Summary of my week

Monday 7 September - Arms trade conference, silent vigil, etc

I vigiled outside the arms trade conference at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre in Westminster for two-and-a-half hours, from 8am. I later visited Brian Haw, Barbara, Aqil and Maria, peace campaigners living in Parliament Square. I accompanied Maria to the Foreign Office to show solidarity with the Camp Ashraf hunger strikers. In the evening, I took part in the silent candlelit vigil outside the ExCel Centre, venue for DSEi, organised on the initiative of local churches and supported by East London Against the Arms Fair.

Tuesday 8 September - CAAT events, UKTI

Joined rally organised by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) near the ExCel centre, before jumping aboard one of the two red Routemaster buses bedecked with anti-arms fair slogans hired by CAAT. This took us on a tour into central London, with the buses dropping us off at UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) offices in Victoria Street, where they remained parked and visible to the public for a good hour or so. CAAT had organised an anti-arms trade fayre, complete with games like decommission the duck (arms company), pin the peace dove on the DSEi white elephant and guess the number of arms dealers (lollipops) in the building (tub).

I switched between staging a one-man die-in outside the front doors to UKTI and holding out my empty bowl for "food offers" (none were forthcoming). The fayre disbanded at 3pm, and I stayed until around 5pm, accompanied by Lesley and Erica. Afterwards, Lesley and I went to Parliament Square to chat to the peace campaigners and film-maker "da100th monkey" did a video interview of me talking about the fast (you can see it here: http://current.com/items/90905344_dan-viesnik-international-arms-trade-hunger-strike.htm ). I then went home to rest and have a cup of herbal tea (without sugar) to nurse my cold.

Wednesday 9 September (9.9.9) - Waking the establishment from its moral slumber

Spent the day touring around bastions of the establishment in Westminster:

UKTI - In place by 8.40 to meet and greet DSO staff arriving for work. One can only admire their unwavering dedication to securing dodgy deals with repressive regimes on behalf of the arms industry.

Wednesday was 9.9.09, so from 9 - 9.09am I observed 9 minutes' silence to remember the victims of the arms trade and war.

At 10am I headed off towards the Department for Business, where I stayed for half an hour accompanied by a pair of slightly edgy coppers.

I then proceeded to Parliament Square, where I stayed for 45 minutes. An ironic demo was taking place with Charlie from "Everything is Okay" films, Chris Coverdale from the "Make War History" campaign, Charity Sweet and others. I didn't entirely understand the message of the demo, but Charlie's mickey-taking through his megaphone of the coppers guarding Parliament and sheep society in general was amusing.

I proceeded to the Foreign Office, were I compensated for the lack of passing punters by shouting ironic chants like "Bombs not Food, Long live the arms fair!" up at the offices. Who knows, maybe Dave Miliband heard my utterings, or at least some of his underlings. I certainly noticed the odd head peering out of the window.

Next stop Downing Street. My SOCPA authorisation stipulated the following conditions:

"1. That your protest be sited in Richmond Terrace opposite Downing Street

"2. The area of the site associated with your demonstration be kept within the Barriered area which will be set up for your demonstration."

These conditions were imposed because the Superintendent believed that they were necessary to:

"prevent disruption to the life of the community...; prevent a security risk in the designated area...; and prevent a risk to the safety of members of the public (including any taking part in your demonstration..."

I decided that I would not obey these conditions because:

a) They had not been personally imposed by the Met Commissioner, as specified in the legislation

b) They seemed unreasonable, given that it was just me on my own carrying out a peaceful vigil.

c) I had given notification that my vigil would be outside Downing Steet, not opposite Downing Street. If I had wanted to be opposite Downing Street, I would have said so.

As I began my routine near the gates of Downing Street, one of the machine-gun armed coppers from the Diplomatic Protection Group approached me and said that I couldn't hold my demonstration there; that I had applied for permission for the demo (I immediately corrected him, stating that I had notified, not applied for permission; that there is no law requiring permission to be sought from the police; and that I would not ask the police for permission to demonstrate in a public place, which is every citizen's right in our wonderful democracy). Seeking to avoid the risk of arrest, I announced to the copper that since he objected to my static demo, I would instead make it a spontaneous procession, which is not covered by SOCPA or any other legislation to my knowledge. So I filed repeatedly to and fro past the hallowed gates of Babylon. Charlie (with megaphone) and Charity (with placard reading "bollocks") joined me in my procession for a short while, before leaving me to it for the rest of the hour.

Next came the Ministry of War (often euphemistically referred to as the "Ministry of Defence"). The police had kindly set up a nice little pen for me outside the main entrance, which I obligingly climbed into to avoid having one of their large machine guns being pointed in my face. It was lunchtime, so many staff were coming and going, giving me the opportunity to "engage" them for three-quarters-of-an-hour with more ironic slogans, such as "What do we want? More state-sponsored murder and terrorism! When do we want it? Right now!", "Warfare not Welfare" and "War is Peace, War is Freedom".

I proceeded to Buckingham Palace, where I freely mingled amongst the tourists with my placard, flowers and flyers, before eventually being challenged by some beefy-looking police officers asking lots of questions. I explained that I was there because Prince Andrew goes off on tax payer-funded junkets around the world to secure arms deals with dictators. The officers seemed broadly sympathetic, but directed me to go round the corner to the visitors' entrance because of some Royal Parks by-law. I reluctantly complied (eventually), but the alternative spot turned out to be a good one, with passing traffic, visitors to the palace and palace stewards all able to see me in shackles and my placards. Towards the end of the hour, four people from London CAAT came to join me having just completed their "Merchants of Death" tour of arms companies in the area. Ian M wanted to take pics of me / us back by the front gate, so we went back round, but the police officers re-appeared, explaining that Ian's camera looked too professional for him to be allowed to photograph someone with a placard in front of the gates to Her Maj's official residence. He seemed to be inventing the rules as he went along, but not desiring to be whisked away to the cop shop, we grudgingly retreated back to where photography would be tolerated. When one of us suggested that they might arrest the Duke of York for arranging arms deals with dictators, I thought I heard the officer utter under his breath, "maybe one day but not today". I was most surprised.

We continued back to UKTI at Kingsgate House and were joined on the way by Lyn, a self-proclaimed hippy from Glastonbury. She was miffed at having just missed the Merchants of Death tour, having arrived a few minutes late and not having anyone's contact number. But she seemed pleased to at least be able to help out with some leafleting outside UKTI for an hour and a half. We stayed until about 5.30, before leaving for the day.

Thursday 10 September - Merchants of Death part I

Vigiled and leafleted outside UKTI from 8.40 to 10am, then moved on to a building further down Victoria Street housing private military security firm Aegis and arms company Finmeccanica, as well as the Labour Party offices. I proceeded to Parliament Square, where a pair of police officers kept an eye on me from a distance. When it was time for me to leave to head to Downing Street, they accompanied me across the road and followed me down Whitehall. Since I had understood that my presence was not wanted outside Downing Street (boo hoo), I proceeded to walk down Whitehall with my placard and flyers. The police kept stopping me, telling me the demo I had notified for was to take place across the road, etc, and I in turn explained that I was not happy with the conditions placed on this demo, so was instead processing up and down Whitehall, which I continued to do. The police claimed that I was committing an offence, but could not tell me under which Act of Parliament, so I continued. After three-quarters-of-an-hour of this, I continued on to Trafalgar Square, outside the SOCPA zone, after which the police left me alone at last. In the course of the afternoon, I visited Matra BAE and the army recruitment office on the Strand, and the offices of arms giants Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and Boeing, finishing back at UKTI for the last hour or so, where I was accompanied by Hilary from Kingston Peace Council and Silvia from the World March for Peace and Nonviolence UK co-ordination team.

Silvia and I then proceeded to the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane, where the arms dealers' gala dinner was due to take place. We then found out that it had been moved to the Hilton down the road, so we went along there to find about 30 protesters from Disarm DSEi and other groups standing outside the main doors with banners, many of them wearing hoods and masks. Eventually the police decided they wanted everyone in a pen at the front and at first formed a cordon around the protesters. I and a few others left voluntarily, but most sat down and refused to move, and a number of people were arrested. I carried on vigiling and chanting round the front for a while.

Friday 11 September - Merchants of Death part II

Spent the day at UKTI, Rolls Royce, Qinetiq, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin. Ian P from London CAAT joined me at UKTI in the morning, and Silvia and Jon joined me there in the afternoon, dressed in white overalls and masks to symbolise "invisibles" - people with no voice -  and carrying a banner promoting the World March. Jon and I took it in turns to "die" outside the front doors. We left shortly after 4pm, when the arms fair was due to close and I had completed my five day (120-hour) fast. I broke the fast with Jon and Silvia at a nearby cafe with some black grapes, and later met Erica who treated me to some Indian food (not too spicy!). Job done - I'm sure they'll never have an arms fair again now!! We live in hope...

 Dan

Mission accomplished

I successfully completed my five-day fast and vigils on Friday, at 4pm; when the arms fair was due to close. Sorry I didn't manage to update this blog during the fast, as intended.

Not as many people joined me as I 'd hoped; in fact I was on my own most of the time, despite my various appeals for support. This was a disappointment and sometimes left me feeling isolated and vulnerable, particularly on those occasions when the police gave me grief. But I came through it anyway and did not deviate from my programme.

Special thanks must go to those who did come out to support me (not all of whom managed to find me): Silvia and Jon from the World March for Peace and Nonviolence UK co-ordination team, Hilary from Kingston Peace Council, Shaun, the two Ians and Cynthia from London CAAT, Lesley and Erica from Trident Ploughshares, Rhiannon from Croydon CND, Lyn from Glastonbury, Maggie, Roy, Charlie and Charity. Thanks also to everyone who supported me in other ways, such as by sending a donation or a message of support or publicising the action.

Many thanks to film-maker "da100thmonkey" for her short video interview of me talking about the fast, which you can view here:
http://current.com/items/90905344_dan-viesnik-international-arms-trade-hunger-strike.htm

A more detailed report and photos of the week will follow.

First day

My vigil outside the arms trade conference in Westminster on Monday morning went well. Many passers-by took flyers, including a number of stern-faced delegates. I stayed about two-and-a-half hours, then went off to say hello to the Disarm DSEi / Smash EDO noise demo folk round the other side, before paying a visit to Brian, Barbara and Maria in Parliament Square.

Brian and Barbara were apparently seriously assaulted by a racist member of the public last Thurday. In response, instead of the police arresting the offender, several police paramilitary thugs from the Territorial Support Group (responsible for much of the police brutality at the G20 protests in April - including the death of Ian Tomlinson - and previous Climate Camps, etc) assaulted and arrested Brian and Barbara. Barbara has been in touch with the Australian High Commission about this latest in a long line of police assaults and malicious arrests on the Parliament Square peace campaigners, and their lawyer has demanded the CCTV footage of the incident.

Maria is currently doing solidarity work with the Iranian Camp Ashraf campaigners who are opposed to the hardline Iranian regime, a dozen of whom have been on hunger strike for the past six weeks (Monday was day 42), and I went with her for a while to join the daily demo and delegation at the Foreign Office. Some weeks ago, Iranian refugees living in Camp Ashraf, Iraq who are opposed to the hardline Iranian regime were attacked by Iraqi forces (said to be under the influence of Iran), resulting in the death of a dozen residents, hundreds injured and 36 being taken hostage by Iraqi forces as US troops looked on and did nothing. This vicious attack, the plight of the hostages and the resulting hunger strikes and protests in Iraq, London and cities around the world has received minimal media coverage. It is worth noting that the Iraqi administration has been officially invited to this week's DSEi arms fair by the British government. Maybe they will buy more equipment to commit further atrocities against Camp Ashraf residents.

Maria has also recently been highlighting the atrocities commited against the Tamils by Sri Lankan forces and the people of Gaza by Israel, and also campaigning against a Western invasion of Iran as part of her Peace Strike campaign.

In the evening, I joined a moving hour-long silent candle-lit vigil outside the ExCel centre, attended by around 80 people, including many locals and people of different faith communities. This was preceeded by a procession from Royal Victoria DLR station. Many exhibitors could be seen wheeling suitcases past us - I offered them and security guards my flyers, and some of them accepted.

On Tuesday I will join the Campaign Against Arms Trade rally at ExCel from 11am, then travel with them (hopefully on one of their specially-decorated anti-arms trade Routemaster buses) to the UKTI DSO (I think it stands for Death Squad Organisation) offices in Victoria, where I plan to stay until at least 5pm.

As for the fast itself, I'm still feeling fine, apart from suffering a bit of a sniffle at the moment. People have been very supportive. Yesterday a journalist from BBC Russia phoned me up to ask if I could do an interview in Russian - she seemed a bit disappointed when I said I couldn't speak the language, but was nevertheless supportive of my action. I hope more people will join me in central London during the week.

Provisional schedule

Here are my current plans for Disgusting DSEi week. (Police authorisation has been obtained for all vigils within the SOCPA zone.) I will aim to update this blog each evening during DSEi week. Please phone for updates - 07506 234 091.

Sunday 6 September, 4pm - After a bowl of vegetable soup, I commenced my fast (water / zero calorie beverages only). I only consumed fruit and vegetables today. I decided to start my fast earlier than originally planned. I will still end it on Friday afternoon, after the arms dealers have left DSEi to go off and make a killing elsewhere. It will therefore be a 120-hour fast.

Monday 7 September, from 8am - Peaceful vigil outside pre-DSEi arms industry conference at Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster SW1P 3EE (very near Parliament Square). Please note that this vigil is separate from the Disarm DSEi noise demo which is taking place simultaneously at the same venue.

6.30pm - Silent candle-lit vigil for victims of the arms trade, next to Royal Victoria DLR station in east London (near ExCel, the venue for the arms fair).

Tuesday 8 September, 11am - First day of DSEi, the world's largest arms fair. I will join the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) rally outside ExCel in east London, the venue for the arms fair, then travel with them (hopefully on one of the special CAAT double-decker buses) to UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) offices in Victoria (Kingsgate House, 66-74 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6SW
Map: http://tinyurl.com/UKTImap ), arriving around 1pm. I will stay there the rest of the day (until at least 5pm). Further details of the CAAT events can be found here.

Wednesday 9 September (date 9.9.9) - Day dedicated to awakening the Establishment from its moral slumber.

8.30am - UKTI office, Victoria St. 9.09am - 5 minutes' silence for the victims of arms-trade-fuelled conflict around the world, aided and abetted by the British government.

10am - Set off for Department for Business, Innovation and Skills - Responsible for UKTI alongside the Foreign Office.

10.45am - Parliament Square

11.30am - Foreign and Commonwealth Office - Responsible for UKTI alongside the Department for Business.

12noon - Downing Street

1pm - Ministry of Defence - Previously sponsored DSEi and still sends military representatives. Helps keep the arms trade in business by invading other countries, murdering civilians, building nuclear weapons, etc.

2pm - Buckingham Palace - Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, is the UKTI Special Representative, so it's part of his remit to travel around the world securing lucrative arms deals with dictators and repressive regimes.

3pm (until at least 5pm) - Back at UKTI

Thursday 10 September - Merchants of Death part I - Visits to various arms corporations nearby. Start at UKTI at 8.30am, heading off on tour at 10am, back at UKTI around 2.30pm (until at least 5pm). The tour will also include Parliament Square (10.45-11.30) and Downing Street (11.30-12.15) .

Friday 11 September - Merchants of Death Part II and remembering the victims of terrorism (including state-instigated terrorism) and the "War on Terror" on the 8th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Start at UKTI at 8.30am, heading off on tour at 10am, back at UKTI in the afternoon. Possible visit to Westminster Cathedral piazza nearby.

Break fast after 4pm (when DSEi is due to close).

Hope you can join me at some point...

Dan

Current plans

From Tuesday 8 to Friday 11 September 2009, during the hours that the euphemistically-titled Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi) exhibition - the world's largest arms fair, owned by Clarion Events - is open for business for arms dealers from around the world at the ExCel Centre in east London, a Famine for the Victims of the Arms Trade will take place, based outside the Victoria offices of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the government department whose DSO ("Defence & Security Organisation") division exists purely to facilitate the trade in instruments of death and torture and provide official government support for the arms fair.

The UKTI office is located at Kingsgate House, 66-74 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6SW (past Westminster Cathedral on the right and just before you get to Westminster City Hall and Library on the left, coming from Victoria tube / train station (5 minutes' walk)).
Map: http://tinyurl.com/UKTImap

The 100-hour Famine (consuming only water / zero calorie beverages) will highlight the fact that while billions of men, women and children around the world starve and languish in poverty, their leaders are busy spending billions of pounds that could be used to feed, clothe and house them and provide clean water, sanitation, healthcare and social welfare on weapons to murder, maim, brutalize and torture them and invade or threaten occupied or disputed territories and other sovereign states.

Meanwhile, governments of major arms-producing countries like the UK and the USA are only too eager to support such activities as arms industry lobbyists exert unrelenting pressure on civil servants and politicians. Neither these governments nor certainly the corrupt and greedy arms companies themselves have any qualms about selling their wares to other goverments with a history of brutal repression and other serious human rights abuses, including Israel, Libya, Indonesia, Colombia, Morocco and Saudi Arabia; and the British government even extends official invitations to such countries to send official delegations to DSEi!

In addition to vigiling outside UKTI (and probably ExCel itself on Tuesday morning, as part of the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) rally), there are plans to visit nearby sites of relevance during the four days of the arms fair / famine. These are likely to include:

- Parliament Square

- Downing Street

- Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Whitehall

- Ministry of Defence, Whitehall

- Buckingham Palace - Prince Andrew, the Duke of York is the Special Representative for UKTI and so it is part of his remit to promote the arms industry.

- BAE Systems - Britain's largest arms manufacturer, tainted by numerous allegations of corruption. Wants to make the next generation of nuclear-armed Trident submarines at their Barrow-in-Furness dockyard in Cumbria.

- Lockheed Martin, 22 Carlisle Place, Victoria - California-based firm that is one of the world's principal arms manufacturers. Makes and maintains nuclear warheads (at Aldermaston and Burghfield Atomic Weapons Establishments in Berkshire) and ballistic missiles (in the U.S.) for Britain's submarine-based Trident nuclear weapons system.

- Rolls Royce, Buckingham Gate, Victoria - No longer making luxury cars but increasingly focusing on the lucrative military sector. Makes the nuclear fuel plates and propulsion systems for Trident and other nuclear submarines at their Raynesway factory in Derby. Also makes engines for military jets.

(Legally-required police notification will be given, where necessary.)

People of all faiths and none are warmly invited to come and participate in some or all of the fast, or to come along and show your support, and to help publicise the event within your networks.

May thanks,
Dan