New to Livestreaming? Click here to find out how it all works.

CUCKOOED
a comedy of betrayal
A comedy of betrayal. Mark Thomas tells his true story of how Britain’s biggest arms manufacturer (BAE Systems) came to spy on a comedian. A tale of hubris, planes, demos and undercover deceit told by the award-winning performer. 

Fifteen years ago an activist and close friend of Mark's was exposed as a spy for BAE Systems infiltrating the movement. Now Mark wants to find him and has some questions to ask. This is a true story. The show uses interviews from friends, colleagues, activists and journalists to examine the impact of betrayal.

It is a personal and timely tale that tries to unearth what it means to be spied upon by a corporation under the sanction of the state.

As usual plenty of laughs, some weird characters, documentary styles, probably a tear or two and the vague possibility that Mark might get beaten up in the making of it as he tries to find out if he wants revenge or if he can forgive a friend.

The show won an Edinburgh Fringe First Award, the Amnesty Freedom of Expression Award and ran for a month off Broadway in New York.

organisations
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) is a UK-based organisation working to end the international arms trade.

CAAT website: https://caat.org.uk/
CAAT donation page: https://caat.org.uk/donate/

The UK is one of the world’s largest arms exporters, arming some of the world’s most repressive regimes including Saudi Arabia and Israel and we continue to supply arms to countries who are in the midst of conflict and wars, which we did during the bombardment of Gaza in 2014 and as we’re currently doing with the Saudi led bombardment of Yemen.

CAAT therefore works towards exposing the sales of weapons with the ultimate aim of stopping them for good. We work with campaigners and organisations across the country, including our campaigns to stop arming Saudi and to Stop arming Israel and our recent work to hold our government accountable for licensing the sales of so called “crowd control equipment” to the US, the type of which was used to violently attack protestors and journalists.

The arms business has a devastating impact on human rights and security, and damages economic development. Large scale military procurement and arms exports only reinforce a militaristic approach to international problems. CAAT considers that security needs to be seen in much broader terms that are not dominated by military and arms company interests. A wider security policy would have the opportunity to reallocate resources according to actual threats and benefits, including addressing major causes of insecurity such as inequality and climate change.

CAAT was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, the Alternative Nobel Prize, in 2012 for innovative and effective campaigning against the global arms trade.