On Monday night (28/11/05), protesters turned out at the Royal Victoria Hotel, St Leonards on Sea, where BAE Systems (Britain's largest arms dealer) were holding a recruiting event.
Outside the hotel on Monday
Placard detail
In a protest co-ordinated by local group Hastings Against War, people gathered in the freezing cold to voice their opposition, hand out leaflets and, in some cases, go in and debate with BAE staff about the ethics of the arms industry.
In their ad in last week’s Observer, BAE Systems claimed to offer 'high quality projects and real quality of life.' But what about the quality of life for those on the receiving end of their weapons?
BAE Systems has a long and murky history of deals with dodgy regimes, including trying to sell military aircraft to Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the late 80s, and exporting attack aircraft to a genocidal dictatorship in Indonesia which were used in occupied East Timor.
The jobs that BAE had on offer were in Rochester, Kent. Representatives of BAE declined to comment when asked whether the aim of their recruitment evening was to “poach” staff from their local competitor, General Dynamics UK, which has two factories in St Leonards.
Emily, one of the protestors and a local resident said: “Companies like BAE and General Dynamics should be challenged whenever they try to present themselves as respectable corporate citizens. They profit directly from death and misery, and their business fuels conflicts all over the world.”
Links:
http://www.baesystems.com/
http://www.generaldynamics.uk.com/
In their ad in last week’s Observer, BAE Systems claimed to offer 'high quality projects and real quality of life.' But what about the quality of life for those on the receiving end of their weapons?
BAE Systems has a long and murky history of deals with dodgy regimes, including trying to sell military aircraft to Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the late 80s, and exporting attack aircraft to a genocidal dictatorship in Indonesia which were used in occupied East Timor.
The jobs that BAE had on offer were in Rochester, Kent. Representatives of BAE declined to comment when asked whether the aim of their recruitment evening was to “poach” staff from their local competitor, General Dynamics UK, which has two factories in St Leonards.
Emily, one of the protestors and a local resident said: “Companies like BAE and General Dynamics should be challenged whenever they try to present themselves as respectable corporate citizens. They profit directly from death and misery, and their business fuels conflicts all over the world.”
Links:
http://www.baesystems.com/ http://www.generaldynamics.uk.com/ 
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Comments
Hide the following 2 comments
Nice one!
30.11.2005 17:20
Sim1
would have been there if I'd known about it
02.12.2005 15:28
Presumably this picket was supposed to have an element of surprise so advance publicity is problematic but I live locally and would have turned up to give the arms dealers some applications of my own.
Perhaps HAW should liaise with other local groups about such events? Did you get any local media coverage?
BAE baiter