Birmingham NEC are hypocrites over the latest arms fair

I’m still getting used to this life. Walking through Birmingham International train station at 8am on Wednesday 4 February to the NEC, sleep-deprived. A stranger clocks me. A double-take. I’m imagining things. Oh wait. No. He’s following, phone raised, snapping pictures. Earpiece? Check. ID? None. A plain-clothes somebody, or nobody.

We’re expecting trouble later

A flimsy justification when challenged before scuttling off. I wish I’d thought to record it, but like I say, I’m getting used to this still.

Another adventure…

I was at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham. In-between hosting Springfair and The Artisanal Food and Ice Cream Show 2026, management are desperately trying to pull off the most delicate and audacious of audacious magic tricks. They’re both trying to host the SDSC Arms Convention whilst simultaneously making sure nobody notices.

Of course, local activists were intent on shining a light on proceedings. The arms fair has moved from Telford due to protests – but where the arms go, the people follow. And, based on how hard it was to even find, the NEC was clearly aware of the PR implications.

Security was obviously tight. I arrived on Tuesday to find protesters, quite literally penned in on a piece of grass outside. Security took turns escorting them to the toilets every half hour, and one person was periodically chaperoned to get hot drinks. At one point, it wasn’t clear if I’d even be permitted back through the building to the station. Fortunately, sense prevailed so I abused my press pass to visit the ice cream convention on the way back through.

Birmingham NEC: murder in the morning. Ice cream in the arvo.

It was surreal: just a couple of walls stood between people peddling death and the best pistachio ice cream I’ve ever eaten.

People posed for pictures with the Ben & Jerry’s cow, tens of metres away from… well, that’s part of the problem. It’s hard to say what’s going on in there. I applied for a press ticket but never got a reply. Walking through the centre, the silence was deafening: Springfair branding everywhere, toys and games. The ice cream convention spelled out in huge gold lettering…

But nothing for the weapons fair. How odd! Almost like they were ashamed…

It was a theme. The sheer number of people who told me they were ‘there for the ice cream’, only to duck into the weapons convention, was laughable. If you’re going to a weapons fair, own it. If you’re ashamed, why go?  And it’s the same for Birmingham NEC. If they are ashamed of hosting it, why do it? Do they believe in the cause? Do they think it’s okay to sell munitions that blow up people on the other side of the world? If so, why not write it in three-foot gold letters? Why did security ask me – belatedly – not to photograph the welcome sign in the window?

Scared of some hippies and drums

And why police a protest of tree-huggers and hippies as if they’re a dire threat? It was ridiculous. Security seemed genuinely surprised people weren’t grateful to be herded to the toilets. Since when is that normal? I’ve been going to protests for years. I’ve never seen a venue behave this way.

On Wednesday, arriving protesters were met by security escorts. They “didn’t want people to get lost.” Okay.

By 9:30am, several activists were physically carried out for handing out leaflets and dumped at the entrance.

EMBED VIDEO

Security in general was farcical. Please don’t photograph those windows? Bit late for that bud. You honestly think the first thing I did when I landed Tuesday wasn’t to take a picture of the huge fuck off “welcome” sign?

EBMED VIDEO

I want to the very clear, I don’t think that people wearing yellow bibs, earning minimum wage while standing in the cold should be the target. It’s not their fault their bosses are shit. Most probably agree that bombing kids is a shitty thing to do. People don’t get an option about their engagement with a coercive capitalist system that demands blood sacrifice every week in exchange for the basic necessities needed to keep existing.

The security managers making the decisions?

The ones sharing photos with the police; the ones laughing while making propeller motions at a staged die in highlighting the use of drones in the genocide ongoing in Gaza? That’s another matter. When, as was relayed to me, one of the security managers went out of his way to tell protesters he knew where they are from because he saw them in a right wing auditors videos… When another walks up to an NUJ journalist and tries to intimidate them by quietly telling them how much they enjoyed the pictures on their Instagram? Yeah, fuck those guys. Royally and sideways. They deserve some shit being flung at them.

Back to the protest

In the pen, the XR drummers arrived. The promised snow hadn’t materialised and spirits were high, waiting for reinforcements. The final straw for security arrived just after one o’clock from Birmingham New Street; The Red Rebel Brigade. Once they had made their way through the centre and reached the protest site, the doors slammed shut. Clearly too much publicity. Apparently there were now “too many people”. Who the fuck is that scared of 7 people in velvet bath robes?

A bus arrived. Protesters were huddled and told there would be no more access; everyone would have to walk the long way around or be driven. The day was cut short. Those who walked were led through car parks out of sight of the public to the station. Everything organised to avoid anyone ever realising that theres death being bought and sold here or that anyone was opposed to that notion.

That’s what this is about. The Birmingham NEC; a British institution trying desperately to eat its cake and then still have it; to host these events but avoid any scrutiny for having done so. Nestled in one of the most authentically working-class areas of the country; being pimped out to the highest bidder. Hiding its complicity behind free spoons of gelato. What would Ben & Jerry’s say? We couldn’t reach them for comment, but I think it’s a fucking disgrace.

Industrial levels of incompetence on display for all to see at Birmingham NEC

The handling of this protest is a recurring theme. The decision-makers aren’t bad people by default – generally they are just really bad at their jobs. How anyone thinks this is the way to manage PR is beyond me. I find myself screaming “Barbara Streisand” in my head a lot.

It’s all so counter-productive. All this bollocks about “facilitating a protest”… You’re trying to minimise and hide it. And worse – attempting to intimidate journalists? What would have happened if you’d just allowed it? Some people would have banged drums, walked around in red gowns, and caught a train home. There isn’t much to write about there.

But when you go out of your way to hide it, badly, you turn it into a story. When you stalk a journalist’s Instagram, it’s pretty weak. This is snowflake behaviour. From people hosting international arms dealers.

If the Birmingham NEC is hosting the SDSC Arms Convention, they should be proud enough to shout it from the rooftops. It should be on flags, banners, and their website. It shouldn’t be hidden between plush toys and Ben & Jerry’s.

And they shouldn’t be afraid of people asking basic questions about the ethics of hosting an event that sells weapons. Those weapons aren’t getting made for shits and giggles. They aren’t getting made for fun; they are made to be used. To be dropped on people in Gaza and to be shot at people in Kashmir and Sudan. They kill people and the Birmingham NEC has their blood on its hands.

The NEC had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Featured images via Barold