[DEBATE] : (Fwd) More signs of the times: guns and activists

[Patrick Bond]

Merchants of Death Not Welcome in Cape Town
An Umzabalazo we Jubilee and Ceasefire Statement on AAD 2006
8th of Sept. 2006

At the Air Force Base Ysterplaat, from the 20th to the 24th of September 
2006, arms and aerospace companies from across the world will man stalls 
in a bazaar of weaponry, exhibiting their wares in plain daylight. This 
arms bazaar is called, quite deceptively, "Africa Aerospace & Defence – 
AAD 2006".

These arms companies will exhibit the latest and greatest in machinery 
designed for only one purpose, the killing of human beings. Husbands, 
fathers, son, daughter and infants will all die because of this 
machinery. This is the harsh truth behind arms expos; they supply arms 
for countries to go to war with other countries and against their own 
citizens.

Often, as was in the case of South Africa's own Arms Deal, these weapons 
are bought on credit, essentially diverting the country's future 
resources away from much needed social investments like healthcare and 
education. Not only do innocent civilians die from missiles, they also 
die because funds were diverted from clean water to arms purchases.

The irony behind this expo of death is that South Africa should know 
better: Throughout the country's violent history, some of the very same 
companies exhibiting at AAD 2006 sold military equipment to the 
Apartheid State, which was used in the repression of South Africa's 
black majority. For example, Dr. Beyers Naudé complained, in a 
Daimler-Benz shareholder meeting (June 1989, Berlin), that:

"But Daimler-Benz does just not help us to prevent this violence. The 
police shoot demonstrators, they even shoot mourners at funerals, as 
happened, for example, in Langa. They shoot from cars driven by 
Daimler-Benz engines. How am I supposed to understand your statement 
that you are ready to help prevent the situation to turn into violence? 
You will only succeed in doing so, if you cease supporting the military."

DaimlerChrysler has yet to apologise for supporting and prolonging 
Apartheid, and will be exhibiting at AAD 2006.

Today, Mercedes-Benz (a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler) is still making 
engines for armoured personnel carriers (APCs). Only now, those engines 
will be installed in APCs built in South Africa for export to conflict 
zones throughout Africa and the rest of the world. The Gila APC, with a 
Mercedes-Benz engine, will be displayed at AAD 2006 in a bid to find 
buyers. The Gila APC, with includes machine-guns and/or cannons, is 
manufactured by Ivema, a South African, black-empowerment company. South 
Africans should know better than to be willing participants in the 
global arms trade.

The U.S. military budget request by the Bush Administration for Fiscal 
Year 2006 was $441.6 billion while 2005 was $420.7 billion. This 
includes the Defence Department budget, funding for the Department of 
Energy (which includes nuclear weapons) and "other" which the source 
does not define. It does not include other items such as money for the 
Afghan and Iraq wars.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Yearbook 2006 
reports that military expenditure reached $1118 billion (current dollars 
in June 2006) - a 34% rise in the ten years since 1996. This increase 
has been accompanied by a 15% rise in the combined arms sales of the 100 
largest arms-producing companies. The United States was responsible for 
80% of the increase in 2005 (48% of the total) and its military 
expenditure accounts for almost half of the world total. The United 
Kingdom, France, Japan and China follow far behind with 4-5% each.

Although China and India, the world's two emerging economic powers, are 
spending only a fraction of what the USA is spending, the Institute 
says, they are demonstrating a sustained increase in their military 
expenditure and are contributing to the growth in military spending. 
Sadly 50% of the worlds hungry live in India and 35% of its population – 
350 million – is considered food insecure. The arms race between 
Pakistan and India is obviously a contributing factor to its enormous 
defence spending but it is also a willing buyer and if the US continues 
to court it as a strategic partner, it will be encouraged to spend more 
on arms - preferably from US companies.

Umzabalazo we Jubilee, Ceasefire and their allies decry this invasion of 
merchants of death, parasites would wish to make fortunes off the 
slaughter of other human beings. Umzabalazo we Jubilee and Ceasefire 
call upon the Government of South Africa and the City of Cape Town to 
cancel AAD 2006 and avoid an impending orgy of death for debt.

For more information, please contact:

Makoma Lekalakala
Ceasefire National Executive Member
Umzabalazo we Jubilee Coordinator
Cell: +27 82 682 9177

***

SA police shoot unionist 4 times

September 7, 2006, 15 hours, 44 minutes and 28 seconds ago. By Mahap Msiza

A senior official of a South African trade union is reportedly in 
hospital after being shot by the country's police four times, at close 
range.

Oupa Mbhele, an official of the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union 
(Satawu), was wounded in his knees and lower legs and underwent surgery 
at the Garden City Clinic, where he is reportedly in a serious condition.

Mbhele was possibly shot with rubber bullets - "at close range" in 
Johannesburg on Tuesday during a protest action in Johannesburg.

Satawu has accused the police of trying to murder its Gauteng official.

The union - which is an affiliate of the labour federation the Congress 
of South African Trade Unions - has opened a case of attempted murder 
against the SA Police Service.

The union said in a statement on Thursday that the name and identity of 
the offending officer "is known to Satawu" and that it will be following 
the matter closely.

The incident follows a report released recently by the country's Freedom 
of Expression Institute in South Africa on the conduct of the country's 
law enforcement agencies which suggests that these agencies are being 
used to silence organisations that are perceived to be anti-government.

The Freedom of Expression Institute's (FXI's) report found that 
“legislation to regulate marches and protests is being misused by the 
authorities to isolate and target groups opposed to the government's 
macro-economic strategy".

The report noted "a disturbing pattern where organisations that 
stridently oppose the government's macro-economic strategy and denounce 
the continued impoverishment of the masses are finding themselves 
isolated and targeted by local municipalities and [the government's] law 
enforcement machinery".

South Africa's largest labour federation, the Congress of South African 
Trade Unions (Cosatu) - commenting on the report - said that the FXI 
report was in line with its appeal to parliament to intervene in the 
controversy over the recent banning of a number of protest marches.

The FXI said in many instances, the marches are deemed to be illegal 
because local authorities, in contravention of the Regulation of 
Gatherings Act, have refused to issue permits for them, and that though 
the Act holds the notion of a demonstration as a right and not as being 
contingent on the approval of the state, this right is often not 
respected by local authorities,” it said.

According to Cosatu, the report reinforces the concern expressed by its 
central executive committee in May at “the combination of many processes 
to marginalise any opposition”.