People of faith joined others to resist the arms trade this September, and opportunities to resist continue.
The devastating impact of the arms trade on human lives can be seen every day in the news of Gaza and Ukraine, and continues out of the spotlight in more than 110 armed conflicts around the world.
Against this backdrop, arms dealers from the UK and around the world gathered for the DSEI arms fair in East London, to make the deals that continue to fuel these conflicts. Protesters used a range on non-violent tactics to resist, and ensure this could not be seen as ‘business as usual’.
This followed the heartening news that here in the West Midlands, the SDSC-UK arms fair will not happen in 2025, with local opposition causing the arms fair to leave Telford. With plans for SDSC to move to the NEC in Birmingham in 2026, the movement to keep arms out of our region continues to build.
Meanwhile, the US is moving nuclear weapons onto UK soil at Lakenheath, Suffolk. We joined CND at a national demonstration on Saturday 20th Sept, to say No to Trump’s Nukes.
DSEI: from pilgrimage to blockade
One of the largest arms fairs in the world, ‘Defence & Security Equipment International’ featured exhibitors selling weapons from machine guns to tanks. Organisers attempt to portray the event as just another trade fair happening at East London’s Excel centre. However, activists helped speak truth to power, making delegates face the reality of this deadly trade, and planting seeds that there is another way.
Peace Hub supported a Peace Pilgrimage which walked from Oxford, arriving at the Excel for a vigil on the eve of the arms fair on 8th September. You can listen back to the Peace Pilgrimage Podcast for reflections on this intentional journey, building peaceful community, whilst challenging the violent structures of the arms trade.
On the opening day of the fair, the main entrance was successfully blockaded, causing delegates to walk around to a back entrance. Faith groups held grounded witness, making delegates face the truth that ‘war starts here’, while other activists took a more noisy approach. Upholding each other in different forms of action made a powerful impact. You can get a sense of the day in the video below from Novara Media.
SDSC: an important win on the road to peace
Peace Hub has been joining others at Telford International Centre to engage people attending events there, to raise awareness that the SDSC arms fair was taking place at the same venue. We are delighted that the venue has heeded the call of the Stop SDSC coalition to host more positive events like LEGO, pantomimes and Comic Con, and not to host the arms fair. This disruption means that there will be no Specialist Defence and Security Convention (SDSC-UK) in 2025.
However, this win is not the end of the story, as SDSC plans to coem to the NEC in Birmingham in February 2026. We will be supporting further actions at other future events: get in touch with Stop SDSC to find out more.
We take heart that an arms fair that had planned to use the NEC in 2019 was dropped by the venue due to the concerns of other event organisers about planned protests. The gears of chance move slowly, but each step towards peace is an important one – an we continue to build peaceful community as we go.
Lakenheath: No to Nukes and International Peace Camp
Our friends at CND cite evidence that US nuclear weapons have arrived in Britain – at the Lakenheath NATO base in Suffolk. As part of the actions to condemn Trump’s state visit, we joined CND at Lakenheath to say loud and clear that neither his hateful rhetoric nor his nuclear bombs are welcome here!
We heard about local campaigns to build resistance to nuclear weapons being based here, shared poetry and reflections, and ties postcards with messages of peace to the fence.
Looking further ahead, a Peace Camp will take place at Lakenheath 1st – 6th April 2026 – see Lakenheath Alliance for Peace for more information.