Every two years since 2001 arms dealers and traders from around the world have descended on London’s Docklands for the world’s largest arms fair, DSEi, the euphemistically titled ‘Defence & Security Equipment International’ sponsored by our government where people around the world – including many from dictatorial regimes – come to buy the weapons and systems they will use to kill and repress people around the world.
Of course there are a few concessions made to give it a more positive image, with a few countries being excluded (though others may make deals on their behalf) and some universally banned weapons – such as cluster bombs – usually being kept under the counters rather than on display.
But as I note on My London Diary:
The UK Government’s Human Rights Annual Report for 2010 listed 26 countries where there was considerable concern over human rights violations, and in the same year it approved arms exports to 16 of these including as well as Libya, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Protests against DSEi take place regularly through the year, both outside the ExCel Centre and at the offices and outside other events organised by the owners and organisers of DSEi, Clarion Events, and are led by groups such as East London Against the Arms Fair and CAAT (Campaign Against the Arms Trade.)
During the actual arms fair, police seal off a large area around it, closing off everything between the DLR line and the whole north side of the Royal Victoria Dock, as well as maintaining a strong police presence in the surrounding area. Opportunities for protests within sight or hearing of the event are very limited, and most of the protests this year took place elsewhere in London.
Although protests took place throughout the week of the arms fair, Tuesday 13th September when it opened was the main day of action called by the ‘Stop the Arms Fair Coalition‘ and I came up to the Houses of Parliament at 10 am for the first event, a mock arms fair in Old Palace Yard.
It was easy to get some pictures as people queued with supermarket baskets full of arms, and certainly some entered very much into the spirit of the event.
Our Houses of Parliament are fairly recognisable even without Big Ben which is hardly visible from Old Palace Yard where the event was set up. Parliament Square is a better venue for protests, both because that large clock is more visible and also because far more people see the protest, with a far more traffic passing through than at Old Palace Yard. Unfortunately although the permanent peace protest continues on the pavement there, the rest of the square remains fenced off and unavailable either for tourists or protesters. It is a ridiculous and entirely political decision.
Of course the truly iconic view of the Houses of Parliament – which I learnt from the dinner table bottle of HP Sauce – was from across the river, showing in detail its full length from the Victoria Tower at the left to Big Ben at the right. Along with the French text “Cette sauce de haute qualité est un mélange de fruits, d’épices, et de vinaigre pur. Elle ne contient aucune matière colorante ni preservatif ...” it has long been dropped, at first in favour of a vignetted view and now by more of a caricature (and has even disappeared completely on some containers.) The sauce remains only in name, and perhaps typically for something invented in Britain was sold to a French company and then Heinz and is now made to a different recipe (catering for US taste and healthier eating) in Holland.
There was of course no sauce at the SAFC arms fair, but lots of canisters of CS gas to deal with riots as well as some bombs and a few rockets. One of our best-known peace campaigners, Bruce Kent, grinned delightedly as he wore a necklace of bullets while queuing with his full basket of lethal goods.
Bruce Kent stocks up with a good supply of CS Gas
Of course it was a staged event, as my pictures show clearly. Where things go wrong is not when others stage things but when photographers stage things for their pictures and they are used as if this was what was happening spontaneously. So far as possible I try not to interfere with things, although pointing a camera at them almost always alters what happens, and at this event there were many people with cameras – and it was organised for them.
Photographically there were few problems, except in avoiding other photographers, who I don’t like in my pictures and in return whose way I like to keep out of as much as possible. As usual I worked mainly with the wide angle 16-35mm which means getting in close, but there was plenty of time and opportunity so that this didn’t really get in the way of those who like to stand further back.
I go in, take my pictures and then move back. What really annoys me at some events is when a photographer goes in close, takes some pictures and then continues to stand there in everyone else’s way, often while ‘chimping’.
I took a few pictures with the 10.5mm fisheye, but this really came into its own later in the day.
The 10.5 was the only way I could get the whole of the text ‘THIS IS NOT OK’ that people were holding up, as they were standing close behind the arms queue. I also took a few pictures using the 18-105 (27-157 equivalent on the D300) but there were relatively few images where I wanted to work above 50mm. Though for Caroline Lucas speaking, a ‘portrait’ focal length worked well.
Green MP Caroline Lucas speaking. 50(75eq)mm – a typical portrait lens focal length
More text and pictures at: Arms Fair Protest At Parliament.
The arms fair day of protest continues in the next post.