RESPECT for life

At the Exeter RESPECT festival on the 2nd and 3rd of June, the Oxfam and Amnesty societies joined forces (stay tuned for more arms-trade puns) to raise awareness about the devastating impact of the international arms trade. Having already staged a "die-in" on campus - where one student fell down "dead" every minute to symbolise the rate people are killed by the arms trade - the group of students collaborated with the local city groups to bring their message to the community.

As a festival which celebrates different cultures and values each in their own right whilst encouraging cultural integration, RESPECT was the perfect venue for our campaign. . Whilst the festival seeks to bring different people together along lines of music, food, dance, art and shared interests, the international nature of the trade binds people across the world in a web of corruption, oppression and violence. In an ever-shrinking world, it is no longer enough to view those effected by the arms trade as a separate, militarised fraction of the global society; they are humans and they are dying at the hands of the powerful.

Here is a short film showing our weekend of campaigning!

To sign the petition for a Bullet-proof Arms Trade Treaty, visit http://www.controlarms.org/home

To find out more about the Exeter RESPECT festival, visit the website - http://www.exeter-respect.org/