Quakers hold peaceful worship outside arms fair profiting from war and genocide
Quakers worshipped peacefully outside the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair at London's ExCeL Centre yesterday, in protest at how the UK enables war profiteers.
As people of faith stood in silent protest, arms companies inside continued to strike deals that fuel war, repression, and genocide around the world.
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That truth is clear: making money from killing people is obscene
- Oliver Robertson
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The DSEI fair is the largest arms fair in the UK, drawing over 1,600 weapons manufacturers and military buyers, including delegations from authoritarian regimes and conflict zones.
Despite the UK government's ban on Israeli officials attending this year's event, Israeli arms companies - many directly linked to the Gaza genocide - were still welcomed.
The blockade occurred during No Faith in War Day, a gathering of people from multiple faiths and moral traditions united in opposition to the UK's role in enabling war profiteering.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan reiterated his opposition to DSEI earlier this year.
He has previous highlighted that London is home to thousands of refugees who have fled the very kinds of weapons now being promoted at the fair.
Past DSEI events have included illegal leg irons, waist chains, and electric batons, as well as displays of internationally banned cluster munitions.
These violations of international law have repeatedly gone unpunished.
On the eve of the arms fair, Quakers joined the Merchants of Death Walk of Witness past the headquarters of two major arms manufacturers, both linked to weapons used in the ongoing bombardment of Gaza, L3 Harris and Northrup Grumman.
And on Wednesday Quakers visited the headquarters of Clarion Events who organise the arms fair, delivering a demand that they drop the DSEI event.
Oliver Robertson, Head of Witness and Worship for Quakers in Britain, said: “As Quakers, we worship in silence to listen for the promptings of love and truth in our hearts.
“That truth is clear: making money from killing people is obscene. Weapons sold here are destroying lives in Gaza and around the world. The real crime is happening inside the arms fair, not outside it."
Quakers in Britain call for an immediate end to the arms trade and for the UK to stop enabling war profiteers.