Confronting the Arms Trade in the West Midlands Military spending worldwide continues to rise. Latest figures put it at £1.2 trillion (£1,200,000,000,000) every year. Such levels of spending can only lead to the neglect of other human needs. There is real insecurity between nations, but it cannot be removed by spending more and more on arms. Arms manufacturers have a vested interest in maintaining this feeling of insecurity, so they can continue to produce the military means they say can deal with it. Council Tax revenues from the seven Councils making up the West Midlands area are paid in to the West Midlands Metropolitan Authorities Pension Fund, £70,000,000 of which is invested in the world’s leading arms companies. Here is just a small sample of what these firms do: BAE Systems has three munitions factories in the UK. Every day at Radway Green in Cheshire it produces one million 7.62mm bullets. Unit cost: 30p. Textron continues to make cluster bombs. Production is banned in the UK, but overseas investment is up to individual funders. Unit cost: £10,000. General Dynamics has given us an ‘improved’ version of the Hellfire Missile (unit cost £50,000), guaranteeing ‘maximum lethality and assured target destruction’. Raytheon makes Tomahawk Cruise Missiles. Unit cost estimates vary, but at least £500,000. Boeing assembles the Apache Attack Helicopter (using Rolls Royce engines) for £35,000,000. Lockheed Martin makes the new F-35 Fighter (Rolls Royce engines), estimated cost £100,000,000. Northrop Grumman brings us the Global Hawk Drone (pilotless plane), currently costing £150,000,000 each. (Though they’re often claimed to be a cheap alternative form of air power.) The General Dynamics Corporation is the 4th largest arms company in the world. Every year it makes around £16 billion (£16,000,000,000) from this work. GD manufactures a wide range of armaments, from munitions to warships and tanks. Until a few weeks ago, it had a site in Coventry. The equally gigantic firm of Northrop Grumman (world number 6) still works there. Rolls Royce maintains and repairs Apache helicopter engines at Ansty, just outside the city. Over the coming months we will be campaigning for three things: The District Councils of the West Midlands disinvesting in arms companies The reinvestment of these funds in other activities Commercial and industrial development policies for an eventual arms-free region. What you can do next, to make your views known: Phone, meet or write to your Local Councillors Write to the local press Join the protests Tell your friends, community group, trade union Spread the information to the other West Midlands districts Produced by the Coventry Deanery Justice and Peace Group. Contact: 024 7667 4495 or email bpmcgowan@hotmail for more information. If you are in Birmingham, please contact John Barnabas on 0121 551 3161, please leave a message if he is unavailable.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 08:43:10 +0000
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