Conference at the Gates: Academics Against the Arms Fair

This September, arms dealers from around the world will congregate in London’s ExCeL Centre for the DSEi arms fair. As one of the world’s largest arms fairs, DSEi brings together over 1,500 arms companies and military delegations from over 100 countries. On display will be everything from crowd control equipment to machine guns, tanks, drones and even battleships. It is a crucial event in the business of the international arms trade, and the deals done here play a major role in reinforcing Western militarism, fuelling conflict, repressing dissent and strengthening authoritarian regimes across the world. The Stop the Arms Fair coalition have called a week of action at the venue to disrupt the setup of the arms fair.

Building on the successes of Conference at the Gates 2015, on Friday 8th September there will be an open air conference-action at the gates of the ExCel centre. The aim is to build networks of solidarity in opposition to the arms trade, to explore forms of academic practice that don’t stop at the university walls, and to directly disrupt the setup of the arms fair. Blurring lines between theory and practice, academics from a range of disciplines will gather at this event to explore issues and ideas relating to contemporary militarism and global politics. In addition to papers and presentations, there will be interactive workshops, performances, and creative activities exploring themes including the militarisation of police and security forces, contemporary imperialism and colonialism, the gendered politics of conflict and militarism, the militarisation of education, militarism and popular culture, and the purpose of radical theory.

Further info can be found here: https://conferenceatthegates.wordpress.com/

And you can get in touch with the organisers via email at this address: conferenceatthegates@gmail.com

We hope to see you there!

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