I made a poster to promote @ArtTheArmsFair's 'Bomb Boutique' exhibition which opens in London next week, and to draw attention to the world's biggest arms fair, DSEI, which is currently attempting to arrive at London's ExCel Centre but is being heroically resisted by StopTheArmsFair and other groups.
There's a stomach-turning irony that the building that was used to house the NHS Nightingale Hospital is currently being turned into a showroom for machines that kill people.
If you have the time please consider getting involved with the blockade and protest of DSEI. Stop The Arms Fair are there every day in the run up to the DSEI opening (and during) with daily events. More details at www.stopthearmsfair.org.uk/join-in/
Arms fairs in Liverpool and Glasgow have both been cancelled due to public pressure and activists campaigns forcing local authorities to refuse to host the arms fairs on public property. While the Mayor of London has condemned the London Arms Fair (in honestly quite surprising and welcome terms) DSEI continues as they are not reliant on council premises for their venue. They are however reliant on the ExCel Centre. And the ExCel centre has only two roads to get all their weapons and exhibits through. If activists can block those roads for long enough then it is possible to shut down the arms fair. Previous campaigns (the arms fair returns every two years) have seriously disrupted and came close to wrecking the event for arms dealers.
That is part of what I think makes the #StopDSEI campaign so exciting, that it is actually possible to stop the world's biggest arms sale by standing in the road. See what events Stop the Arms Fair are up today here, and updates on current actions on their twitter here.
I also have some work in the Art the Arms Fair show alongside some amazing artists. It runs from 11th-17th Sept at 50 Brook Street, London, W1K 5DR
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