CALP

In the case he mentioned back in May, the generators could also be used for civilian purposes, so it’s the context that decides whether this is an instrument of war or not. What started us thinking about the situation in Yemen was that we started seeing lots of pickup trucks being transported to the Middle East, Toyota pickup trucks, dozens and dozens of them. And these pickup trucks are used for military purposes, as they’re mounted with heavy-duty weapons, howitzers, etc.

It’s clear that military logistics need things like this, as well as the other conventional weapons. So, when we realized what they were being used for, and we started to see things like helicopters, then we made a decision. We can’t be at peace with ourselves if we are loading ships that are being used to fuel conflicts across the world. So, at one point, we had to say “enough.”

In so doing we’ve brought the issue into the open. We’ve brought media attention to the issue, and we’ve made many other workers aware of it. Indeed, this isn’t just a battle against the arms trade. It’s also a workers’ struggle, because the workers shouldn’t be kept in the dark about the work they’re doing — they should have control over it.

We’re waging this battle because if the workers can stand up to this then they can also stand up to other things that shouldn’t be going on in the workplace. We’ll pursue this battle as long as it takes, but we don’t know what’s going to happen, because we’re up against a huge industry — one through which more money is flowing than perhaps any other.