Online event · April 8 2022, 3pm CET

Disruptive Fridays: Corruption in the Global Arms Trade

Drawing New Connections

With: Julia Auf dem Brinke (Co-Founder & Programme Manager, Corruption Tracker), B. Arneson (Research Coordinator, Corruption Tracker).
Live at https://www.disruptionlab.org/fridays

In this Disruptive Friday session, Julia Auf dem Brinke in conversation with B. Arneson will discuss the detrimental effects of corruption in the global arms trade on democratic systems, the mechanisms that sustain the military-industrial complex, and the socio-economic opportunity costs of corruption. In addition, Julia and B. will highlight the importance of skills-sharing, intersectional coalition building, and activism as paths forward.

As the most corrupt business sector globally, the arms trade drains resources from the people and drives conflicts across the world. The Corruption Tracker Project (CT) seeks to shine a light into the shadows of this world’s most secretive and deadly industry by providing a database of corruption cases within the global arms trade in one place. CT aims to be a useful resource for anyone looking for quick, well-researched facts on an individual corruption case, as well as for those looking to identify patterns across a number of deals.

Equally important, the CT fosters knowledge exchange and coalition building, particularly empowering young activists, researchers, and journalists to obtain the tools to critically examine corrupt practices and to draw the connection as to how this intersects with their lived experience as well as activism.

Julia Auf dem Brinke is a co-founder and programme manager for the Corruption Tracker project, where she works on bringing together activists, academics, and journalists to tackle the detrimental effect of corruption within the global arms trade. She is also part of the Forum on Arms Trade´s Emerging Experts 2021/2022 cohort. Julia holds an MSc from SOAS in Politics of Conflict, Rights and Justice, and previously worked at the International Peace Bureau, SCRAP Weapons and the Center of Conflict, Rights and Justice (SOAS). Her research and advocacy work focuses on arms trade, corruption, and the military-industrial complex.

B. Arneson is a Research Coordinator for the Corruption Tracker and an Outreach Coordinator for the World Peace Foundation's program, "Defense Industries, Foreign Policy, and Armed Conflict." She is also the Founder of Paperbacks for Perpetrators, a project that provides books to individuals who are incarcerated in the US. B got her MSc in the Politics of Conflict, Rights, and Justice at SOAS, University of London. Her previous research and grassroots organizing has focused on LGBTQ+ rights, the occupation of Palestine, drone warfare in the MENA region, and the US prison-industrial complex. 

The event is part of the Disruption Network Lab programme series Challenging Corruption: Empowering Future Voices funded by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) as commissioned by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany.