DAY OF ACTION AGAINST BAE SYSTEMS

4th May 2000

LONDON TIMETABLE

Wednesday 3rd May

7.30pm - Public meeting: BAE, Turkey and the arms trade.
Halkevi Centre, East London.

9.00pm - Briefing for shareholders, planning meeting for direct activists.
Halkevi Centre.

Accomodation - Crash Pad at Halkevi Centre.

Thursday 4th May

ALL DAY - Local protests and actions against BAE SYSTEMS at sites around the country
(see below)

8.30am - Briefing for shareholders and activists. St James’ Park, London.

9.30am - Assemble at QEII Centre for protest.

10.00am - BAE SYSTEMS A.G.M. begins.

1.00pm - Report back from inside the AGM, and finish.

PUBLIC MEETING: BAE SYSTEMS, Turkey and arms sales

The evening before the BAE A.G.M. we will be joining the Kurdish community in London for a large public meeting about the arms trade. Our Kurdish friends will speak from experience about the result of arms sales in Kurdistan, in South East Turkey. There will be a speaker from Campaign Against Arms Trade about the UK arms trade. Then the meeting will open up into a larger discussion, followed by time to meet our Kurdish friends more informally.

SHAREHOLDER ACTION

There will be a briefing meeting for ‘token shareholders’ the night before the AGM, at the Halkevi Centre. We will outline the process of getting into the meeting, what will happen inside the meeting, and some of the things we’ve got planned for inside. Another meeting will take place on the morning of the protest at St James’ Park. Alternative Annual Reports will be available for ‘token shareholders’ to take into the meeting. We hope to have some to give out to others in the meeting also. We will also have sheets of prepared questions you might like to put to the board. Of course, you are welcome to ask you own questions too. We are inviting groups to organise protests in the meeting in their own way. There will be plenty of opportunity the evening before to share ideas and consolidate plans.

MASS DIRECT ACTION

We are organising a mass non-violent direct action at this year’s AGM. Details are being confirmed, but you will not need to be a shareholder. It is strongly advised that you attend the briefing meetings.

PROTEST OUTSIDE THE BAE SYSTEMS A.G.M.

As in previous years, we will be organising a protest and vigil outside the BAE SYSTEMS A.G.M. We expect to be in our usual position, to the side of Westminster Central Hall. We hope to have speakers, music and entertainment. If you want to do some street theatre, or performance, you are very welcome. There will be leaflets to distribute, and a CAAT information stall. Please bring your banners and placards, in order to reflect the mass resistence to BAE SYSTEMS. There may be other activities that you can participate in.

ACCOMODATION

London floor accommodation is being provided at Halkevi Kurdish & Turkish Association building, near Dalston Kingsland station, in East London. Accommodation is available on the evenings of 3rd May. You will need a sleeping bag or blanket. If you do need something a little more comfortable, we may be able to arrange a bed for you. Please contact us well in adance. Food is not being provided, but the area is rich with food shops, and restaurants. Dalston Kingsland station is on the overland train line, from Highbury & Islington station (The Victoria Line tube, good from Euston & Victoria stations, stops as Highbury and Islington).

LOCAL PROTESTS ALREADY PLANNED

Thank you for showing interest in the Campaign Against Arms Trade’s day of action at BAE local sites on the day of the company AGM in London. These events are being held as part of a co-ordinated, nationwide day of action, intended to highlight and attack BAE’s role as a global player in the traffic in death and misery that blights the lives of millions around the world. There will be protests and vigils in Lancashire, Bristol, Edinburgh and Nottingham, as well as possible actions at other BAE sites organised by local campaigners. A list of all sites in Britain is available for people wishing to take action in their region.

Nottingham

Edinburgh: There will be a vigil outside the BAE Avionics factory at Crewe Toll (Ferry Street), starting at 12 noon, until 5pm. Buses 19, 20, 28, 80, 81, 91 and 129 go through Crewe Toll from the City Centre (see map below). Please contact David Turner on 0131 669 1308, for more information about the Edinburgh vigil or if you can help with organising it.

Lancashire: There will be a protest at the Warton Aerodrome, Preston (which produces the Hawk Jet and Eurofighter amongst others). Meet between 430 and 6 PM at the main gates. Contact the local organiser Mike Kavanagh for details: (0161) 224 6042.

Newport/Usk: There will be a protest outside the Royal Ordnance (part of BAE Systems) factory at Glascoed, Usk. It will start at 7am to meet workers going into the factory. Contact Diane Corker for details: (01222) 751153.

Bristol: There are plans for a protest at the BAE systems site at Filton, Bristol. Activists will give out information about BAE System’s unethical business to workers at the factory at the end of the working day on the 4th. Bus number 75 goes from the city centre coach station to Filton. For information contact Graham Davey: (0117) 909 3491.

PLANNING YOUR OWN ACTION AT A BAE SYSTEMS SITE

There is a list of BAE Systems sites available, which you can get by writing to or phoning the CAAT office, or find it here, or www.bae.com (!). There are sites in every county of Britain, although some are involved only in civil manufacture so may not be as appropriate for protesting against. CAAT can give a list of local contacts to help find participants, and there may be other organisations locally which will want to be involved (various environmental, direct action, human rights, political and religious groups have taken part in such actions in the past). A local press release can be copied for newspapers and radio or television stations in your area. If you need legal advice, you can get a list of solicitors in your area from a Citizens Advice Bureau, or phone CAAT for general legal information.

THINGS YOU MAY NEED TO DO FOR YOUR LOCAL BAE SYSTEMS PROTEST

Contact local groups that have an interest in Arms Trade issues (such as environmental groups- e.g. EarthFirst!, the Green Party, peace groups- e.g. CND, local CAAT groups, human rights campaigns- e.g. People & Planet, refugee groups, political organisations- e.g. socialist or anarchist groups, single issue campaigns, Trade or Student Unions, ethnic minority groups, religious organisations- e.g. Quakers).

Call a planning meeting, with people you know to be interested. Publicise this locally so that others who you may not know can get involved

Decide what you want to do (you may already have a good idea, but other people might want or need to do things differently). It could range from direct action to symbolic vigils.

Think about what you will need for the protest, and how to get it. This could be anything from banners to boltcutters, food, transport, costumes, leaflets and so on. Different people can contribute different skills and materials to the protest.

Publicise your protest, with posters in public places, announcements at meetings and in local media, by leafletting etc...

Make emergency plans for the day, such as contact numbers, legal help, transport facilities, shelter, facilities for disabled people and childcare etc... Please tell us what you do so that it can be reported on and you can get any help you need from CAAT nationally.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH BAE SYSTEMS?

With an annual turnover of £12.3 billion BAe SYSTEMS is Europe’s largest arms exporter, exporting weapons to well known human rights abusers such as Indonesia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

BAe is currently fulfilling a government licensed contract to export Hawk Aircraft spare parts to Zimbabwe. The sale will enable the Zimbabwean government to continue its bombing raids on the Congo, and contribute to the fuelling of a brutal conflict which threatens to engulf the whole of central Africa.

BAe has recently completed the delivery of 16 Hawk Aircraft to Indonesia despite eye witness accounts of Hawks being used to terrorise the East Timorese people last year, and accounts of their current use against the secessionist province of Aceh. In 1998 BAe Systems received £2132 million of underwriting from the British Government under the Export Credit Guarantee Department.

BAe has won a contract to supply 600,000 Heckler and Koch assault rifles, and a Rapier missile system to Turkey. Turkey is a country with a record of severe repression and violence against the Kurdish people, against whom it has pursued a systematic policy of cultural destruction, displacement and ’ethnic cleansing’.

BAe Royal Ordinance has been heavily involved in the manufacturing of depleted uranium (DU) missiles, which were used extensively in both Iraq and Kosovo. DU burns on impact immediately, releasing its pollutants into the atmosphere. Whilst this represents a grave threat to the surrounding environment, it is also widely accepted that DU may be linked to child lukemia cases in the gulf, and may be a cause of ‘gulf war syndrome’.

CAAT will be publishing an ‘Alternative Annual Report’ to accompany BAe SYSTEMS’ own report for this year’s annual general meeting. We will be revealing more information about BAe SYSTEMS and their most controversial arms deals.

Campaign Against The Arms Trade website . Veggies/Rainbow Diary