‽istis wonders how you sleep at night (weekending November
25th 2023)
This weekending as a ‘temporary ceasefire’, a ‘humanitarian pause’,
a ‘truce’ starts in Gaza[i], the
provision of humanitarian aid increases and an exchange of hostages/prisoners
is planned - ‽istis has decided to bite the bullet metaphorically (though many will
continue right at this very moment, across the day, throughout the week, to be ‘bitten’
by all too real bullets and missiles and landmines… and die…) and ponder arms
manufacturing, making and selling hardware and software whose essential purpose
is to rip into and explode flesh and all things…[ii]
‽istis began an initial and very, very cursory survey of the
landscape and got as far as the webpages of the ‘Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute’[iii].
There are pages of graphics visualising ‘data from the 2022 update
of SIPRI’s Arms
Industry Database. There is a fact sheet of ‘the top 100 arms-producing and military
services companies, 2021’ and an infographic which tells us the percentage share
of total arms sales across the 100 producers by country: USA – 51%; China – 18%;
United Kingdom – 6.8%; France - 4.9%; Russia – 3%.
The ‘top’ company in 2021 was ‘Lockheed Martin’ – with arms sales
in that year totalling: $60,340 million ($60,340,000,000), which comprises
90% of its total sales. What else could that money buy‽ The top five companies are American and, at number 6,
is the UK’s ‘BAE Systems’ – with arms sales in just one year, 2021, totalling $26,020
million ($26,020,000,000) which comprises 97% of its total sales. What else could that money buy‽
A section on ‘Research’ has three areas: armament and disarmament;
conflict, peace and security; peace and development and the sub-themes within
each perhaps provide an indication of linked issues in a world of complex
inter-relatedness.
Armament and disarmament: Arms and military expenditure; Dual-use and arms trade control; Emerging
military and security technologies; EU Non-proliferation and Disarmament
Consortium; Weapons of mass destruction
Conflict, peace and security: Africa; Asia; Europe; Middle East and North Africa; Peace operations
and conflict management
Peace and development: Climate change and risk; Environment of peace; Food, peace and
security; Governance and society; Peacebuilding and resilience.
So, a rabbit-hole opens up to reveal an enormous warren of tunnels[iv]
of information to explore on this website and many, many others.
But lest the stats and facts distract us from the impact of the
arms industry on people, places, flora, fauna, habitations and habitats - ‽istis wonders first about those
who feel the impact. We are back to the ripping into and exploding of flesh and
all things. Dreadful images seem almost impossible to avoid - really for many
at this very moment and virtually for the rest of us, the relatively safe.
Then ‽istis wonders about the people behind the industry…
You could do your own research following threads to seek out names
of CEOs and share-holders, the beneficiaries - although ‽istis suspects that much
information is hard to get at and that secrecy, sorry confidentiality, may warp
and weft itself throughout the industry and its businesses wherever they sit on
a spectrum of ‘legitimacy’.
But who are you and how do you sleep at night?
How do you explain what you do to your children if you are a
parent?
How will you look back on what you have done with your life?
Are there mantras that play round and round if sleep eludes and
images won’t go away?
·
If it
wasn’t me, then it would just be someone else (less scrupulous, less ethical,
less morally upright and respectable, with a far poorer corporate social
responsibility profile, who donates far less to charity, who does not believe
in God, who beats their partner – no, not like me at all…)
·
It’s
actually all about keeping people safe; it’s about security[v]
and stability, about deterrence, about ensuring the rule of law against anarchy
and supporting democracies against tyrannies, maintaining order against chaos.
·
It’s
not the products that are the problem, it’s the use to which they are put, it’s
the people who misuse and abuse them, the problem comes when they are just in
the wrong hands…
·
It’s
just a business…
To focus the crosshairs on the last one - well, if it’s just a
business, how about making bricks for homes and selling paint and decorating
materials; how about running education and training institutions for doctors
and teachers, for child psychologists, for play and art therapists and
trauma-counsellors; how about running water sanitation plants, recycling or sustainable
energy companies; how about making prosthetic limbs and medical supplies; how
about researching cancer-cures; or if you can’t live without a bang, then how
about making Christmas crackers which are probably selling well at the moment though
perhaps a bit too seasonal unlike all-year-round daily conflict (temporary ceasefires
notwithstanding); how about making musical instruments, or toys and games; how
about making bread; how about making peace…?[vi]
May you sleep easy. Actually, no – may you sleep terribly. May the
images not leave you. May the screams and sobs ring on and on, getting louder and
louder…
But if you can sleep, perhaps consider having a lie in tomorrow;
perhaps take the rest of the year off; perhaps retire; perhaps liquidate the
company;
perhaps make bread;
perhaps make peace…
©‽istis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme
and past blog entries to be found on X/Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t
necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders. X/Twitter ‘follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue
welcome...
[ii] And
many ellipses are likely to follow; apologies!
[iv]
That may or may not run under hospitals…
Various references to pursue but this is one that ‽istis found: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/10/world/europe/hamas-gaza-tunnels.html
[v] Interestingly
the strapline for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute is
‘The independent resource on global security’
[vi] https://www.sipri.org/research/peace-and-development/peacebuilding%E2%80%93resilience
As the SIPRI pages on peace-building and resilience suggest: ‘Peace
is an investment.’
