SFW Presidents Report: RAPPORT MORAL 2021
During 2021 SFW was placed on a much more professional level as Djamila and Alice gained experience and skill. Under the guiding hand of our events consultant Holly who led the president and others kicking and grumbling into the 21st century working primarily with online systems. Alice and Djamila were based in Paris sharing a cramped office with MAN and Non violence XXI. We strengthened relationships with various European and French networks, ENAAT, (European Network against the Arms trade) NON SNU ( National Universal Service)and Church and Peace. With European Quaker groups, World Beyond War in Canada and worldwide, GDAMS (Global Days of Action Against Military Spending), SPAN (Security Policy Alternatives Network), The international network of peace groups, The BeeGees, based in Brussels and this year we had observer status at the UN Arms Trade Treaty body. We were contacted by researchers setting up a French Peace Institute, the International Peace Bureau. We have been building our relationships with UK groups notably Shadow World UK and Corruption watch as well as building our base of friendly journalists, publications and other NGOs.
Our house style of easily understandable graphics and information has continued to grow and establish. We always produce materials in both English and French and everything is available on line through our updated website. Our reach of newsletters has increased. Our following has increased on all social media platforms, but there is still room for improvement. We would liked to have a consultant on this but nothing at a reasonable cost seems evident so far.
To do all this we have had a dedicated small staff and hard working volunteers and a supportive Steering committee. Our members at a distance are also very important and we welcome your engagement and suggestions.
Research needs a special mention during 2021
We were able to provide up to date information to our networks due to Alice’s research and documenting and archiving a library of papers, news articles and other resources on the international arms industry, French military interventions abroad , corruption, police interventions, racism in the police, increasing militarisation, youth conscription
(SNU) and many other subjects. This has fed into our publications which I will mention later.
Activities and achievements
Between staff and volunteers we attended the Paris Peace Forum and many webinars , podcasts and meetings.
During 2021 we produced 2 introductory briefing papers, 6 podcasts, 9 newsletters and an articles in the Planete Paix magazine plus leading on from previous work on Myths about the arms trade we produced a 28 page A5 booklet, with a modern graphic look. ‘What is Security – rethinking our beliefs’ All these publications are available on our website under publications.
Podcast were a discussion between SFW and one or two experts on the following subjects:
- - Extractivism
- - Military spending
- - Arms industry and lobbying
- - Weapons and law enforcement
- - Corruption (Version in English and version with French subtitles)
BRIEFING PAPERS - these consist of detailed internal papers and abbreviated illustrated public documents.
- - The economic impact of the arms industry
- - The militarization of the police
Exhibition
Our major achievement of 2021 was the creation and mounting of the exhibition ‘Sans Armes Citoyen.ne.s which was held in two venues, a gallery and a protestant chapel
The target audience was primarily 18 to 40 year old and these were very appreciative and engaged visitors. Most people stayed about half an hour and many were encouraged in off the street. From this have come requests to provide articles and speakers at events.
The project is part of our goal to create informative, accessible and interactive content to help everyone to understand how the arms trade affects our daily life. Issues which are never discussed and remain a mystery because of the deliberate secrecy surrounding security and defence. It was visually very stimulating, which aided the understanding of the subject. The text was clear yet full of information and questions, it incorporated modern graphic images, cartoons, artwork alongside photographs, videos and interactive elements. There were catalogues and exhibits from the arms fair Eurosatory and we have had various enquiries about reusing the exhibition at other venues. It was a major challenge to reduce the subject matter and limit the facts, we managed to cover 7 subjects in 17 panels including rethinking security;
Introduction The Who and Why of ‘Stop Fuelling War’
• Climate and the arms trade
• Health and social policies: security is also health
• The militarisation of the police
• The military and youth
• Eurosatory and Milipol Arms Fairs in Paris
• Arms sales - who decides? (Transparency and democracy )
Conclusion: Rethinking security
Unfortunately, the pandemic was still affecting attendance levels and we had to refuse entry to some families and individuals who did not have the necessary health passes.
Future directions and challenges
So far in 2022 we have produced more podcasts and briefing papers, had a challenging Eurosatory, where we worked closely with Movement de la Paix, held public events including two conferences, and the exhibition has been mounted twice. And there are on going discussions about other venues and adapting the exhibition for the UK. We have been approached to contribute to more magazines and presenting at online conferences.
As we plan the future of the organisation, we are discussing where our limited resources can best be used, and where our energy should be directed. Because of the new and evolving challenges, we are currently revising our strategic direction.
