TakeNote

Arms sales don’t enhance security: they fuel conflict, support repression and make the world a more dangerous place. Work for the future: create more and better jobs and a safer world for all. SPEAK IS CALLING FOR: • The closure of the Defence and Security Organisation (UKTI DSO), and an end to all government support for DSEi. • A new agency to facilitate diversification of skills, technologies, and jobs from arms to civil sector, particularly to the renewables industry to help us move to a more sustainable basis for the economy. A campaign by SPEAK and our partners led to the closure in 2006 of the DSO's even larger and more powerful predecessor, DESO, so we believe change is possible!

DSEi is taking place in London on September 15- 18th 2015 and there is a whole week of action planned by a coalition of groups including SPEAK and CAAT to stop the arms fair the week before http://www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk Different groups are taking action throughout the week with different actions on different day. SPEAK’s Day of Action is September 14th and we have LOUD plans!
What are the DSEi Bells? We plan to form a massive tribal liturgical monastic bombastic samba band(!), the DSEi Bells, at the SPEAK Peace Festival to make a noise about DSEi! Bring bells, drums, shakers, pots and pans: Each bell represents something we want the arms traders to take note of!
More info on the Peace Festival and Day of Action:
http://www.speak.org.uk/peacefestival

SPEAK believes that this should not be the role of the government and this disproportionate level of support is both morally and economically unacceptable.
Our partner CAAT’s research* shows that a move towards offshore wind and marine energy could produce more jobs than the entire arms industry. These jobs would provide alternative employment for arms trade workers in similarly highly skilled sector. It has a similar breakdown across broad categories of skill levels and employs many of the same branches of engineering. These would be better jobs for the workers and for all of us: Jobs in an industry that is growing not declining, which create a safer, rather than a more dangerous world.