A World Without Weapons

Session 1: Arms Trade 101, with Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT)

Questions for Discussion:

  1. What would be the impact on the UK arms trade, the Middle East and wider foreign policy if the UK stopped arming Saudi?
  2. How can understanding colonial histories help frame our analysis of contemporary migratory movements and the militarization of borders?
  3. What might justice look like for countries affected by armed conflict, war and occupation, particularly in cases in which exports of UK arms have facilitated violence?
  4. How might we fight for climate justice at the same time as challenging the arms trade (e.g. are there any specific actions, targets or approaches that might work well for both)?
  5. What are the similarities between calls for defunding the police and calls for defunding the military?

Resources which you might want to look at:

caat.org.uk

'The Climate Crisis is a Racist Crisis' - Dr. Leon Sealey-Huggins: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/103485/

Nadine El-Enany author talk on Surviving Society: https://soundcloud.com/user-622675754/e091-nadine-el-enany-bordering-britain-law-race-empire

Podcast about America's whitewashing role in Yemen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2qWfwe0jxkiue9Zjy2J4FZ?si=v2LXeJYARQSuLKBBrGWFBQ

Novara Media: https://novaramedia.com/2020/06/01/the-uk-is-not-innocent-police-brutality-has-a-long-and-violent-history-here/ (Wale Qasim)

The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/george-floyd-protests-uk-export-tear-gas-rubber-bullets-shields-us-a9543106.html (Jon Stone - with contributions from CAAT)

Adam Elliott-Cooper podcast - Do police and prisons keep us safe?

Jessica Pandian - Taser trauma: an increasingly British phenomenon (IRR website)

Reem Abu-Hayyeh, 'Responding to coronavirus - intersections with war, militarised violence and the arms industry'. Medact, 21 April 2020.

'Migration, Imperialist Wars, the arms trade and how capitalism functions', Rafeef Ziadah: https://www.pressenza.com/2019/07/migration-imperialist-wars-the-arms-trade-and-how-capitalism-functions/

Battling COVID-19 in the occupied Palestinian territory: thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(20)30237-0/fulltext

A SHAMEFULRELATIONSHIP, UK COMPLICITY IN SAUDI STATE VIOLENCE: caat.org.uk/campaigns/stop-arming-saudi/a-shameful-relationship.pdf

Stop Arming Saudi, Judicial review: caat.org.uk/campaigns/stop-arming-saudi/judicial-review

Saudi Arabia - legal challenge: caat.org.uk/resources/countries/saudi-arabia/legal-2016

FIGHTING THE WRONG BATTLES: HOW OBSESSION WITH MILITARY POWER DIVERTS RESOURCES FROM THE CLIMATE CRISIS: caat.org.uk/resources/publications/government/fighting-the-wrong-battles-feb2020.pdf