Letter: The Raytheon Campaign: A Platform for Ethical Investment and a Peace-based Local Economy

Using the Freedom of Information legislation, Sentinel Editor, William Allen, has brought to light the sometimes torturous deliberations as our local political representatives came to respond to the contradictions of hosting the activities of a key player in the international arms trade as part of the so called 'peace dividend' arising from the peace process.

The legacy of the hard fought campaign to bring this contradiction to bear in the minds and decisions of local politicians reaches much further than closure of the Raytheon plant. The objectives of our work alongside many other opponents of the arms trade extended to the very model of economic development we are to embrace for the city-region. So regardless of your views on the arms trade, FEIC's core message has a continuing relevance in the current economic climate.

FEIC did more than oppose Raytheon. FEIC worked alongside local political representatives in shaping an historic Motion (January 2004) in which Derry City Council not only set its face against the presence of the arms trade, it

undertook to pursue a vision that would link our economic development model to the pursuit of a peace that comes at nobody's expense. It is difficult to overstate the significance – including for the city marketing profile – of the

Council's explicit and courageous rejection of the arms industry. Indeed, it may well be a unique achievement.

The Council Motion contains the following elements:

– Council does not want the Council area to become a production site for the arms industry;

– Derry City Council has a vision for a City in which all its citizens have pride, building on its proud traditions of civil rights, religious liberty, tolerance and non-violence;

– Resolve to elaborate a policy to create a climate conducive to socially responsible investment taking root so that the City might be set apart internationally and be marketed as a beacon of socially responsible investment;

– Support for initiatives that promote education about the effects of the international arms trade and greater understanding between the Global Northand Global South; For the Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign the lasting legacy of the rise and fall of Raytheon will be the economic development commitments entered into

by Derry City Council on behalf of its people.

For this reason, FEIC also took a number of initiatives to the Council, inviting them to: support a Fair Trade campaign in the city; bring together members of the UK and Republic of Ireland sustainable development commissions for their first cross-border session in the city; and put sustainability at the heart of the ILEX regeneration

plans.

We will continue to work on the implementation of this vision independently and with council. In these hard times characterised by deep economic insecurity a vision for an ethically-informed, sustainable local economy might appear ambitious. Indeed it would be if it were not unique in its global appeal. FEIC has always been convinced that our city-region can build on its international profile as a zone of conflict by elaborating a 'peace' that extends to (and exploits) some of the richest and most sustainable global economic sectors, including green technologies and industries, ethical consumption and finance, and the social economy.

One niche area waiting to be occupied by the city is ethical investment. While only making up approximately 1.8 per cent of the overall amount in UK deposits and investments, money in ethical finance has increased by 34 per cent over the last 12 months, marking a near four-fold expansion between 1999 and 2009 from 5.1billion to 19.2 billion. It's a similar story with green technologies and start-ups. Investors across the globe have poured nearly

$1.9 billion into green technology start-ups, which is 29% more than the fourth quarter of 2009 and a huge 83% increase year-on-year. FEIC has invited the City Council to lead a campaign for a 'think (and do) tank' dedicated to rolling out a research and implementation strategy after identifying ways to exploit these expanding sectors and create a local peace-based sustainable economy.

For Derry the political choices made around the Raytheon controversy can positively inform our response to the current economic recession, harnessing an ethical vision to one that is also viable. The FEIC charter concludes:

'We commit ourselves to the real security that can only be realised through the relief of poverty, the globalisation of justice and human solidarity.'

This is also the precise response of progressive economic movements across the world who have set their face against the brutalising legacy of neoliberalism and its storm troopers in the arms trade.

Dr Peter Doran

Jim Keys

Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign

17 January 2011