Given the recent decisions by the ACC exhibition centre to hold the AOC arms fair, and now to hold a revivalist event with homophobic and Islamophobic hate preacher, Franklin Graham we call on John Moore's Student Union to boycott the ACC centre/M&S bank arena.

We have called for this boycott for many reasons including but not limited to the following: 

Solidarity with LGBTQ+ Students:

Many of the arms companies involved in the AOC arms fair sell arms or provide training to the Saudi Arabian armed forces. (There are other regimes too that could be mentioned) According to the Human Dignity Trust, LGBTQ+ identity is punishable with the maximum punishment of death. We cannot understand why the ACC, a publicly owned building, hosted companies who have armed a state, in which the rights of our LGBTQ+ siblings are non-existent.

Franklin Graham's organisation, the Billy Graham Society, has a history of homophobia. In a 2020 article detailing their opposition to the BLM movement they gave three reasons 

1. "Black Lives Matter seeks to dismantle the Biblical definition of family." This boiled down to the author objecting to the fact that two of the three Black Women who founded BLM “are self-proclaimed 'queer'" and the writer’s version of Christianity opposes homosexuality and gay marriage.
2. "Black Lives Matter champions the celebration of homosexuality." This boils down to the writer opposing BLM being an LGBTQ+ inclusive movement. The writer goes on to describe LGBTQ+ relationships as a “vile passion” to be redeemed.
3. "Black Lives Matter touts gender confusion as normal and seeks to make heroes of those who are mentally confused." This was followed by some transphobic talking points and boils down to the same point as the last two, that LGBTQ+ existence in the eyes of the writer is incompatible with God.

As shown from just one article on the Billy Graham site, the views of this organization are deeply homophobic and transphobic.

Solidarity with Refugees:

Many of the companies present at the AOC arms fair boast about the use of their technology in border control systems. As a sanctuary city, it is deeply hypocritical for a publicly owned building to invite many of the same companies who are profiting from the weapons these refugees are running from and then profiting from the border systems designed to keep refugees from easily entering safe countries.

In 2015, the US proposed offering preferential treatment to Christian refugees and a ban on Muslim immigration. Many religious leaders stood in solidarity with each other in opposition to this Islamophobic policy. Meanwhile, Graham took the stance that “We should stop all immigration of Muslims to the U.S until this threat with Islam has been settled. Every Muslim that comes into this country has the potential to be radicalized—and they do their killing to honour their religion and Muhammad.” 

This statement is Islamophobic firstly due to the insinuation that Islam is a monolith and secondly for the unfounded implication that honour killings are a part of the Muslim faith despite the Quran’s explicit condemnation for the killing of innocents.

This support of repressive border enforcement methods also suggests that Graham views religious belief as a suitable rubric to judge the worth of individual lives. I would like to believe that, as a student union, we find such a view repulsive.

Solidarity with Muslim Students:

According to CAAT (Campaign Against the Arms Trade), since 60% of the UK arms trade went to countries in the Middle East and most of this trade went to dictatorships, it can be said that the effects of the UK arms trade are predominantly felt by Muslims. Many of these governments, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have been directly involved in one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent history, Yemen. Liverpool is home to one of the UK’s oldest Yemeni communities and it is unconscionable that the ACC centre would invite arms dealers who have been profiting from Human Rights abuses and the destruction of Yemen. 

Many of the other arms companies invited to the AOC arms fair have also been involved in the militarization of borders since the Arab Spring, which led to the largest wave of migration since the Second World War. By selling barbed wire, patrol ships and drones, British arms companies have effectively been able to profit twice from such conflicts.

Franklin Graham's thoughts on Muslims are very well documented, such as his support of the US Government’s Muslim travel ban, his comments that Islam was an “evil” and “wicked” religion, the conspiracy theories that President Obama was secretly born a Muslim and that his administration was infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood to pursue a secret agenda. The responsibility of a publicly owned venue is to responsibly platform its speakers. Through planning to platform a speaker whose views are demonstrably Islamophobic, the ACC has failed in that duty.

Solidarity with Black Students:

Over the last couple of years, we have seen one of the largest civil rights movements in recent memory in the form of the BLM movement which has gained huge public attention around the murder of George Floyd, demanding an end to systemic racism, both in policing and in general life. The UK bears significant responsibility. Historically, this can be seen in the implementation of white supremacist systems across the globe. In the modern era, the UK has not given up on this legacy and the UK arms industry plays a vital role in upholding racial injustice globally. For example, CAAT found that “Since 2010 the UK has licensed £2 million worth of Security and paramilitary police goods to the US police, and £18 million worth of ammunition sales to the US military and police, including crowd control ammunition, CS hand grenades, and tear gas.” 

LJMU gave a commitment at the beginning of the last academic year to fighting racial injustice. For the university to continue to do business with the ACC whilst it is happy to invite arms companies, who play a vital role in providing the armaments used to enforce racial injustice and Human Rights violations, runs completely contrary to this commitment.