Stop the Weapons Conference Campaign

31 August 2006

The Campaign to stop annual weapons conference at Te Papa will be launched on Saturday evening, September 2 at Crossways Community Hall in Mt. Vic.

Peace Action Wellington and Peace Movement Aotearoa are jointly co-ordinating the campaign. Members of the public and journalists are invited along to the campaign launch at 6:30pm that will include a community dinner, presentations and films.

The weapons conference is a two-day meeting of the New Zealand Defence Industry Association. Over the last four years, the Association has been hosting the conference at Te Papa - ‘Our Place’. At this conference New Zealand companies showcase wares developed for military use and multinational weapons manufacturers network about new technology and lucrative contracts. Representatives from corporations such as Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of a wide range of weapons and missile systems, are in attendance. In 2006, the conference is scheduled for 17 & 18 October.

Peace Action Wellington member Valerie Morse said, “Last year, we had a great campaign leading up to the conference and a very successful blockade of the conference. We hope that people from all walks of life will join the campaign this year.”

“The revelation that NZ company Rakon is making parts for US ‘smart bombs’ – those currently being used in Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan – makes NZ complicit in these illegal and immoral wars of conquest. They are helping to make better killing machines for the US and Israeli Armies and literally hundreds of thousands of civilians are dying.”

“The people of Aotearoa New Zealand will not be willing participants in Bush’s wars. Stopping the weapons conference is one way we can make sure that we give no aid to commit war crimes.”

ENDS

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