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Opposing the DPRTE arms fair in Cardiff

AAN | 14.10.2014 23:30 | Anti-militarism | Wales

DPRTE – “The UK’s Premier Defence Procurement Event” was held in Cardiff’s Motorpoint arena.





On the 8th of October, DPRTE – “The UK’s Premier Defence Procurement Event” was held in Cardiff’s Motorpoint arena. A demonstration had been called by Stop NATO Cymru, Anarchist Action Network and South Wales Anarchists to oppose it, starting at 8.30am to coincide with the start of delegate registration, when the those buying and selling weapons and toys of war would be entering the arms fair.

Several times people managed to get very close to the entrance before being kicked out by security, giving the delegates a piece of their mind in the process. At around 9am 3 men in suits entering the arms fair were covered in red paint. Two people were arrested and subsequently kept for 12 hours. They were both charged with criminal damage for staining the suits.

Food not Bombs Cardiff gave vegan breakfasts to passers by and the demonstrators. Food not bombs are a group who draw attention to food waste, and also the absurd fact that under capitalism we can afford to go to war but yet so many are going hungry and in many parts of the world people are starving to death.

The arms industry benefits from perpetual war that has become the norm. Arms dealers make money from the deaths of innocent people. They came to Cardiff, a city that had a small taste of what it is to be in a militarized zone with the NATO Conference coming to south Wales just a month ago. If DPRTE come back next year people will be there to oppose them again. We don’t want these dangerous psychopaths in our city, buying and selling weapons that kill people.

Protesters continued to have a frank exchange of views with delegates at the fair for the remainder of the day.

AAN

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Comment from BAE Systems blog

15.10.2014 07:23

"The DPRTE event ...................

we were pleased to see that the warnings of protesters were largely exagerated with only a few of the great unwashed there when we arrived. There was the usual shouting but none of us could understand what was said. Some paint was thrown but it ended up hitting some poor devil from the catering company who had nothing to do with the event. These people do not get any brighter !

arms trade observer

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Good for you and well done to all !

15.10.2014 08:22

First comment, well done to those who had the courage to go there and face the bastards, I'm sending love to you all :-)

Second comment, the quote from the blog of some nob at BAe systems shows part of the problem with current protests against the arms trade, they don't care about us and are not scared of what we might do. In the glory days of DSEI protest a few years ago I remember taking satisfaction from seeing fear on the face of arms dealers when we confronted them at Custom House DLR station but at the last DSEI they stood there and laughed at us. Support for actions against the arms industry is falling all across the country and for some events has stopped completely (there was nobody apart from me and one other protestor at Farnborough Air Show this year).

I have no answers, only observations and questions but I see this as part of a much bigger problem with radical politics in this country. The decline of AR activity, the lack of support last year for DSEI protests, the very few number of people prepared to stand up against the Tory austerity cuts, the lack of protest against the slow privatisation of the NHS, the rise of the far right UKIP with little comment. The Left continues to worry more about fighting itself rather than the Tories.

Silent supporter

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Correction

15.10.2014 09:06

It is true that subsequent information confirms that two of the men who were covered in paint were not involved with the DPRTE event and were members of Absolute Taste a catering company who supply staff to the Motorsport Arena. We do not accept however that they were innocent, they chose to do business with an organisation that provides space to an arms fair, they are part of the problem and got what they deserved.

AAN

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Lies on Indymedia (again) - open publishing and it's drawbacks eh?

15.10.2014 10:40

Wow, above comments re caterign staff are lies inc the one claiming to be AAN.

Absolute Taste is a catering company in London, not Cardiff i highly doubt they had anything to do with the event unless they bring caterers in from London?! If you're gonna lie try and do it convincingly...

The three men in suits were not "catering staff".

(A)

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@Silent supporter

15.10.2014 10:47

Some good but also depressing points made there.

The drop off in AR work can be linked to the rescources and vindictive policing the British establishment was prepared to throw at organisations like shac. Not many people are prepared to risk a long jail term for simply being involved. With some individuals now facing further years of tagging and restrictions on their movements there is a vacum in recruitment for the next generation.

London Lass

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Missing the point

15.10.2014 11:57

There seems to be more than one company using the Absolute Taste taste name so it seems likely it could be one of those in Wales or maybe the West of England.

I don't think that really matters however, the important thing here is that an arms fair was allowed to go ahead with only minimal protest against it. I share the view of the other poster here that the decline in the number of people taking part in protests against the arms trade is very concerning. I have been involved in the protests about the presence of Heckler & Koch in Nottingham and we used to once get at least 30-40 people and now there is rarely more than 5 or 6 of us despite a lot of local opposition to the company.

Sgroogle user

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Take another look at what you just said, ANN

15.10.2014 13:04

And its implications.

"It is true that subsequent information confirms that two of the men who were covered in paint were not involved with the DPRTE event and were members of Absolute Taste a catering company who supply staff to the Motorsport Arena. We do not accept however that they were innocent, they chose to do business with an organisation that provides space to an arms fair, they are part of the problem and got what they deserved."

WOW. If you have a target, that's the primary. Those who refuse to disassociate from that primary target are secondary. Those who refuse to disassociate from the secondary are tertiary. This goes beyond that. The people you are calling "not innocent" because they aren't refusing to work for a TERTIARY target! >

At least be informed, that over this side of the pond, MOST (not all) even among the radical communities believe that you have to try to CONVINCE (not pressure) even secondaries. The philosophical problem is that when you apply pressure to to them you have changed the issue. Sure, YOU can consider that the reasons (presumably good reasons) you have for attacking the primary target are why the secondary is being attacked but from the perspective of the attacked (secondary) party the only issue involved is whether you need to convince them or can try to force them to support your political position (no matter how "right" that position might be). And in the case where a tertiary party is being attacked, that is clearly the case.

MDN

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For - MDN

15.10.2014 13:51

I know exactly what was said, I do not need your analysis or opinions. The arms trade will be fought on all fronts and if you are not willing to be part of the fight at least leave alone those of us who are.

AAN

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Lie

15.10.2014 13:52

The addition by "AAN" above is a lie.

AAN

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Be aware of MDN and his trolling

15.10.2014 13:58

A well known and long time troll, MDN, is here trying to cause trouble. Please ignore him and his pathetic trolling.

The real AAN, writer of the original report.

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The decline and fall of UK campaigns

15.10.2014 14:34

CND is having trouble paying its bills and has membership at an all time low
SHAC has closed
Stop DSEI called it a day
The Aldermaston woman's protest camp shut up shop last year.
Anti-Fracking campaigns struggle to get mass local support

Why ?

In a word, infiltration. The use of undercover cops to undermine, destroy and fragment protest groups has been the most important and effective tactic the British state has used against us. From the high profile spies like Mark Kennedy and Martin Hogbin to those who got less publicity and focus such as Sue Palmer in SHAC they have each done more than their masters could have hoped. If we are to build a realistic alternative to the Capitalist Neo-Colonials currently destroying the world we must improve our own methods of working and organising.

Anne

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Good point

15.10.2014 15:20

We have for too long underestimated the number of spies that have been operating all through the European scene. These people were easily able to infiltrate and sometimes end up running entire campaigns because basic checks were not carried out on new individuals.

EVERYBODY has a responsibility to check, check and check again while we rebuild.

arms trade observer

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Try to look at what I am saying

15.10.2014 18:27

Criticism of SIDE issues is NOT criticism of the campaign as a whole.

I was not even criticizing the ACCIDENT, because accidents happen.

I was criticizing the p*ss poor attempt to justify the accident (which properly called for an apology to those mistakenly hit) by claiming that they were guilty parties. I am criticizing the likely bad results, though again, maybe folks your side are sheep and no bad consequences.

Let me try to break this down for you. YOU have a beef with Ted, and for the purposes of this analysis lets assume a VALID beef with Ted > Now Bob is a friend of Ted, and I can maybe see you aren't that pleased with Bob. Jim is a friend of Bob. John is a friend of Jim so you punch John in the nose.

Now please try to explain to me why you don't expect John to beat the carp out of you if he has the chance. Why you EXPECT John to consider whether your beef with Ted is justified or not? Why do you not think that John now will consider you an enemy?

We need to run our campaigns to gain support, not enemies. We need those not involved to stay not involved if we can't convince them to join us. It's one thing to accidentally have punched John in the nose because mistaken John for Ted or maybe Bob. Quite another to tell John "you had it coming" by that silly trickle down theory of blame.

I will repeat, NOT criticizing that an accident happened. Criticizing the handling of that accident.

MDN

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MDN

15.10.2014 19:19

Fuck off troll

The rest of the world

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