Find out about actions that have already happened this year and get inspiration for planning your own!

The good news is we stayed for the whole event and managed to speak to, quite literally, everyone who visited the careers fair.

Inspired by Charlie Brooker’s anti-arms trade “GUN SAAAALE” routine, we set up our own miniature arms fair on a nearby bench to ... More »]]> One of the students involved reports on the day’s action:

The good news is we stayed for the whole event and managed to speak to, quite literally, everyone who visited the careers fair.

Inspired by Charlie Brooker’s anti-arms trade “GUN SAAAALE” routine, we set up our own miniature arms fair on a nearby bench to draw attention to our protest. We labelled toy cars, planes and boats with the names of real weapons, their manufacturers, their prices and which “satisfied customers” (i.e. dictators) already had one. Dressed in a suit and shades with a big “Arms Dealer” badge on my label, I invited passers-by to the arms fair, because “we don’t care who buys our weapons or what they do with them, we’ll sell them to anyone”. I spent a while playing with the toys and threatening the protestors with them to show them off to the public.

It attracted a lot of attention, and was useful for people to quickly see the facts about specific arms deals in a funny and easily digestible way.

We had about 40 people sign our petition to ban arms dealers from university buildings, and are drafting a motion for our union to the same effect. The Amnesty International society and I are currently in discussions with other relevant societies such as Oxfam and Durham University Development Abroad, who are particularly angry at arms dealers taking money away from education, health and infrastructure projects in the developing world, and Student Action for Refugees, who help lots of people escaping from war-torn countries. We hope to hear back from them all soon to create a large coalition against the arms trade.

Read more about the action here.

I spoke to one of those involved in the protest:

Why did you take action at the careers fair?

To raise awareness of the investments and activities ... More »]]> Bristol students, including a number of Student Union officers, protested the presence of Barclays at their Autumn Careers Fair last month.

Read more about the action here.

I spoke to one of those involved in the protest:

Why did you take action at the careers fair?

To raise awareness of the investments and activities of companies active at University careers events and promote debate. It’s vital that students are made aware of the activities companies they may go on to work for.

What happened at the protest?

 Myself and one other elected officer staged a die-in with fake body-bags and rape alarms by the Barclays Capital stall. We attempted to hand out leaflets explaining the action and offering further info, but were prevented by security. We left after about 2-3mins, cooperating with security.

Can you tell me a little about what Student Union legislation you are currently working on and why you think that it’s important?

It’s a delicate argument to be made, particularly as I have to try and be as representative of as many students as possible. I believe that at the very least students have the right to protest their moral objection to companies endorsed by the University at careers fairs, and explain their reasons for objection to others. In turn, students also have the right to be informed independently about companies attempting to recruit them.

A group of activists entered ... More »]]> Activists protested the presence of arms companies BAE Systems and Raytheon at the London Graduate Fair this week. Outraged at the presence of BAE Systems and Raytheon at the event, activists aimed to both disrupt the smooth running of the BAE stall and to inform students about the companies.

A group of activists entered the Fair and quickly identified the BAE stall. After changing into ‘Arms dealers →’ t-shirts, the activists stood in front of the stall and unfurled a banner which read ‘Ban BAE: Careers in Killing’. One activist shouted to the student attendees about why arms companies shouldn’t be at the fair whilst others gave out leaflets. Leaflets were also given to those waiting in the queue to enter the fair.

Ban BAE

The action was part of the Ban BAE: kick arms companies off campus campaign. The Ban BAE campaign aims to end arms company recruitment on campuses. The recruitment of skilled graduates is essential for arms companies to continue to operate and as a result they spend huge amounts of money annually on visiting universities and recruiting students. Activists at the London Graduate Fair hope that non-violent but disruptive protests like theirs will make it financially unfeasible for arms companies to continue to recruit students at careers fairs. They also believe that if more students had the full information on arms companies, less would be willing to work for them.

One of the organisers of the Fair was the Careers Group, which is a provider of careers services for many London students. Students across the UK are telling their careers services that they don’t want to see arms companies recruiting at their universities. This is the second year that the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) Universities Network has protested this event; the activists involved hope that it’s the last.

Beth Smith, CAAT’s Universities Network Coordinator, said

“Arms companies need to recruit graduates in order to survive. By disrupting their careers events and teaching students about their practices we can do real damage to these companies.”

Heightened security

The fair had high levels of security; each person’s bag was searched on entry and police were present. Once the banner was unfurled, security and the police moved quickly to remove the protesters from the room. With the additional security measures affecting the smooth running of the fair and costing money activists are asking why the Graduate Fair doesn’t simply stop inviting arms companies to their events.

Chris Rossdale, a student who travelled down from the University of Warwick for the action, said

“The London Graduate Fair showed its priorities when it conspired with the police to forcibly eject us for simply informing students about the nature of companies represented at its event. Sadly, blood money trumps freedom of speech.”

The action was also reported on the Ekklesia website. Read their article here.

This spring, many of us will have seen the Arab uprisings, and been shocked at the way peaceful people have been gassed, shot at, and otherwise attacked by their own governments. What will have passed many of us by however, is that many of the weapons used against these ... More »]]> From a student at Bristol University

This spring, many of us will have seen the Arab uprisings, and been shocked at the way peaceful people have been gassed, shot at, and otherwise attacked by their own governments. What will have passed many of us by however, is that many of the weapons used against these people were manufactured by companies in the UK. Every day around the world, British companies (with the support of the British government), are flogging weapons to some of the most repressive and brutal regimes in the world.

Where might one go to find these arms dealers? Surely, they are ashamed, kept out of sight to avoid being held to account for their heinous deeds? Well, in fact one need look no further than Bristol University. BAE Systems for instance – one of the largest arms dealers in the world – has an active presence on campus. Despite involvement in numerous corruption scandals, and having sold arms to a long list of dictatorial regimes (including Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe and East Timor, to name but a few [1] ), this company is invited back year after year to recruit undergraduates at Bristol University. They have a prominent place at every engineering careers fair, where undergraduates are told about exciting careers opportunities, with no mention whatsoever about ethics, or that it might be questionable to work for such a company. Surely, it is the duty of the careers service to inform students of the actions of the companies they consider working for?

However, the university’ s involvement in this deadly trade goes far deeper than acting as a recruitment agency. From 2001 to 2006, staff at the University of Bristol took on a total of 101 military related research projects, receiving at least twelve million pounds from arms dealers and military organisations.[2] It is ironic that an institution which supposedly believes in free enquiry should be happy to work with people who help to repress that freedom elsewhere.

While many students and staff are working to resist the involvement of arms companies in university life, I do not believe this will fix the underlying problem. For years now, university has become less about advancing knowledge, and more about aiding the interests of government and business. For instance, it is important to remember that the careers service receives little financial support from the university. As long as they rely on revenue from businesses outside of the university, to make ends meet, they will always have to work for the interests of rich companies, rather than students. It is my hope that last year’ s ‘winter of discontent’ , where students took to the streets to oppose damaging changes to higher education, will mark the start of a movement that changes the direction in which universities are going.

[1 ] On arms sales to Zimbabwe, to East Timor and Saudi Arabia

[2] On military involvement in universities in the UK, at the University of Bristol

Report on the recent action in Edinburgh:

Once again we returned to Edinburgh University to flyer students heading in to the careers fair about the presence of arms companies on campus, as we had already discovered that the arms companies BAE Systems, Thales and Selex would be attempting to recruit students inside the fair. ... More »]]>

Report on the recent action in Edinburgh:

Once again we returned to Edinburgh University to flyer students heading in to the careers fair about the presence of arms companies on campus, as we had already discovered that the arms companies BAE Systems, Thales and Selex would be attempting to recruit students inside the fair. We had a generally positive response from students, many expressing surprise that arms dealers would be present inside, especially considering the role of British arms companies in arming dictators such as Libya and Egypt prior to the Arab Spring. We even got a good number of sign ups to our petition.

Whilst we were there, several student groups entered the careers fair to protest the presence of unethical companies on campus, including a group from Students for Justice in Palestine who cleared out all promotional materials from the BAE Systems stall, and replaced it with information about the company’s unethical activities in Israel and Palestine.

Disrupting unethical company recruitment at the Edinburgh University careers fair is becoming a real tradition, with greater numbers and a more diverse range of groups taking part each year. We’ll keep going back until arms dealers realise they are no longer welcome on campus.

Read the article here.