Het volgende artikel vond ik op theCanary. Hierin aandacht voor de artiesten die het grootste evenement voor 2018 in Groot-Brittannië boycotten, daar een grote wapenfabrikant, BAE Systems deels geld steekt in dit evenement genaamd: The Great Exhibition of the North.
Met de wapens van BAE, de derde grootste wapenproducent ter wereld, werden en worden bijvoorbeeld grote aantallen mensen in Jemen vermoord……. Het zijn letterlijk de wapens in de hand van Saoedi-Arabië waarmee het een genocide uitvoert op de sjiieten in Jemen…..
Wapenfabrikant BAE Systems sponsort meer en meer evenementen en zelfs een school, dit in een poging wapenfabricage en export van wapens als de normaalste zaak van de wereld te laten zien……
Gelukkig verzetten velen zich tegen de wapenindustrie en deze foute sponsoring. Artiesten nemen zelfs het voortouw! Lees hoe men zich ook hier kan verzetten tegen verkeerde sponsoring (mede gericht aan het grootste deel van de Nederlandse artiesten, die lak hebben aan wat er gebeurd in de wereld):
‘England’s
biggest event in 2018’ faces backlash after artists pull out due to
links with the arms trade
MARCH
3RD, 2018ANDREA
NEEDHAMANALYSIS, UK
Organisers of
‘England’s biggest event in 2018’ are coming under attack for
accepting sponsorship from BAE Systems, the world’s third
largest weapons
manufacturer.
The Great
Exhibition of the North 2018 is
a “free, summer-long celebration of the North of England’s
pioneering spirit”, with venues around Newcastle and Gateshead. But
it has run into trouble over accepting sponsorship from
BAE Systems, who claim it is a ‘premier partner’ for the event.
“I
am disgusted”
Singer Nadine
Shah has
already announced that she is pulling out of the event:
I will no longer be playing the @getnorth2018 festival now that I have discovered BAE Systems are a sponsor. I am disgusted to hear of their involvement and refuse to be in any way associated with them. I encourage all artists involved to follow suit 
The Commoners
Choir from
Leeds has also pulled out, saying:
We
felt completely unhappy being represented alongside a corporation
with a track record in supplying weaponry to countries waging war on
their own people and boasting appalling human rights records.
And
folk group The
Unthanks have said they’re
“prepared to pull out if nothing changes”.
Petition
A
group of Northern artists has also set up a petition calling
on organisers to refuse sponsorship. Petition organisers told The
Canary:
We
are concerned that BAE Systems is using an arts festival to
masquerade as ‘family friendly’ while selling weapons to Saudi
Arabia, a regime bombing schools and hospitals in Yemen.
5,000
children killed or injured in Yemen
BAE
Systems has been widely criticised for selling weapons to Saudi
Arabia for use in their war against Yemen.
UNICEF reported in
December 2017 that more than 5,000 children have been killed or
injured in Yemen since the conflict began in March 2015. Cholera and
acute diarrhoea have affected over a
millionpeople
and over seven
million people
are at risk of famine.
There
is no
dispute that
Typhoon and Tornado aircraft sold by BAE Systems to Saudi Arabia have
been deployed on combat missions in the war on Yemen. Yet the
government continues to support these sales. Former defence secretary
Michael Fallon even said in
October 2017 that criticism of Saudi Arabia is “not helpful” when
the government is trying to encourage the regime to buy more weapons.
Normalising
weapons through PR
Sponsorship
of high-profile events is an important part of BAE Systems’ public
relations programme. Last year it sponsored the New
Scientist Live festival.
It sponsored a major bike
race,
a rowing
race,
and – perhaps somewhat ironically – a “walking
with the wounded” event.
The company even sponsors a secondary
school.
It’s all part of normalising the selling of weapons.
Trouble
ahead?
But
there may be trouble ahead for the Great Exhibition of the North if
they don’t say no to BAE Systems. Campaigners have already set up a
spoof Twitter account
complete with promotional videos showing attack aircraft blowing
various things up. Artists are pulling out. A petition is gathering
momentum. A PR coup for BAE Systems may turn out to be a PR disaster
for the Great Exhibition of the North.
Get
involved!
– Sign the
petition.
– Tweet the
organisers.
– Support Campaign
Against Arms Trade in its ongoing work against arms sales.
– Attend a
protest on March 7/8 against the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad
bin Salman.
– Support people
on trial on March 7/8 for trying to stop the DSEI arms fair.
featured
image Alisdare
Hickson/Flickr
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Helaas kunnen wij de petitie niet tekenen, kent u een Britse burger, geeft het door!
Dat was het voor deze dag, morgen meer berichten, maak er als het even kan een mooie dag van!