral candidates.
We have heard back from three already, so the pressure is on! Two have come out against it, one has said the organisers should at least cover policing costs, not the taxpayer. This is a good start!
Continue reading “Should the London Mayor support the arms fair?”
