Planning Meeting to expose & oppose the upcoming CANSEC 2010 arms bazaar in Ottawa

On Tuesday, February 23, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) had a successful meeting to initiate plans for a campaign  to expose and oppose CANSEC 2010.

During a "go around," the dozen activists in attendance identified themselves as belonging to the following organisations and communities:
Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT),  NOWAR/Paix,  Raging Grannies,  Ottawa Peace Assembly, Society of Friends (Quakers),  Mennonite Church,  First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa,  Act City,  Pax Christi, National Capital Interfaith Council, Ottawa Muslim community,  Dialogue for Diversity,  Canadian Department of Peace Initiative. 

Richard Sanders gave background on COAT, particularly opposition to war shows in Ottawa, dating back 20+ years, and then provided some details on this year’s CANSEC arms show:

The following general goals for COAT's CANSEC 2010 campaign were proposed, discussed and adopted:

(1) Encourage as many people as possible to participate in one single nonviolent event to focus our efforts to expose and oppose CANSEC,

(2) Encourage as many groups and individuals as possible to organize peaceful  events and activities to expose and oppose CANSEC,

(3) Raise awareness and deepen analysis (about links between Canada’s arms industries and war) among members of the public and within activist community

(4) Build the peace/antiwar community

(5) Maintain a presence at the gates to CANSEC between June 2 and 3, and during their set-up day June 1. 

The group then brainstormed more specific actions and ideas, which included the following:

  1. Rally on June 2 (Our Main Event): We will organise a large rally, for 5-7 pm on Wed. June 2, at the main entrance to CANSEC on Bank St..  This is the best time for a rally because: (a) it coincides with CANSEC's on site dinner/reception, (b) it occurs during rush hour traffic, (c) people will be able to attend after work. 
  2. Vigil: We will have a presence at the main gate throughout the entire 3 days, so that different individuals and organisations can be there throughout CANSEC. (Ria will approach groups and maintain a schedule.)
  3. Nonviolent Actions: We will encourage non-violent direct action (civil disobedience) such as a “die in” at the gates, a banner hanging, picketing to slow CANSEC traffic, and whatever other creative, totally peaceful, disciplined, and nonabusive actions can be devised. Recognise need for special preparedness for all participants in such actions, including nonviolence training workshops.
  4. Youth/Students: Reach out especially to youth and students, perhaps through tabling at universities, articles in student newspapers, and creative use of social media, such as facebook and twitter.
  5. Media: Media efforts: Proactive efforts to get stories on radio, TV and in magazines and newspapers, including trying for an Op Ed piece in the Ottawa Citizen, which can be distributed elsewhere
  6. Core message: Need to determine our core message.  All of us will brainstorm and suggest the best slogans to capture our basic underlying message.  Suggestions include: "End War Profiteering," and “There are alternatives to war.”
  7. Outreach and Feedback: We each need to return to our respective groups, networks and communities to let them know about what is being planned, to get their feedback and to see what they can contribute to the campaign.
  8. Context of this campaign: Our opposition to CANSEC 2010 needs to be kept in the context of our longer term, ongoing popular education efforts to oppose war and to expose Canadian complicity in war profiteering, etc.

Richard pointed out that we want to make organizing FUN.  Also, over 40 people emailed Richard with regrets that they could not attend this particular meeting but are keen to become involved.  The number of active organisers involved in our campaign will inevitably grow as we proceed.

Here is the invitation that went out for this meeting:

Please join us in  "Thinking Globally and Acting Locally!"

What:  Planning Meeting to expose & oppose the upcoming CANSEC 2010 arms bazaar in Ottawa
When:  Tuesday, February 23, at 7 pm.
Where: Friends Meeting House,  91A Fourth Avenue, in the Glebe (just east of Bank St.)

Organized by:  Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
For more info., contact:  Richard Sanders, overcoat@rogers.com

On June 2-3, 2010, thousands of war industry representatives, government bureaucrats and military personnel from across Canada and elsewhere, will again be converging on Ottawa for their "world class" arms bazaar called CANSEC.  CANSEC is Canada's largest military industry trade show and this country's most blatant manifestation of the international arms trade. 

The Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) began this struggle more than two decades ago, with our first peace campaign, when we exposed and opposed the ARMX 1989 trade show at Lansdowne Park.  I hope you'll join our new efforts to counter CANSEC 2010.

Under the guise of promoting global peace and security, Canada's largest military industries will be showcasing a broad array of war-related technologies, including many varieties of weapons systems, and their components.  Browsing the glitsy exhibits promoting new-and-improved, high-tech instruments of death and destruction, will be arms dealers and war marketeers representing huge profit-motivated corporations, Canadian bureaucrats and procurement officials from foreign governments, military attaches from numerous embassies, and warfighters looking over the latest hardware.  They will all be rubbing shoulders at this private show held in the publicly-funded exhibition halls of Lansdowne Park -- Ottawa's prime municipal facility in the heart of a downtown residential community.

CANSEC is returning to Ottawa City property this spring because last year a majority on Ottawa City Council shamefully overturned this municipality's 20-year ban on hosting arms trade shows.  Ottawa's unique and remarkable ban started in 1989 as a result of COAT's major, public campaign against the now-defunct ARMX weapons exhibition.

The return of CANSEC presents people of conscience, in Ottawa and elsewhere, with a challenging opportunity to expose and oppose a significant symbol of Canada's government-subsidized, military-industrial complex, and the part it plays in aiding and abetting wars, invasions, occupations, regime changes and human rights abuses. 
Although we cannot expect to stop CANSEC 2010, we can certainly use it to draw attention to Canada's part in the international arms trade, and all that it represents.  By opposing the influx of arms promoters, tanks and other war technologies into our local community, we can raise awareness about major global issues, and press for government policies that reflect widespread public demands to respect peace, human rights, democracy, and the environment, etc...

Hoping you'll join us on February 23, and support this campaign,
Yours sincerely for peace,

Richard Sanders
Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)

P.S. Here is a detailed article about CANSEC, its organizers, the government largesse they receive, and the 2009 campaign against CANSEC:
"Dr. Strangelove:  Or How Ottawa Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/64/64_3-21.pdf

The above article is from the current issue of COAT's magazine, Press for Conversion! (#64). This 50-page issue, called "CANSEC: War is Business," can be accessed online:
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/64/64.htm

P.P.S.  If you haven't done so already, please consider becoming a member of COAT and subscribing to our magazine. You can also order a copy (or copies) of our current issue on CANSEC.  Your support for COAT's ongoing efforts is much appreciated! Thanks
http://coat.ncf.ca/support_us/support_us.htm