{"id":142760,"date":"2019-09-16T12:01:03","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T11:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=142760"},"modified":"2019-09-23T10:03:21","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T09:03:21","slug":"while-britains-parliament-is-suspended-its-arms-fair-is-open-for-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/09\/while-britains-parliament-is-suspended-its-arms-fair-is-open-for-business\/","title":{"rendered":"While Britain\u2019s Parliament Is Suspended, Its Arms Fair Is Open for Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

In any other week, the world’s largest arms fair would be big news in the United Kingdom, but that hasn’t stopped protesters from disrupting its arrival. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Activists with Trident Ploughshares and Extinction Rebellion used a boat to shut down a road in London last week, preventing arms dealers from reaching the DSEI fair.\u00a0 (Twitter\/@CNDuk)<\/p><\/div>\n

9 Sep 2019 – <\/em>In any other week, the arrival of the world\u2019s largest arms fair<\/a> to Britain would have been big news. Thirty-six thousand people are expected to attend the Defense and Security Equipment International fair, which opens on Tuesday [10 Sep]. More than 10 percent of the governments on the official invite list are recognized by the U.K. government as having seriously problematic human rights records. Among them are Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Israel and \u2014 until they withdrew their delegation \u2014 Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

But this hasn\u2019t been an ordinary week. United by the decision to suspend Parliament \u2014 a move that was labelled by opponents as an attempted coup<\/a> \u2014 MPs used their remaining few days together to pass legislation designed to impede a \u201cno deal\u201d exit from the European Union. Prime Minister Boris Johnson\u2019s threat to sack politicians of his own party who supported the measure backfired when Parliament also refused an immediate election, leaving Johnson stranded without a majority.<\/p>\n

More: Broad coalition escalates campaign against London arms fair<\/a> <\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While the tanks on the streets en route to the fair might not have received much media coverage, the new prime minister\u2019s misogynist-militarist language has. It began when he branded the law discouraging \u201cno deal\u201d a \u201csurrender bill.\u201d It was then revealed that in cabinet papers he had called former Prime Minister David Cameron a \u201cgirly swot\u201d and \u2014 while sitting in Parliament \u2014 decided to goad opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn by calling him a \u201cbig girl\u2019s blouse<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

These jibes might seem a long way from the tanks and guns of war, but the peace movement has long pointed out the link<\/a> between toxic masculinity (especially hetero-masculinity) and militarism. In the schoolyard male status has been typically defined by willingness to engage in fighting, and boys who refuse to inflict pain on others have been called \u201cgirl\u201d or \u201cfaggot.\u201d This is the start of socialization to a world in which most of the world\u2019s soldiers are men, as are the majority of the politicians who send them to war. Meanwhile it is often women who are the worst affected<\/a> by armed conflict.<\/p>\n

Previous Coverage: <\/em><\/strong>Court victory gives momentum to long struggle against London arms fair<\/a> <\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In pursuit of a more peaceful world, seven consecutive days of protests have disrupted deliveries to the exhibition center where the arms fair is held. Peaceful sit down protests in the road have led to more than 100 arrests<\/a> with hundreds more taking part. A notable aspect of the organization of the actions is an emphasis on co-operation, welfare and mutual support.<\/p>\n

The borough council for the area where the arms fair happens has voted to do all it can to stop the arms fair from returning<\/a>. In perhaps the most high profile intervention, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called the fair \u201cabhorrent\u201d and said he too will take any opportunity available to prevent the arms fair in future<\/a>. Maleness and militarism don\u2019t need to go together.<\/p>\n

It is cruelly symbolic that even as the prime minister closes the doors on Parliament, his government opens the doors of the arms fair. By its presence though, the peace movement has shown that there\u2019s a different way of doing things waiting at the gate.<\/p>\n

_____________________________________________<\/p>\n

Tim Gee is a writer and activist based in the UK. His third book<\/em> Why I am a Pacifist<\/a> is published by Christian Alternative.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 wagingnonviolence.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

9 Sep 2019 – In any other week, the arrival of the world\u2019s largest arms fair to Britain would have been big news. Thirty-six thousand people are expected to attend the Defense and Security Equipment International fair, which opens on Tuesday [10 Sep]. It is cruelly symbolic that even as the prime minister closes the doors on Parliament, his government opens the doors of the arms fair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":142761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,57,51,55,146],"tags":[229,1161,1104,120,123,487,651,291,109,287,880,265,639,126,118,492],"class_list":["post-142760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weapons-of-mass-destruction","category-militarism","category-europe","category-capitalism","category-economics","tag-activism","tag-arms-industry","tag-arms-trade","tag-conflict","tag-disarmament","tag-human-rights","tag-justice","tag-military","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-state-terrorism","tag-terrorism","tag-uk","tag-violence","tag-war","tag-war-on-terror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}