Hot on the heels of the successful rally outside HMNB Clyde, /u/NicolasBroaddus has put together an even bigger one, alongside the Solidarity London candidates: /u/Alajv3, /u/JellyCow, /u/countermyhegemony, /u/cocoiadrop_, /u/DF44, and /u/weebru_m. A large crowd has gathered outside the London headquarters of BAE Systems, waving flags and signs for the ever present press. The tone is significantly more hostile and aggrieved than the previous rally, with employees entering the building having insults and accusations of being murderers and war criminals thrown at them. Solidarity does not see any need to regulate this tone, but does keep the crowd in the area behind barricades that allow access for those not attending the rally. At the scheduled time just past six, ensuring there will be a steady stream of leaving employees to also hear the speeches of the rally, /u/NicolasBroaddus takes to the stage and gathers the attention of the crowd.

​

“Boy I couldn’t even begin to tell you how encouraged I am by seeing so many of you out here. Over the last several months I have felt as though the forces of military and colonial exploitation had finally found the perfect face for their greed, and that people would cease to make distinctions. I stand with Ukraine against Russian aggression, let me make that clear! What I do not stand with is an industry of vultures and warhawks in their endless crusade to turn blood into money!”

“How am I supposed to be happy that the UK has a thriving military aerospace industry?! We are per capita by far the largest exporter of misery across the globe, alongside aiding and abetting American imperialism! It has wounded me so deeply to see the left cede the arguments of morality to interventionists and death merchants. War is not moral! Murder is not moral! Selling the tools of these crimes to despots and juntas across the globe is NOT MORAL!”

​

The dramatic language does its job riling up the crowd, prodding them into shouting support and insults at BAE.

​

“And lest I remind you, even our supposed allies use these tools of death, and not even just that! The US uses British intelligence and British bases to launch drone strikes that murder civilians, what is that if not aiding and abetting? What is far worse is that we simply do not know the full scale of the bombings, the UK is more transparent than the US, but there have been consistent holes poked in official narratives. Even low estimates of one thousand drone strikes per year is horrific, but what’s worse is how we classify success! America has committed the same sin again and again, started by McNamara and never ended, of inventing statistics that make it look like they are being successful. Of course their numbers say they kill plenty of militants, the only definition of militant is a person who looks like an adult male who is present at the site! I suppose we should be thankful that the US Defence department is institutionally sexist so that were are not also mass murdering women at the same rate.”

“Not only do we deserve the truth, each and every person in each and every one of these countries we have inflicted this misery upon deserves the truth. Maybe some people will not be able to handle it, maybe the fact that we are murdering civilians for no reason is too much for some to accept. Solidarity calls upon the Defence ministry to publicly disclose all drone strike documents, and to demand the Americans do the same! In the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: ‘True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.’ We have not even met the first qualification of that, how dare we claim to be a peaceful nation? There can be no justice without truth, and as long as there is no justice, we must make sure there is no peace. There should be no peace for arms dealers or their accomplices, until they confess and repent for their sins or find the cold embrace of the grave!”

​

“Because let me point something out to all of you, do you know how terrible BAE and Elbit Systems are? They are so corrupt, so unethical, that HSBC will not take their money! Even HSBC takes a stand against cluster munitions! The same bank that will allegedly launder and bank the money of cartels and North Korea thinks that these companies are too evil. We cannot afford to let this viper slip into our pocket out of our genuine support for the struggle against imperialism of the people of Ukraine! They will take this one kernel of truth, this one pearl of genuine necessary defence, and use it to justify decades more of misery and murder. We must ban these companies from selling to nations that violate human rights! And if they won’t do it willingly, what do you all think we should do to these offices and factories?”

Angry and outraged shouts and demands ring out from the crowd, creating a cacophony of righteous moral fury.

​

“I like your energy! You’re right, that is exactly what the consequences should be. It is horrifying to me that the only parties to denounce this slide into jingoism are Solidarity and the Pirates. Seeing Labour drawn in by the clarion call of moral superiority found through victory in battle is a hideous spectre of Blair that will seemingly never be exorcised. It is clear yet again that trusting Labour to be a party that opposes war and bloodshed is futile. Sure, maybe they will pass a few social democratic reforms while letting children be reduced to a spray of blood and viscera, but what good is that to our souls? How are we even supposed to give them the benefit of the doubt? When there are brave individuals who have a moment of personal revelation and take a stand on moral principle by leaking documents to the public, how are we not supposed to assume those who do not do the same have accepted their complicity? Perhaps their thirty pieces of silver was enough, it would not be for me. As long as there are Chelsea Mannings and William McNeillys in this world, I must hold others to that same standard. But I ask any of you working here who are listening to my words, who know that I am speaking the truth: reveal it to the world. It is the right thing to do, and I know there are people who can hear me who know that I am correct. Come to the right side of history, and stand in Solidarity with all life on this planet.”

“We need a new Government, of, by, and for the masses. Solidarity is the only party in London that will end the bloodshed, and one of only two in the entire United Kingdom. Solidarity is the only party that sees these vampires in fitted suits for what they are, and will see that they receive the punishment they so richly deserve. We aren’t fooled, and I can see that none of you are either!”

While it takes some time for the crowd to settle down after his speech finishes a short time later, things remain peaceful if very tense. The local London candidates take time to talk to attendants of the rally and answer questions for them and the press. It takes several hours for the crowd to fully disperse, as the nightlife of London comes out in force.

https://preview.redd.it/ytactz8fmwi91.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=d48d190d11ac914e8c31850f17f39829efed1fb6