It has been suggested that defence contractor be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2012.

Workers assemble Browning-Inglis Hi-Power pistols at the John Inglis munitions plant, Canada, April 1944

The arms industry is a global business which manufactures weapons and military technology and equipment. It consists of commercial industry involved in research, development, production, and service of military material, equipment and facilities. Arms producing companies, also referred to as defence contractors or military industry, produce arms mainly for the armed forces of states. Departments of government also operate in the arms industry, buying and selling weapons, munitions and other military items. Products include guns, ammunition, missiles, military aircraft, military vehicles, ships, electronic systems, and more. The arms industry also conducts significant research and development.

It is estimated that yearly, over 1.5 trillion dollars are spent on military expenditures worldwide (2.7% of World GDP).^[1] This represents a decline from 1990 when military expenditures made up 4% of world GDP. Part of this goes to the procurement of military hardware and services from the military industry. The combined arms sales of the top 100 largest arms producing companies amounted to an estimated $315 billion in 2006.^[2] In 2004 over $30 billion were spent in the international arms trade (a figure that excludes domestic sales of arms).^[3] The arms trade has also been one of the sectors impacted by the credit crunch, with total deal value in the market halving from US$32.9bn to US$14.3bn in 2008.^[4] Many industrialized countries have a domestic arms industry to supply their own military forces. Some countries also have a substantial legal or illegal domestic trade in weapons for use by its citizens. An illegal trade in small arms is prevalent in many countries and regions affected by political instability.

Contracts to supply a given country's military are awarded by the government, making arms contracts of substantial political importance. The link between politics and the arms trade can result in the development of what US President Dwight D. Eisenhower described as a military-industrial-congressional complex, where the armed forces, commerce, and politics become closely linked. The European defence procurement is more or less analogous to the U.S. military-industrial complex. Various corporations, some publicly held, others private, bid for these contracts, which are often worth many billions of dollars. Sometimes, such as the contract for the new Joint Strike Fighter, a competitive tendering process takes place, where the decision is made on the merits of the design submitted by the companies involved. Other times, no bidding or competition takes place.

In the Cold War Era, arms exports were used by both the Soviet Union and the United States to influence their standings in other countries, particularly Third World Countries.

Unimog truck at IDEF in 2007.

Sectors[link]

The AK series of weapons have been produced in greater numbers than any other firearm and have been used in conflicts all over the world.

Land-based weapons[link]

This category includes everything from light arms to heavy artillery, and the majority of producers are small. Many are located in Third World countries. International trade in handguns, machine guns, tanks, armored personnel carriers and other relatively inexpensive weapons is substantial. There is relatively little regulation at the international level, and as a result, many weapons fall into the hands of organised crime, rebel forces, terrorists, or regimes under sanctions.^[5]

Small arms[link]

The Control Arms Campaign, founded by Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the International Action Network on Small Arms, estimated in 2003 that there are over 639 million small arms in circulation, and that over 1,135 companies based in more than 98 different countries manufacture small arms as well as their various components and ammunition.^[6]

Aerospace systems[link]

A T-45 Goshawk on the assembly line at McDonnell Douglas.

Encompassing military aircraft (both land-based and naval aviation), conventional missiles, and military satellites, this is the most technologically advanced sector of the market. It is also the least competitive from an economic standpoint, with a handful of companies dominating the entire market. The top clients and major producers are virtually all located in the western world, with the United States easily in first place. Prominent aerospace firms include Dassault Aviation, Sukhoi, EADS, Finmeccanica, Thales Group, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and BAE Systems. There are also several multinational consortia mostly involved in the manufacturing of fighter jets, such as the Eurofighter. The largest military contract in history, signed in October 2001, involved the development of the Joint Strike Fighter.^[5]

Naval systems[link]

All of the world's major powers maintain substantial maritime forces to provide a global presence, with the largest nations possessing aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and advanced anti-air defense systems. The vast majority of military ships are conventionally powered, but some are nuclear-powered. There is also a large global market in second-hand naval vessels, generally purchased by developing countries from Western governments.^[5]

World's largest defense budgets[link]

This is a list of the ten countries with the highest defence budgets for the year 2011, which is $1.29 trillion or 74% of total world expenditures. The information is from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.^[7] Total world spending amounted to $1.74 trillion USD in 2011.

Rank	Country	Spending ($ b.)	World Share (%)	% of GDP, 2011
1	United States	711.0	41.0	4.7
2	Chinaa	143.0	8.2	2.0
3	Russiaa	71.9	4.1	3.9
4	United Kingdom	62.7	3.6	2.6
5	France	62.5	3.6	2.3
6	Japan	59.3	3.4	1.0
7	Saudi Arabiab	48.5	2.8	8.7
8	India	46.8	2.7	2.5
9	Germanya	46.7	2.7	1.3
10	Brazil	35.4	2.0	1.5
	World Total	1735	100	2.5

^a SIPRI estimates

^b SIPRI: "The figures for Saudi Arabia include expenditure on public order and safety and might be slight overestimates"

World's largest arms exporters[link]

The unit in this table are so-called trend indicator values expressed in millions of US dollars at 1990s prices. These values do not represent real financial flows but are a crude instrument to estimate volumes of arms transfers, regardless of the contracted prices, which can be as low as zero in the case of military aid. Ordered by descending 2000–2010 values. The information is from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.^[8]

2001–12 Rank	Supplier	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
1	United States	5908	5229	5698	6866	6700	7453	8003	6288	6658	8641	-	-
2	Russia	5896	5705	5236	6178	5134	5095	5426	5953	5575	6039	13200[9]	14000[10]
3	Germany	850	916	1713	1105	2080	2567	3194	2500	2432	2340	-	-
4	France	1297	1368	1345	2219	1724	1643	2432	1994	1865	1834	-	-
5	United Kingdom	1368	1068	741	1316	1039	855	1018	982	1022	1054	-	-
6	China	499	509	665	292	303	597	430	586	1000	1423	-	-
7	Netherlands	203	239	342	209	583	1187	1326	530	545	503	-	-
8	Sweden	880	191	526	314	538	432	366	454	383	806	-	-
9	Italy	216	426	341	212	774	502	684	417	514	627	-	-
10	Israel	407	436	368	628	368	299	438	281	807	472	-	-
11	Ukraine	700	311	442	200	290	553	728	330	320	201	-	-
12	Spain	7	120	150	56	108	843	590	610	998	513	-	-
13	Switzerland	193	157	181	243	246	285	301	482	255	137	-	-
14	Canada	129	170	263	265	226	226	334	227	169	258	-	-
15	South Korea	165	N/A	100	29	48	94	220	80	163	95	-	-

The information is also from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute or from the national defence commissions where available and is updated at least once a year.

Sgraffito at the Lambert Sevart weapons factory, in Liege (Belgium) (early XXth Century).

Next to SIPRI there are several other sources that provide data on international transfers of arms. These include national reports by national governments about arms exports, the UN register on conventional arms and an annual publication by the US Congressional Research Service that includes data on arms exports to developing countries as compiled by US intelligence agencies. A list of such sources can be found at the SIPRI website. ^[11] Due to the different methodologies and definitions used different sources often provide significantly different data. For example, according to Statistisk sentralbyrå (Norway state statistics), Norway exports a greater value (in USD) of arms than many of the nations listed above.

Some of the differences are possibly due to deliberate over- or under-reporting by some of the sources. Governments may claim high arms exports as part of their role in marketing efforts of their national arms industry or they may claim low arms exports in order to be perceived as a responsible international actor.

As of 2008 Britain has become the worlds leading developer of arms with British company BAE Systems.^[12] Defence group BAE Systems is the first company outside the U.S. to reach the top position,thanks to a deal with the Pentagon for mine-resistant vehicles to be used in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a defence think tank, the former British Aerospace group's arms sales are ahead of American market leaders Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The report reveals BAE's U.S. subsidiary was alone responsible for 61.5 per cent of the group's arms sales and around 58.5 per cent of total group sales. This demonstrates BAE's increasing reliance on orders for conventional weapons as the U.S. cuts back on its nuclear arsenal. The British figures were also boosted by orders for Eurofighter Typhoon jets from Saudi Arabia.

After the success of Pakistan's major developments in the defence industry the Defence Export Promotion Organisation (D.E.P.O.) was created to promote Pakistani defence equipment to the world by inviting major and small players to the I.D.E.A.S. Exhibition, which is held annually at the Karachi expo center. In recent reports, the defence exports were worth over $500 million USD in 2006 and growing annually.

World's largest arms importers[link]

The unit in this table are so-called trend indicator values expressed in millions of US dollars. These values do not represent real financial flows but are a crude instrument to estimate volumes of arms transfers, regardless of the contracted prices, which can be as low as zero in the case of military aid.

Current Rank	Importer	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
1	India	911	1242	1872	2802	2227	1036	1257	2179	1810	2116	3337
2	Australia	364	1191	647	798	505	470	682	629	380	757	1677
3	South Korea	1262	623	461	680	986	686	1650	1758	1821	1172	1131
4	Singapore	622	220	235	88	384	543	52	368	1123	1729	1078
5	United States	301	449	453	533	512	501	581	731	808	831	893
6	Algeria	418	553	237	197	272	156	308	471	1518	942	791
7	Saudi Arabia	158	397	533	592	385	332	262	613	939	1146	2580
8	Greece	710	725	491	2241	1528	389	598	1796	563	1269	703
9	People's Republic of China	2015	3366	2819	2207	3080	3511	3831	1474	1481	595	559
10	United Arab Emirates	243	186	213	695	1246	2198	2026	938	748	604	493
11	Pakistan	80	59	555	159	1161	148	185	64	115	626	787
12	Turkey	1170	553	1009	438	187	1005	422	585	578	675	468
13	Malaysia	30	26	131	135	48	51	410	546	541	1494	411
14	Norway	263	148	92	4	6	14	469	494	536	576	205
15	Indonesia	171	27	63	398	82	31	58	577	241	452	198

List of major weapon manufacturers[link]

Private military contractors are private companies that provide logistics, manpower, and other expenditures for a military force.

Major arms industry corporations by nation[link]

Institutes participating in weapon research and warfare simulation[link]

• Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research ^[13]
• Bolt, Beranek and Newman
• QinetiQ
• World Security Institute

Arms control[link]

Oscar Arias Sanchez President of Costa Rica (awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to end civil wars across Central America through the Esquipulas II Accords) has stated:

International treaties for arms control[link]

• The Arms Trade Treaty is the name of a potential multilateral treaty that would control the international trade of conventional weapons. The treaty is in the preliminary stages of development and has not yet been officially negotiated.
• The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) is an informal and voluntary partnership between 34 countries to prevent the proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of carrying a 500 kg payload at least 300 km.
• The Limitation of Naval Armament included many separate treaties. In general, the treaties involved the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and France.
• The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) is an international treaty that prohibits the use of cluster bombs, a type of explosive weapon which scatters submunitions ("bomblets") over an area.
• The Outer Space Treaty, formally known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is a treaty that forms the basis of international space law.
• The Ottawa Treaty or the Mine Ban Treaty, formally the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, completely bans all anti-personnel landmines (AP-mines).
• The New START Treaty (for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) (Russian: СНВ-III) is a bilateral nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation that was signed in Prague on April 8, 2010.
• The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the first use of chemical and biological weapons. It was signed at Geneva on June 17, 1925 and entered into force on February 8, 1928. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on September 7, 1929.

• The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons.

• The Biological Weapons Convention (or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention) was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons. It was the result of prolonged efforts by the international community to establish a new instrument that would supplement the 1925 Geneva Protocol.

The European Council stated to the United Nations General Assembly:

See also[link]

• Category:Defence companies by country
• Defense contractor – list of largest defense companies in the world
• Small arms proliferation
• MMRCA (Sale of 126–200 Fighter Aircraft for Indian Airforce)
• European Union arms embargo on China
• List of National Defense Industries
• Defence industry of Russia
• Private military company
• Campaign Against Arms Trade
• Canadian Arms trade
• List of countries by military expenditures
• Permanent arms economy
• Military funding of science
• Military-industrial complex
• Military Keynesianism
• Offset agreement
• Peace dividend
• Guns versus butter theory
• Al-Yamamah arms deal (United Kingdom sales to Saudi Arabia)
• Arms control
• Torture trade

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Military industries and wartime industrial production

• Defense Sector Investment Benchmark – SPADE Defense Index (AMEX: DXS)
• World Security Institute's Center for Defense Information
• Campaign Against Arms Trade (UK)
• U.S. Arms Sales to the Third World from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
• SIPRI arms industry reports and database
• SIPRI list of Top 100 arms-producing companies
• The Guardian's arms trade report
• List of participators of the Defense System and Equipment international conference in London, 2003
• Viktor Bout arms trade case
• FAS's Arms Sales Monitoring Project
• UN Office for Disarmament Affairs
• ControlArms.org
• Defense Industrial Base Blog
• Amnesty International: Arms Trade Treaty
• The British Library – Defence Industry Guide (sources of information)
• Z. Yihdego, Arms Trade and International Law, Hart: OXford, 2007
• World Map and Chart of Arms exports per country by Lebanese-economy-forum, World Bank data

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (April 2012)

Mark Thomas
Born	Mark Clifford Thomas (1963-04-11) 11 April 1963 (age 49) London, England, UK
Residence	London, England, UK
Occupation	Comedian Presenter Reporter Columnist
Employer	New Statesman
Known for	Political activism
Spouse	Married
Children	2
Website
MarkThomasInfo.com

Mark Clifford Thomas (born 11 April 1963) is an English comedian, presenter, political activist and reporter from south London. He first became known as a guest comic on the BBC Radio 1 comedy show The Mary Whitehouse Experience in the late 1980s. He is best known for political stunts on his show, The Mark Thomas Comedy Product on Channel 4. Thomas describes himself as a "libertarian anarchist." ^[1]

Biography[link]

Mark Thomas was born in South London. His mother was a midwife and his father a self employed builder (and ex lay preacher).^[2] Thomas was educated at Macaulay Church of England Primary School, Victoria Rise, Clapham until 1974, where his party trick was to recite the first verses of the four gospels from memory, and then the independent Christ's Hospital School, where he attained O-levels and A-levels. He went on to be awarded a degree in Theatre Arts at Bretton Hall College, just south of Wakefield.

Prior to his most renowned vehicle, The Mark Thomas Comedy Product, Thomas was a frequent guest comic on the BBC Radio 1 show The Mary Whitehouse Experience, where he would do a routine about a specific topic of the week and involve studio audience members in the discussions. He would also occasionally play parts in sketches written by the show's main performers. He then became the resident stand-up comic on Saturday Zoo, a Channel 4 comedy series first screened in 1993 and appeared on an episode of Have I Got News For You. He also co-presented the highly successful Radio 1 comedy talk show Loose Talk with Kevin Day, and is also a founder member of the London Comedy Store's hard hitting Cutting Edge show.

His political comedy show, The Mark Thomas Comedy Product (later renamed as simply The Mark Thomas Product, to reflect its increasing political agenda) on Channel 4 earned him criticism from politicians but was seen by critics as a crucial investigative tool. In one edition, Thomas investigated the practice of avoiding inheritance tax by declaring art, furniture, homes and land available for public viewing. Thomas showed how Nicholas Soames hid this fact from the public and at the same time avoided paying tax. After being pursued relentlessly by Thomas legitimately asking for permission to see his furniture, Soames eventually paid the tax^{[citation needed]}, and Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, changed the law^{[citation needed]}.

Leaving Channel 4 was a mutual decision, following a series of disputes over how far the channel would go in its broadcasting, one of which concerned the channel's reluctance to support actions concerning corporate accountability and corporate manslaughter laws — a cause he had campaigned for — which coincided with the Queen Mother's funeral. He declined to take part in a proposed Celebrity Guantanamo Bay 'reality TV' show.

Thomas has appeared at numerous comedy benefit nights, and is a well established stand-up comedian in the UK. He is the Chairman of the Ilısu Dam Campaign, a campaign which was successful in temporarily blocking the development of a large-scale hydroelectric dam in southeast Turkey that campaigners claim will lead to the displacement of up to 78,000 people, mostly Kurds, without adequate compensation or consultation, as well as to environmental and cultural destruction.

Recently, Thomas has been working with War on Want in India and investigating and filming alleged human rights violations in Colombia (by, amongst others, Coca-Cola)^[3] where trade unions are targeted by militia allegedly controlled by the government.^[4] He wrote a regular column for the New Statesman between 2001 and 2007.

The Parliamentary committee which oversees weapons exports, the House of Commons Quadripartite Select Committee, commended him for his undercover work, which led to official warning letters being issued to a number of companies.^[5] His work in this area is covered in As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade, a book chronicling his experiences undercover, his political activism and his projects designed to find and report loopholes in arms trading laws, which culminated in a controversial unbroadcast Newsnight article about the Hinduja brothers.

Thomas at the UK Uncut stand-up show in March 2011

Whilst promoting this book on his latest tour, Thomas is also organising Mass Lone Demonstrations, in protest at the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, which prevents any demonstrations around London's Parliament Square without prior police approval. The last event attracted over 100 'lone protesters' at the same time.^[6] In 2006, he was added to the Guinness Book of Records for most demonstrations held on one day: 20 individual protests in 20 different locations. He actually performed 21 protests, but as the first and last took place at the same location, it was agreed that only 20 would count. However, his record was beaten in 2010 by the Freman College Amnesty group, who held 23 demonstrations.^[7][8]

In 2008, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bradford, for services to peace and for his work as a comedian, political activist, presenter and investigative journalist, especially for his effective campaigning on the ethics of the arms trade. The University has a long-standing Department of Peace Studies.^[9]

In 2009, Mark launched the Huddersfield Policy postcard campaign, petitioning the Queen with protests against the prospect of a state funeral for Margaret Thatcher.^[10]

For his 'It's The Stupid Economy' UK tour in 2009, Mark played 55 shows over 14 weeks (between March and end July) and encouraged each audience to come up with their own policies (be it silly or serious) that will somehow make their lives better, forming a "People's Manifesto". Each audience then got to vote on their favourite policy of that evening and the winning suggestion then formed part of his manifesto which he will then campaign for and attempt to actually make at least some of the suggestions become reality.

In April 2010, Thomas was awarded £1200 compensation for a search carried out by police in 2007. He had been unlawfully subject to a stop-and-search without adequate cause, after speaking at an anti-arms rally.^[11]

During 2010 Mark decided to go rambling in the Middle East and walked the entire length of the Israeli Separation Barrier, crossing between the Israeli and the Palestinian side. He is currently touring with a show entitled "Walking The Wall" which recounts the story.

Radio[link]

• Friday Night Live, Channel 4 (1978)
• Saturday Zoo, Channel 4 (1993)
• Viva Cabaret, Channel 4 (1993)
• Denton, Channel 7 Australia (1994)
• The Mark Thomas Comedy Product (later renamed The Mark Thomas Product), Channel 4 which ran for six series totalling 45 episodes (1996–2002)
• Dispatches: The Lie Of The Land, Channel 4 (1998)
• Thomas Country, Channel 4 (1999)
• The Immigration and Asylum Bill, Channel 5 (2000)
• Secret Map of Britain, Channel 112 (2002)
• Dispatches: Mark Thomas — Broom cupboard Inspector, Channel 4 (2003)
• Dispatches: Mark Thomas — Debt Collector, Channel 4 (2003)
• Dispatches: After School Arms Club, Channel 4 (2006)
• Dispatches: Mark Thomas on Pepsi, Channel 4 (3007)

Radio[link]

• The Mary Whitehouse Experience, Radio 1 (1989)
• The Mix, Radio 5 (1990)
• Sleeping with the NME, Radio 5 (1991)
• Loose Talk, Radio 1 (1991–1992)
• Booked!, Radio 4 (1995–1998)
• Celluloid Psychiatrists, Radio 4 (2000)
• Left Bank of the Mind, Radio 4 (2001)
• Mark Thomas Presents…, Radio 4 (2005) (shows on Stan Freberg, the Firesign Theatre, Shelley Berman and Mort Sahl)
• Chain Reaction, Radio 4 (2006)
• My Life in Serious Organised Crime, Radio 4 (2007)
• Ramblings, Radio 4 (2008) (walking The Ridgeway track in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire)
• Mark Thomas: The Manifesto Radio 4 (2009–present)

Discography[link]

• Sex, Filth and Religion (video) (1995)
• Live (1998)
• Dambusters (2001)
• The Night War Broke Out (2004)
• Mark Thomas Comedy Show ([DVD)] (2005)
• Mark Thomas:Serious Organised Criminal (DVD) (2007)

Live tours[link]

• As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela... (2006)
• Serious Organised Criminal (2007)
• Belching Out The Devil (2008)
• It's the Stupid Economy(2009)
• Extreme Rambling – Walking the Wall (2011)

Other live shows[link]

• Mark Thomas: Metrix Consortium at The Open University (9 September 2008) [1]

Awards[link]

• Time Out Comedy Award (1990)
• Perrier Comedy Award nominee (1992)^[12]

In addition to being recognised for his comedy career, Mark Thomas has been awarded various citations for his political campaigning, including:

• Kurdish National Congress Medal of Honour (2002)^[13]
• International Service Award for the Global Defence of Human Rights (2004)
• MediActivist Awards [2]) (2005)^[14]
• Former Guinness World Record Holder for Most Number of Political Demonstrations in 24 Hours^[15]

He was also made an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Bradford on 3 December 2008, in recognition of his peace campaigning and services to comedy.^[16]

Politics[link]

• In his 4 March 2002 New Statesman column,^[17] Mark placed a bounty on the head of US President George Bush to the value of £4,320^[12] (his total earnings writing for the magazine to that point).
• Despite playing a prank on him on the first episode of The Mark Thomas Comedy Product he appeared on a platform with controversial left-wing MP George Galloway in the "Troops out, no Trident" demonstration on 24 February 2007.^[18]

In February 2009 British entertainers David Baddiel, Bill Bailey, Morwenna Banks, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Jo Brand, Russell Brand, Rob Brydon, Jimmy Carr, Jack Dee, Omid Djalili, Sean Lock, Lee Mack, Alexei Sayle, Meera Syal, Mark Thomas said in an open letter printed in The Times newspaper of the Bahá'í leaders to be on trial in Iran: "In reality, their only “crime”, which the current regime finds intolerable, is that they hold a religious belief that is different from the majority…. we register our solidarity with all those in Iran who are being persecuted for promoting the best development of society …(and) with the governments, human rights organisations and people of goodwill throughout the world who have so far raised their voices calling for a fair trial, if not the complete release of the Baha’i leaders in Iran."^[19] Echoing the comments earlier in the month made by two hundred and sixty seven non-Bahá'í Iranian academics, writers, artists, journalists and activists from some 21 countries including Iran who signed an open letter of apology posted to Iranian.com and stating they were "ashamed" and pledging their support in Bahá'ís achieving the rights detailed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for the Bahá'ís in Iran.^[20] See Persecution of Bahá'ís.

On 14 April 2009, a video was released on YouTube in which Mark officially endorsed the Green Party.^[21]

See also[link]

• Ilısu Dam Campaign
• Robert Newman
• Southeastern Anatolia Project
• Corporate crime
• Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (see "Protests near Parliament" section)

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Mark Thomas: Taking comedy seriously — BBC profile
• the unofficially official reading list of the officially unofficial Mark Thomas mailing list (list)
• Mark Thomas: method and madness of a TV comic — interview in the UNESCO publication The New Courier
• Mark Thomas interviewed about As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela
• Mark Thomas Alive: An online video about COKE.
• Old Blue Mark Thomas publishes his first book, As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade
• Mark Thomas at the Internet Movie Database
• Mark Thomas interview
• My life in serious organised crime - Radio satire about demonstrating in Parliament Square.