Bristol Drone Conference and Anti Drone Conference April 1st, 2nd and 3rd 2012

bristol | protests | news report Thursday March 01, 2012 21:46 by BAAT bristolagainstarmstrade at gmail dot com

Monday 2nd April is the 27th annual Bristol drone conference, but this years gonna be different. Bristol Against Arms Trade have teamed up with Bristol Stop the War and Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign, with the aim of making so much noise the conference will be a flop.

Over the past decade we have witnessed the growing use of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, to launch attacks around the globe. From Afghanistan to Somalia, from Gaza to Yemen, local communities live in fear of drones flying over their heads, looking for ‘targets of opportunity’. Legal experts and human rights organisations have also condemned the rise in targeted extra-judicial killing, enabled by the use of armed drones.

Rolls Royce, Thales, EADS, BAE Systems, are some of the delegates at the 27th bristol UAV conference going on for two days, 2nd and 3rd of April. The focus will be future technologies and delegates from around the world will be attending, come and disturb their war like plans.

Maya Evans – She has just returned from Afghanistan on a peace delegation with Voices for Creative Nonviolence and the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers.  Maya amongst other things won “a partial victory” in the High Court, when it ruled that Afghans detained by British forces could no longer be transferred to a detention centre in Kabul run by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency (NDS), because of the risk of torture.

Joanne Baker - Co-author of Uranium in Iraq: The Poisonous Legacy of the Iraq wars. From the charity Child Victims Of War Joanne will be talking about the weapons of modern warfare and their deadly legacy on civilians.

Chris Cole – Possibly the most educated activist on the growing usage of drones in modern warfare, co-author of Convenient Killing: Armed Drones and the Playstation Mentality. Chris from Drone Wars UK  is going to speak about the growing use of drones in conflict around the world.

Smash EDO -  Is a Brighton-based grassroots campaign against EDO MBM/ITT – a company that makes bomb racks, release clips and arming mechanisms for warplanes and drones. Smash EDO activists have carried out numerous direct actions and demonstrations against EDO’s Brighton arms factory. Someone  from the campaign will be speaking about war, arms manufacture and direct action.

Bristol Down The Drone Conference is part of a build up towards the Bristol UAV conference on April 2nd 2012. We will be resisting the drone conference.