Warmongers in Sussex

Tom - have checked out the Wilton Park site as you suggest, and cannot see why you feel these people or indeed their delegates are warmongers. The content of the conferences listed seems broad based and directed at some very serious global issues. Even the defence related conference that IS listed is concerned with considering the proliferation of WMD - something that even pacifist activists would surely want some expert attention directed to.

Seems to me that the 'autonomous action' you refer to could do more harm than good to the cause in this case

I'm not sure if I'm reading it right, but on the dates you are quoting there seems to be a conference entitled 'CONCLUDING THE DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA TRADE NEGOTIATIONS', without a weapon in sight!

Are you sure you want a protest at this event?

Hmmm... Looks as if the meetings line-up has been changed very recently.This also happened a couple of years back when people started taking a critical interest... Info disappeared very quickly from their website.

Sorry for the confusion. The specific dates are obviously now wrong.

However, the first commentator's attempt to claim nothing dodgy goes on at Wilton Park is a bit rich! You don't have to look very hard to find some nefarious-sounding going-on or other.

Take, for instance, the event on June 15-17 entitled "Political Change in Latin America: Implications for The Region, US, EU and Asia-Pacific".
This is being held "in co-operation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with support from De La Rue" [the multinational currency-printing business].
The blurb reads: "How are the political dynamics of Latin America changing? Why? What does the so-called ‘shift to the left’ mean within and outside the region? Can political elites become more inclusive? Are democratic institutions threatened? What are the priorities for improving governance? What reforms of the judiciary and security services are needed? What roles can be played by the US, EU and China?"
What "democratic institutions" do you think they might consider under threat from "left-wing" governments that won't roll over to US corporate interests?
What exactly do they mean by "roles" that could be played by the US (first on the list!) or other foreign blocs in the way Latin American countries choose to run themselves?
One of the speakers (Friday June 16, 11am) is none other than Peter Mandelson, still shaping neo-liberal/neo-con policies behind the scenes as European Commissioner for Trade.
His speech will be entitled "How can the EU and US best encourage reform in Latin America?"
What sort of reform do you imagine he is talking about? Reform as in fairer distribution of wealth and land or "reform" as in ensuring the door remains open to US/European asset-strippers and loan sharks?

I don't want to rant, but quite honestly the whole Wilton Park is so obviously at the heart of the neo-liberal neo-colonial set-up, albeit wrapped up in smooth, reassuring jargon - trade liberalisation, development agendas, emerging markets and so on.
They do rope in the odd speaker from Oxfam or whatever, but this is the same shallow makeover job that they pulled with Sir Bob and Bono at the G8 last year.

We don't have to fall for this crap!

Maybe you should a closer and more critical look at their website!

You will see that their official partners include not only the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence (as you would expect - it's their show!), but also the US Embassy in London, the US Mission to NATO, the US National Intelligence Council, NATO and the World Bank Insititute.

Wilton Park also has a Corporate Membership scheme, whose founding members are:
Standard & Poors, BAE SYSTEMS, BG Group, British Sugar, BT, D Group, Diageo, Rio Tinto, RWE Thames Water, Science Applications International Corporation, Shell.

What sort of agenda do you think they support?

No matter how much they try to hide what is going on at individual conferences at Wilton Park, the whole institute is permanently dedicated to global exploitation and warmongering, full stop. It is thus permanently a legitimate target for any protest at any time, I reckon.

Wilton Park *does* have a positive history:

" One German participant has said of his time here in 1946: "I was a Nazi; I came to Wilton Park and it changed my life."

From 1946-8, more than 4,000 German POWs discussed democratic processes with visiting British intellectuals and political figures such as the philosopher Bertrand Russell, the social reformer Lord William Beveridge, and Lady Astor, the first female Member of Parliament."

I've spoken to the daughter of one of the Germans involved in 46, and she is still involved in Wiston House today. More recent events include Middle East peace talks which have brought together Arab nations, Israel and peace brokers.

Attack the event but not the institution.