Thousands protest Elbit Systems, Lockheed Martin and other weapons companies at Land Forces in Melbourne, Australia
Photo: The protest at Land Forces expo in Melbourne. Photo by Aveline Cayir.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports: “Thousands of protesters gathered outside Melbourne’s Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), where the biennial Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition is being held.”
The Land Forces expo is being held September 11-13.
ABC further explains: “The event attracts hundreds of defence and weapons companies from around the world.”
Those corporations include Elbit Systems, Lockheed Martin, Hanwha, Boeing, Thales, NIOA and Rheinmetall.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has highlighted some of the companies at Land Forces in its overview: Companies Profiting from the Gaza Genocide. (Noam Perry from the AFSC will be speaking at this webinar on September 18 about Canadians arms exports and the call for an arms embargo.)
Photo: BAE Systems at Land Forces.
Land Forces is organized by AMDA Foundation Limited that describes itself as delivering “Australia’s largest and most prominent international defence and aerospace industry expositions, programs and airshows.”
The protest against Land Forces was organized by a large coalition of groups led by Students for Palestine and Disrupt Wars.
Their statement highlights: “The weapons manufacturers and arms dealers [at Land Forces] are all directly supplying the infrastructure of wars and genocides around the world. From Palestine to West Papua, these companies facilitate murder, displacement, land desecration, and colonisation, in the name of western imperialist interests.”
They demand: “A two-way arms embargo with the rogue state of Israel: no weapons, components, munitions or surveillance technology. An end to all weapons exports to states engaged in genocide and militarised repression.”
Bella Beiraghi from the same group says: “It’s outrageous that eleven months into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 people, the Victorian government has welcomed one of the world’s biggest international weapons conferences into the heart of our city, supported by public funds.”
CNN quotes Natalie Farah who says: “We have seen many delegates coming through and we want to make it uncomfortable for these (people) to go inside and make million-dollar contracts and buy more weapons or sell weapons that are going to be used to commit genocide in Palestine and other places in the world.”
And Anneke Demanuele from Students for Palestine told ABC that the protesters aimed to be peaceful but also vowed to try to shut down the conference, including linking arms as delegates tried to enter the event.
CNN reports: “Police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators and both sides accused the other of violence.” That article adds that 1,000 police officers have been deployed and that 39 people have been arrested.
It’s unclear what Canadian participation there may be at Land Forces. The event’s prospectus notes that its sponsors include BAE Systems and L3Harris, both of which also sponsor the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa.
CADSI, the organizers of CANSEC, also have an “International Program” that “is designed to support Canadian defence and security companies in expanding their international business prospects and increasing success in export markets.” While it does not appear that they are at Land Forces in Melbourne, they plan to have a “Canada Pavilion” at the upcoming DSEI arms show in London, UK in September 2025.
DSEI will take place just after the next CANSEC arms show, now scheduled for Wednesday May 28 to Thursday May 29, 2025 at the EY Centre in Ottawa.
We are following Disrupt Wars on Instagram and Disrupt Weapons ARMS EMBARGO NOW on X/Twitter for updates about the ongoing protests against Land Forces 2024.
Photo by Disrupt Land Forces.
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