Campaigners oppose Welsh Government’s participation in ‘arms fair’

Martin Shipton

A coalition of anti-war, human rights, climate, faith, Welsh independence and student groups is gearing up to protest what campaigners have branded the “Welsh Government Arms Fair”.

The protest will rally outside ICC Wales in Newport at 8am on Thursday, September 3, as the Defence Security Resilience Cymru summit gets under way.

Co-sponsored by Business in Focus, the Welsh Government, ADS Group and General Dynamics Land Systems, the summit is billed as a networking event to strengthen Wales’s role in Britain’s defence sector.

Opponents are demanding the Welsh Government withdraw and support its cancellation, citing the involvement of major arms companies supplying Israel and Saudi Arabia including General Dynamics and BAE Systems.

Adam Johannes, from Cardiff Stop the War Coalition, said the protest was about more than opposing the summit. Campaigners were also challenging the economic thinking behind it.

“What is particularly troubling is the idea that a Plaid Cymru Welsh Government should see arms manufacturers as a route to economic regeneration. After decades of underinvestment and an economy that has struggled to provide enough secure, well-paid work, is this really the best they can offer?

“Should Wales really tie its economic future to an industry that profits from permanent war, soaring military spending and the relentless arms sales around the world? Wales deserves better than an economic strategy that waits for the next defence contract to come along.

“But saying no is only part of our argument. We want to make the case for a green economy that improves people’s lives. This is not about fewer manufacturing jobs. It is about creating more secure, well-paid work by investing in the things Wales needs most.

“Wales has brilliant engineers, technicians and skilled workers capable of making sophisticated things. Imagine what we could achieve if that ingenuity was directed towards socially useful production, building the things Wales needs rather than the weapons other countries want.”

“We should be using Welsh talent to build Wales’s future, not waiting for someone else’s war economy to decide what that future looks like.

Public investement

A new CND Cymru report, Sustainable Proposal for Wales: Beyond the War Economy, calls for public investment to be redirected towards tackling the climate emergency and building resilient communities.

CND Cymru National Secretary Dylan Lewis-Rowlands said the Welsh Government had a chance to break with what he called the “war consensus” of the past 40 years.

“Militarism is damaging to communities, people, and our economy. Why build plane turbines and not wind or tidal turbines? Why spend millions and billions giving preferential treatment to nuclear and arms companies when you could be investing in socially valuable work, like health, education, care, housing and renewable energy?

“War spending diverts capital and opportunity away from the things that ultimately keep us safe: clean water, good food, safe housing and sustainable energy production. We must have an economy and politics that sustains peace, not manufactures war.”

Cymdeithas y Cymod – the Fellowship of Reconciliation – has also opposed the event, criticising the wider “militarisation of society and economy” under Westminster’s rearmament programme.

It called instead for Wales to put military skills and industrial capacity to peaceful use: “Far better and more in tune with Cymru would be to utilise the skills of arms industry workers in humanitarian industries.”

Farnborough Air Show

Last week Cardiff Stop The War Coalition criticised Enterprise Connectivity and Energy Cabinet Minister Adam Price for attending the Farnborough Air Show, where three Israeli weapons companies were showcasing their wares.

Responding to the criticism, a spokesperson for the Welsh Government said: “We will continue to engage with the aerospace, defence, security, and national resilience sectors to support the thousands of high-tech, well-paid jobs in Wales, while promoting respect for human rights and international law. An ethical defence framework is being developed, informed by discussions with Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive counterparts, and will guide future engagement with the sector.”

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