TRADE UNIONISTS’ DECLARATION: Arms dealers are not welcome in our city and our public services - time to shut down DSEI
JOIN THE WORKERS’ MOBILISATION.
7 SEPTEMBER. 12-2PM. CUNDY PARK E13 8RY.
As trade unionists from workplaces across London we are appalled that the DSEI arms fair is set to take place 9-12 September at ExCel in Newham. In 2023, DSEI exhibited 48 domestic Israeli arms companies. Israel is confirmed to have a country pavillion this September despite the ICJ finding that Israel is committing a plausible genocide in Gaza. The products that DSEI's exhibitors are selling have been used to destroy countless lives and wreck homes, schools and hospitals from Yemen to Sudan and Gaza.
At a time when national and local government budgets are being cut and disability benefits are under threat, we oppose diverting funding for our vital public services into the pockets of arms dealers. We pledge to campaign in our unions and workplaces to end military tech company Palantir's contract with the NHS and the subsidies which flow to companies such as BAE Systems from government funded procurement deals and public university research funding for weapons manufacturing. Arms companies exhibited at DSEI use our schools and colleges as recruitment grounds, and sponsor our art and cultural institutions to gain social legitimacy.
The inclusion of an Israeli delegation of arms manufacturers and military officials in DSEI after more than 60,000 Palestinians have been murdered in a live-streamed genocide underlines the real priorities of the military industry: shareholder’s profits always come first. That's why we are saying it is time to Stop the Arms Fair and Shut DSEI Down. Arms manufacturers and military companies producing technologies used in the genocide in Gaza and responsible for driving conflict abroad are not welcome in our city or in our public services!
We support the protests and mobilisations against DSEI by Stop the Arms Fair, Campaign Against Arms Trade, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and others, and urge as many trade unionists and activists as possible to join them between 1-12 September.
We are calling for a workers’ mobilisation outside of the ExCel Centre on Sunday 7 September to protest the delivery of weapons to the arms fair. This will be used to create a network of trade unionists opposing the arms fair and the arms trade more broadly - join us for a workshop led by organisers from Disarm Education, University and College Workers for Palestine with health workers and local government workers followed by protest action and planning for the week of resistance to the arms fair. We’re looking for people to get involved who want to help build a network across London workplaces against the arms companies – if you aren’t in a workplace yourself but can help us organise you’re very welcome to join in too.
Add your name to the pledge here.
Sign up to get involved in organising here.
BACKGROUND: WHO’S COMING TO DSEI 2025 AND WHY IT MATTERS
Fully endorsed by the UK Government, Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) is one of the world’s largest arms fairs. DSEI's exhibitors include numerous companies which supply the Israeli army and bear direct responsiblity for the genocide in Gaza including:
BAE Systems - manufacturer of 15% of every F-35 fighter jet used by Israel to obliterate civil infrastructure including hospitals, schools, universities, water treatment plants and 90 percent of homes in Gaza.
General Dynamics - manufacturer of the MK-84 bombs dropped by Israel's air force. The MK-84 forms a crater 15m wide by 11m deep and releases 450 kg of steel fragments on detonation which are lethal up to 360m away.
Palantir - provider of military software platforms used by the Israeli military in Gaza for targeting. Israel’s AI weapons systems include one called ‘Where’s Daddy’ which unleashes missile strikes when ‘targets’ are most likely to be at home with their families.
Elbit - manufacturer of 80 percent of Israel's drone fleet
Raytheon - manufacturer of 'Hellfire' missiles used extensively by the Israeli military in Gaza.
They are joined by major digital infrastructure companies such as AWS and Google Cloud which are sponsors of DSEI this year. Israel's AI-enabled mass assassination factory would not work without the cloud computing infrastructure provided by AWS and Google.
The Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions has renewed their calls to trade unions and working people around the world to escalate pressure on governments to “end arms deals and military cooperation with the occupation.” Showing unwavering solidarity to the people of Palestine is crucial in this moment of escalating genocide.
In 2023, DSEI exhibited 48 Israeli Arms companies, including Elbit Systems, which provides 80% of drones used in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. However, the UK Governments’s invitation of Israel to DSEI is only a continuation of its active participation in this genocide through continued trade in F-35 parts, weapons exports and surveillance flights over Gaza. According to Lockheed Martin, more than 15% of every F-35 fighter jet is produced in the UK.
The genocide in Gaza is only one example of the destruction caused by the arms trade. The global arms trade, brokered by events like DSEI, continues to supply weapons to regimes involved in mass atrocities globally. Many of these companies boast of the profits they are raking in from booming sales not just to Israel, but to dictatorships around the world. We have seen this in Yemen where 112,000 people have been killed since 2015 by the Saudi-led coalition and presently in Sudan where a brutal civil war has been armed by an obscure and unaccountable global arms flow. The UK government’s lack of transparency on export controls, coupled with its cosy relationship with Gulf states like the UAE and Saudi Arabia underscores how British complicity goes beyond Palestine. As long as arms fairs like DSEI continue to treat repression as a market opportunity, the cycle of violence will persist — from Gaza to Khartoum.
The big military contractors at DSEI like BAE Systems receive massive subsidies from the British government, even though the people who benefit from their surging stocks are their shareholders. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) which promotes DSEI has funnelled billions of pounds of public money into wasteful contracts such as the F-35 programme. The National Audit Office estimates that £11bn has been spent to date but this will balloon to £71bn by the end of the programme. Keir Starmer's government has pledged to increase military spending and wants to arm the next round of F-35s purchased by Britain with weapons of mass destruction: 'tactical' nuclear weapons which can destroy a whole city. This increase in government spending on arms is being paid for through savage cuts to our public spending, including to benefits which millions of disabled people rely on.
Meanwhile, military companies like Palantir have been given multi-million pound contracts to run key NHS services. Palantir's Federated Data Platform (FDP) runs the same software (Foundry) that underpins the Israeli government's AI targeting and weapons systems. NHS budgets paying for Palantir's software are therefore helping Palantir provide services to an army engaged in genocide, and there is a real possibility that NHS users of Foundry are inadvertently helping 'improve' a product which is killing Palestinian health workers and their patients.
The arms trade is part of a global architecture of militarism. NATO’s push to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 among its allies serves primarily to benefit arms company CEOs and shareholders. We are already witnessing this expansion of militarism: the genocide in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, and US–Western-led discourse around the threat of China have all contributed to skyrocketing revenues from arms sales and military services. In 2023, the combined revenue of the 100 largest arms companies reached $632 billion, a real-terms increase of 4.2% compared to 2022. As workers, we must resist this ever-expanding militarism and show our solidarity with those harmed by the arms trade everywhere.
WHAT YOU CAN DO AND HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Join a workers’ mobilisation outside of the ExCel Centre on Sunday 7 September to protest the delivery of weapons to the arms fair. This will be used to create a network of trade unionists opposing the arms fair and the arms trade more broadly - join us for a workshop led by organisers from Disarm Education, University and College Workers for Palestine with health workers and local government workers followed by protest action and planning for the week of resistance to the arms fair. We’re looking for people to get involved who want to help build a network across London workplaces against the arms companies – if you aren’t in a workplace yourself but can help us organise you’re very welcome to join in too.
Support of CAAT’s Shut Down DSEI protest on 9 September
Join Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s demo on 10 September at DSEI – no arms for genocide
Organise a leafleting session in your own workplace to tell people about the actions at DSEI and
organise a symbolic walkout at lunchtime with ‘Shut down DSEI’ signs.
Trade unionists can send statements of solidarity to mail@disarmeducation.org to be read out
at the arms fair protests.
Distribute leaflets in community groups encouraging action against DSEI.
Sign and share CAAT’s petition to Kick Israel out of DSEI