Why we protested the weapons expo of war criminals
On 4 November, Judge Navi Pillay, former member of the UN special commission of inquiry that found Israel guilty of committing genocide in Gaza, addressed the National Press Club. “Under the Genocide Convention, every state has the legal obligation to prevent the commission of genocide, to deal with the commission of genocide, and to protect against genocide ... Be careful what you’re doing”, Pillay said. “You may one day face charges of complicity in genocide.”
As Pillay was delivering her speech in Canberra, two major Israeli weapons companies were spruiking their wares in Sydney at the Indo Pacific weapons expo, officially sponsored by the NSW government and the Australian Navy. Elbit Systems and Rafael have enabled and profited from the genocide in Gaza, and even use their war crimes as selling points for their weapons systems. They were joined by a host of other arms dealers that have amassed fortunes by turning Gaza into a mass grave, including Lockheed Martin, Leonardo and Thales.
While the Israel connection was the most morally repugnant feature of the expo, it went well beyond this. The main game for Australian imperialism is bolstering its military power and further integrating with the US military, to better contain and combat China. These priorities were reflected in the convention, which celebrated the US bringing the “largest national presence to date to Indo Pacific 2025 with 74 leading American companies representing nineteen states present at the show”. These companies are competing to get their snouts in the trough of the global arms race, now worth about US$2.5 trillion annually, and with Australia set to nearly double its military spending to $100 billion per year by 2033-34.
The weapons expo encapsulated the barbarity and the banality of the evil of present-day capitalism. Thousands of senior military and government personnel rubbed shoulders with war profiteering corporations, many of which are run by ex-military or government personnel themselves. Far from being a barrier to entry, complicity in the genocide in Gaza was almost a requirement of entry, and the rosy dawn being hailed was one of mushroom clouds and future holocausts. Free gifts for participants included hand-grenade plush toys.
Despite officially sponsoring the event, the NSW government tried to downplay its involvement in the expo, a spokesperson for NSW Industry Minister Anoulack Chanthivong telling the Guardian that the state government was not paying international companies to attend and was not involved in planning the expo. Information leaked to the Palestine Action Group, however, claims that the NSW government has spent at least $1.6 million to secure the hosting of the expo in Sydney, and that staff from the Premier’s Department were involved in setting up and running the exhibition.
Federal Labor ministers were much less coy. The keynote speaker, Defence Minister Richard Marles, gushed that the machines of death before him spanned “the breadth of the beautiful, the menacing and the extremely cool ... the very best of human ingenuity”.
While these “beautiful” weapons were being bought and sold inside, other weapons were being deployed outside—against anti-war protesters.
Pepper spray is banned for use in warfare under the Chemical Weapons Convention. But NSW Police did not hesitate to repeatedly spray hundreds of demonstrators with this chemical weapon, which causes severe pain and blindness for up to half an hour. The attacks on our demonstration began as soon as people arrived in Darling Harbour, police violently charging protesters from 6:23am, riding horses into the crowd, punching demonstrators in the head, emptying whole canisters of pepper spray into people’s faces and making violent arrests. One protester, Amy, a journalism student, was thrown to the ground, fracturing her tibia (shin bone).
The police attacks continued intermittently for several hours, even after we were driven away from the International Convention Centre and into Tumbalong Park, a “designated protest area”. At one point, the police escorted an expo attendee into the park and through the middle of our protest, just to have an excuse to pepper spray the crowd again. I was sprayed directly in the face while trying to help up another protester who had been knocked down and blinded.
Senior police later lied about events, telling a media conference that they had been “set upon by a pack of very angry people”. Several videos show that the exact opposite occurred. When I tried to ask a question at this press conference—about whether NSW Police had begun any investigations into war crimes by companies at the expo—I was surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.
Despite all of this, the spirits of protesters remained high, as we knew we had stood together, defied police violence and at least shone a spotlight on this abominable weapons expo and the sick priorities of our rulers and their repressive police. Next time, we need thousands more of us to shut it down and demand our money be spent on public housing, the health system and wage rises, not weapons, and for a world without war and genocide.
Josh Lees is a member of the Palestine Action Group Sydney.
