How the DSEI arms fair fuels wars and repression
With DSEI arms fair arriving in London next month, Dixe Wills examines its many costs and outlines the planned Quaker presence there.
Past events have showcased illegal leg irons, waist chains and electric batons as well as internationally banned cluster bombs.
Spend just ten seconds on the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) website and you'll get a sobering insight into the enormity of the biennial London arms fair. A banner rolls jauntily across the screen proudly proclaiming: "16,000+ exhibitors…45,000+ attendees…3,300+ global VIPs & delegations…460+ starred officers…90+ countries represented…discover the new tech zone…book a stand today". All the fun of the fair.
At DSEI, you can go shopping for aircraft, guns, tanks, ammunition, drones, chemical weapons and surveillance equipment. As London Mayor Sadiq Khan observed in 2019 while voicing his vehement opposition to the fair, "London is a global city, which is home to individuals who have fled conflict and suffered as a consequence of arms and weapons like those exhibited at DSEI."
Fanning the flames of conflict
We know that the vast sums spent on arms serve to fuel wars and repression around the globe. And DSEI has an ignoble history of welcoming with open arms representatives of authoritarian regimes, countries at war, and those designated by the UK government as 'human rights priority countries'.
Take Israel, for example. With a genocide currently taking place in Gaza, it might seem inconceivable that the nation carrying it out would be invited. However, Israel will be one of 11 countries at DSEI this year with its own 'pavilion'. As Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) points out, "This will be a huge opportunity for Israeli companies to market military equipment that is no longer just 'battle-tested' but now genocide tested."
Arms sales are fanning the flames of numerous conflicts around the world. Right now, wars or armed insurgencies are occurring in, among others, Ukraine, Sudan, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Myanmar/Burma, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Somalia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Niger, Iraq and Afghanistan, while tensions between India and Pakistan, and China and Taiwan threaten to boil over.
Fuelling climate breakdown
And let's not forget that there's another side of the coin to the violence that is part and parcel of such militarism. All that wasted money – annual global spending on the military reached a record US$2.7 trillion last year – could have been used instead to improve health and education, or to tackle inequality and the climate crisis. Talking of which, according to the Conflict and Environment Observatory, if the world's militaries were a nation state, it would have the planet's fourth largest carbon footprint, behind only China, the US and India.
The violence, destruction and harm generated by the arms trade is anathema to Quakers. Indeed, our peace testimony is not merely a central thread in Quaker belief but a call to action to live lives that promote peace and oppose war day by day.
Opposing the arms trade
Quaker Roots is a group set up to answer that call 'in response to the promptings of love and truth in our hearts'. A grassroots network of British Quakers, they have been witnessing at the ExCel Centre in east London – where DSEI is held – since 2019.
I had the privilege of joining them at the last DSEI in 2023. It was humbling to watch Quakers live out their peace testimony as they protested against the fair. Some took part in direct action too: blocking exhibitors' trucks from taking weaponry into the ExCel Centre – and were arrested for their troubles.
But that was then, and the arms industry today appears to have more customers than ever, feasting their eyes on that vaunted 'new tech' such as AI-controlled drones and directed-energy weapons.
So next month, DSEI provides an excellent opportunity to send a loving Quakerly message to DSEI's organisers, exhibitors and attendees that what is going on there is morally wrong. On the afternoon of Monday 8 September, there'll be a Quaker Roots Walk of Witness to expose major arms manufacturers hiding in plain sight at their London HQs. That evening we'll gather for an hour's silent candlelit vigil outside the ExCel Centre, organised by Quakers in Britain and Catholic peace organisation Pax Christi. Tuesday 9 September is No Faith in War day with a meeting for worship at noon. Then on Wednesday 10 September you can join Quaker Roots for what they're calling a 'Stop DSEI' hand in action.
DSEI's website makes the boast that it is "a pivotal event for the global defence industry". As Quakers, we can show them, and a fearful onlooking world, that another way is possible.
See the Quaker Roots events page for details of all these actions and more, and the Quaker Peace Hub for a round-up of creative ways you can protest wherever you live. For support to put your faith in action, please contact faithinaction@quaker.org.uk.
