From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Arms bazaar: "Peacekeeping 93"
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 09:15:10 GMT

The ACTivist Volume 9 #1, January 1993.

The ACTivist is published monthly by the ACT for Disarmament
Coalition, 736 Bathurst St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2R4, phone
416-531-6154, fax 416-531-5850, e-mail web:act. Hard copy
subscriptions are available with a donation of $10 or more to ACT for
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/** gen.newsletter: 129.5 **/
** Written 11:42 pm  Jan  9, 1993 by web:act in cdp:gen.newsletter **
ARMX 93: NEW NAMES FOR KILLING

As more details become available about 1993's version of the ARMX 
arms sales fair -- now billing itself as 'Peacekeeping 93' -- it is 
increasingly clear that the line between peacekeeping and outright 
war is, at least in the minds of the Canadian military industry, very 
thinly drawn.

This is evident first of all from the material sent by ARMX organizers 
Baxter Publishing to potential exhibitors, stating that future 
'peacekeeping' missions can be "expected to reflect the more 
interventionist temper of the international community, accepting the 
risk of having to use force to achieve the objectives of the mission's 
mandate. Peacekeeping forces involved in these will have to be more 
heavily equipped, to fight if necessary, and may include air and naval
 combat missions as well."

This, in fact, sounds very much like conventional warfare; a 
suspicion greatly reinforced by a look at Baxter's list of companies 
interested in exhibiting at 'Peacekeeping 93.' The line-up is 
remarkably similar to that of ARMX 89, including ten of Canada's
 top military contractors -- such notorious merchants of death as 
Spar Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney Canada. In fact, retired 
Brig.-Gen. Al Geddry, the organizer of the show, admitted that all 
previous Canadian exhibitors had been invited to return.

Ken Epps of Project Ploughshares notes that some companies on 
the list manufacture only one product, which would be difficult to 
include under any definition of 'peacekeeping' -- Oerlikon Aerospace, 
for instance, which specializes in air defence anti-tank weapons.

We can wonder whether companies like CAE Electronics, General 
Motors and McDonnell Douglas will refrain from exhibiting 
merchandise which has mostly aggressive uses, or whether Pratt & 
Whitney (notorious for selling helicopter engines to every single 
military dictatorship outside the Warsaw Pact) will take steps to 
ensure that their hardware is used only in peacekeeping missions.

Indeed, it is valid to question the sort of 'peacekeeping' that 
requires the purchase of large quantities of killing equipment -- rifles, 
tanks, helicopter gunships, and so on -- and which apparently requires 
the involvement of no civilian products or skills whatsoever.

The list of foreign exhibitors at 'Peacekeeping 93' is also interesting. 
It is true that a few countries have been refused participation -- 
ex-Yugoslavia (apparently still considered by ARMX organizers to 
be one country), Libya, South Africa, Israel, Iraq, Haiti, Spain, Iran 
and Jordan -- the acceptable enemies of the moment, though the 
barring of Israel is a surprise, and the barring of Spain is pretty 
much inexplicable. This has been compensated for, however, by 
inviting exhibitors from the formerly excluded Warsaw Pact countries. 
The list of former Warsaw Pact exhibitors includes Romtechnica State
 Establishment of Romania -- not a country noted for its respect for 
human rights. Five companies may exhibit from Russia (currently at 
war in border areas). Pakistan, India and Singapore may exhibit also.

No information is available as to who has been invited to view 
'Peacekeeping 93' -- previously, ARMX visitors have included 
government delegations from Indonesia, Chile and El Salvador, among 
others. It seems that all of them will be welcome to come back for a 
look at 'Peacekeeping 93', since they are not on the list of the nine 
banned countries.

It is more and more clear that 'peacekeeping' -- once a 
sincerely-meant idea, even if one questions the concept of keeping 
peace with guns -- is becoming nothing more than a cover for 
military interventions around the world. And 'Peacekeeping 93' is 
a component in this cover-up. It must not be allowed to go 
unchallenged.

Several groups are planning protests against 'Peacekeeping 93'. 
The Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade hopes to stage a rally 
and/or other events, while the Alliance for Non-Violent Action is 
planning to organize a civil disobedience campaign. Contact:

COAT, 489 Metcalfe St., Ottawa, Ont K1S 3N7, (613) 231-3076

ANVA, (416) 651-5930

** End of text from cdp:gen.newsletter **