#15 – Q:Witness – Stop the Arms Fair

A Quaker Take

War, human rights abuses and forced migration start in London. The Defence and Security Exhibition International (DSEI - pronounced 'dicey') is the largest arms fair in the world. Every two years, DSEI allows arms buyers and sellers to network and make deals. It’s coming again 4 September 2017, at ExCeL – the huge exhibition centre in London Docklands. This episode is about how to stop the arms fair. Ellis and Elizabeth hear from Sam Walton, the Peace and Disarmament Programme Manager for Quakers in Britain, and Kat Hobbs from Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), as well as lots of activists ready to challenge the repression. Quakers in Britain are a founder member of Stop the Arms Fair: a coalition of groups working together to oppose the arms fair in East London. We are building resistance to the arms fair through protest, lobbying, witness, creativity and prayer. The next DSEi is due to take place in 2017: if it does, Quakers will be working to increase the resistance. Quakers work to raise awareness of the human and environmental cost of the arms trade. We work with others to challenge the morality of the trade as a whole and to shine a light on the unethical and sometimes illegal activities of the arms industry. Find out more about our work. Get all the updates you need from www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk or contact Sam on [e-mail] for more help. Find out more about Campaign Against Arms Trade at www.caat.org.uk or follow @CAATuk on Twitter Thanks to audioungle.com and Bensounds for the music in this episode.