Rhyming Guide to the Arms Fair | by Potent Whisper DSEI – one of the world’s largest arms fairs – returned to London in September 2023 now due to make its next return in 2025!
** Please put Monday 1st to Thursday 11th 2025 in your calendar.
https://stopthearmsfair.org.uk/join-in/
** Provisional SPEAK meet up Saturday 6th September 2025 2pm someone where near DSEi more details TBC
Get ready to join in the resistance to DSEI. Every two years, the global arms trade comes to London. DSEI, one of the world’s largest arms fairs, returns to London’s Docklands this September. This is where those who profit from war, repression and injustice do business. This is where we can stop them. 1,700+ arms companies plan to set up shop, marketing their lethal wares to an expected 36,000+ attendees from around the world. Each day of the week of action there will be talks, music, art, workshops, actions and more. Almost nothing is organised centrally by STAF, but the resistance is strong because our network is strong. Local groups put on events throughout the week of action both online and at the gates of the arms fair – check out Stop The Arms Fair Coalition events page for details! There will be food, welfare support and a space to pop your tent – as well as actions that you can take locally or from home – so get involved and join the week of action to #StopDSEI In the past we have done many SPEAK Days of Action outside the DSEi Arms Fair including in 2015 and in 2019, 2021 and in 2023 lots of long term friends of SPEAK were active there we are hoping to feature a blog from those involved soon!
2015 Action 2021 DSEi Action.
SPEAK member and Vicar Matthew Harbbage talks about how we must resist the Arms on BBC News 2021 and serious respect to the long-term SPEAKies blockading the entrance in this footage:
Many other Partner Groups including Put Down The Sword and No Faith in War have done lots of radical work to stop DSEi. We have also taken part in the past by performing at Art Against The Arms Fair so look out for and stay tuned for all these events!! Even in years between the Arms Fair, there are preparation actions happening so stay tuned!
DSEI Keeps returning to London in September Every 2 Years (The last one is 2023 next predicted 2025).put Monday 1st to Thurs 11th 2025 in your calendar.
In 2023, DSEI brought together 1,600 exhibitors and 45,000 delegates from over 100 countries to network and make deals. This year, exhibitors will be selling everything from guns and bombs to fighter jets and warships, with live action demos promised to take place in the Royal Victoria Dock. They will be joined by companies selling surveillance equipment, drones, digital technology and other tools of repression to police and state agencies, as Counter Terror Expo takes place alongside DSEI.
DSEI is an important event for the UK state, which heavily subsidises and promotes the arms industry and helps organise the arms fair. The guest list includes delegates from countries involved in military conflicts and at war, and on the government’s own list of human rights abusers.
You can find out more on Campaign Against Arms Trade’s webpage dedicated to resisting DSEI
Can we actually stop the arms fair?
Shutting down a multi-million pound arms fair protected by security fences and police lines, with a huge amount at stake for the organisers and the UK state might sound like a pretty big ask. But it has been done before.
The Australian International Defence Equipment Exhibition was shut down for good by protests in 1991. APDSE was intended to be the first arms fair held in Australia for 17 years, but didn’t go ahead, in the words of the Acting Premier Kevin Foley, because of concerns about “the scale of the planned protests”, “the cost of security” and, without any hint of irony, supposed “possible threats of violence”. Then, in 2008, the Asia-Pacific Defence and Security Exhibition (APDSE) was cancelled due to public opposition.
More recently and closer to home, the Defence, Procurement, Research, Technology and Exportability (DRPTE) arms fair was chased out of Cardiff then Birmingham in 2019, after having been driven from Bristol in 2014. Glasgow sank Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) in 2018, with the local council vowing never to host arms fairs in the city again.
Where is the ExCeL centre?
The ExCeL centre is in London’s docklands.
Tube: nearby stations include Royal Victoria, Custom House, and Prince Regent on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). On the Jubilee line and DLR, slightly further away, is Canning Town.
Car: Follow signs for Royal Docks, City Airport and ExCeL (postcode E16 1XL).
If you’re from outside London: the TFL website explains how to get around London.
For more transport information, see ExCeL’s website. They also have an interactive map so you can get a sense of what it looks like inside.
Stop DSEI 2019: No Faith in War- Campaign Against Arms Trade Sep 4, 2019