Around twenty people took action against Fluent Ltd, a computer modelling software company on an industrial estate next to Sheffield airport today.
Fluent deal in Death
The company makes software for a range of industries from food and environmental to oil and nuclear. However the protest was specifically about Fluent's use of software for airflow modelling of missiles. Their web site claims they are "the largest commercial CFD software supplier in the world" and have "a broad client base in the Aerospace and Defense Industries".
They also intend to exhibit at the highly controversial DSEi arms fair in London next week.
Four people barricaded themselves inside the revolving doors using door stops inside to stop the doors rotating. Two more used bicycle D-locks to lock themselves to the doors by their necks to the same door. Anyone entering the building was forced to do so via the backdoor so whilst this didn't stop work at the building it did make a powerful symbolic protest.
Three more people climbed up onto the canopy above the main entrance and hung a banner: "Fluent Deal in Death". Other folk handed out leaflets about Fluent's involvement in the arms industry. Several police cars arrived fairly shortly after the protest started at 9 am though the police were fairly chilled saying the protest could continue if work was not stopped.
The protest ended around 11.15 but not before local press and a TV cameraman had visited the scene.
Fluent later claimed that someone had switched off the air conditioning which could have damaged computer systems and that someone else had broken a glass panel on the building.
All in all a successful action and nice way to spend a few hours in the sun.
They also intend to exhibit at the highly controversial DSEi arms fair in London next week.
Four people barricaded themselves inside the revolving doors using door stops inside to stop the doors rotating. Two more used bicycle D-locks to lock themselves to the doors by their necks to the same door. Anyone entering the building was forced to do so via the backdoor so whilst this didn't stop work at the building it did make a powerful symbolic protest.
Three more people climbed up onto the canopy above the main entrance and hung a banner: "Fluent Deal in Death". Other folk handed out leaflets about Fluent's involvement in the arms industry. Several police cars arrived fairly shortly after the protest started at 9 am though the police were fairly chilled saying the protest could continue if work was not stopped.
The protest ended around 11.15 but not before local press and a TV cameraman had visited the scene.
Fluent later claimed that someone had switched off the air conditioning which could have damaged computer systems and that someone else had broken a glass panel on the building.
All in all a successful action and nice way to spend a few hours in the sun.
Comments
Hide the following 12 comments
excellent :-)
02.09.2003 21:43
pleased
I am!
To
hear
of yet another
*WICKED*
*AUTONOMOUS*
ACTION!! :-)
woohoo! Well done y'all.
v.pleased
Not impressed
02.09.2003 23:06
It's also nice to know that while happy to harrass a small local software company the protestors aren't slow to give their money to enormous distant megacorps and then wear their branded clothing to give them free publicity:
Badger
A small local software company?
02.09.2003 23:45
However, I don't think this actually matters (how big they are as a company or the lables on peoples clothing) -- the point is that this company are an exhibitor at DSEi -- check this for yourself:
Perhaps Badger's baiting is because s/he is not happy that there will be protests against DSEi?
snowball
global to local
02.09.2003 23:54
is to exhibit at DSEi, europes largest arms fair.
d'you have any idea how much that costs and who
the clients then are?
well if you are not impresed then so be it. There
certainly are companies more involved in the
direct building and sale of weapons, that's for
sure.
pie
the issue is end use
03.09.2003 10:16
and their involvement with US military
one senior type worker on the day said they had contracts with the MOD
don't forget... their freinds in the oil industry
Local company...my ass check their international offices
muke
well done people
03.09.2003 11:07
mozaz
mozaz
e-mail:
actforpeace@yahoo.com
get 'em worried
03.09.2003 14:52
Don't matter how big or small the company is - would be nice to get to a stage that all would-be exhibitors at DSEi worry about it making them a target for protest.
Every weapon and delivery system is just a collection of components put together. And every manufacturer of components has to take the blame for the end product. Nobody forces this company to sell their products to the defence industry do they?
Lets show these people up for the nasty, shady, profiteering arms dealers they really are.
All these companies like to pretend that they make nice neutral stuff really, and it just happens that some of the stuff they do is used in arms. Smiths Aerospace after a recent action tried to make out to the local press that it 'just does hydraulics'.
They forgot to mention that its their specialist hydraulics and electonic systems that keep things like F-16s and Apache helicopters and guided missiles in the air. Fairly crucial to their effectiveness as weapons you would have thought.
So - yet another good pre-dsei 'warm up' action. Can't wait for the main event.
la la bo
Well done - a thoughtful and effective action.
05.09.2003 17:29
Persistant actions against businesses and financial intitutions that do will eventually save innocent lives
Well done!
Lazy B
well done
06.09.2003 15:28
ian
Guilty as Charged!
06.09.2003 16:02
Yakoub
Homepage:
http://www.geocities.com/yakoub0001/index.html
Other fluid simulation applications
14.09.2003 19:49
What about the excellent work done with Fluent (and by Fluent staff) on blood flow in arteries and heart valves (rather more ethical than experimentation on animals) or sewage treatment processes or smoke movement during fires or the spread and movement of oil slicks and other pollution.
Maybe the application of CFD (and there are lots of CFD codes out there) to military applications pays the bills to allows these other areas to progress.
Pops
End doesn't justify the means
15.09.2003 11:24
Sure, CFD has lots of beneficial applications, as you mention. If it were being exhibited at, say, a medical exhibition I'd be happy. But that doesn't mean we should remain silent when it's being promoted as a military tool at an arms fair!
Z