ORCA

Organisation of Radical Cambridge Activists for Environmental Liberation

Tag: arms companies

  • Press Release: Activists stage May Day weapons protest at University of Cambridge

    Press Release: Activists stage May Day weapons protest at University of Cambridge

    This afternoon, ORCA and Cambridge for Palestine activists have staged a protest against the University of Cambridge’s ties to weapons companies Rolls Royce, BAE Systems and Boeing. At lunchtime, they dropped a large banner saying “End Arms Complicity” over the balcony of the busy West Hub building, at the centre of the university’s sciences campus. Chanting “Free Palestine”, activists threw paper aeroplanes bearing information on arms complicity from a balcony into the foyer. 

    The main target of the protest was the university’s Aviation Impact Accelerator, an initiative between the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, the Whittle Lab and industry partners. Connected companies include Rolls Royce and Boeing as well as private jet company 4Air. Campaigners have called the project “greenwash”, alluding to the conflict between its environmental framing and the records of contributing partners. 

    One activist said: “The AIA is yet another empty greenwash project from the University of Cambridge. What’s worse is they’re actively helping arms companies to launder their reputation while they profit from war and genocide. It’s disgusting to talk about making these weapons more efficient.”

    Campaigners also identified the Institute for Manufacturing’s “Cambridge Service Alliance” as a site of arms complicity, pointing to their ongoing partnership with weapons manufacturer BAE Systems. The Service Alliance, founded in 2010, forms part of the University’s industrial engagement strategy. 

    Rolls Royce, Boeing and BAE Systems are among the world’s largest manufacturers of weapons. All three are noted for their complicity in the Israeli genocide of Palestinians and their ongoing attacks on Lebanon. Among others, the triad also supply arms to US, Saudi, UK and UAE regimes. 

    Another activist said: “May Day is a day for international solidarity. We will not stay silent while weapons companies conduct research and reputation-laundering in our city. We reject the industries and academics who profit from death.”

    This collaborative action is part of ORCA’s broader campaign against greenwashing and environmental violence. The campaign focuses on Aviation Impact Accelerator lead Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Cambridge for Palestine launched on May 5th 2023 and have since campaigned against the University’s complicity in ongoing genocide in Palestine. 

    Read more:

  • Cambridge Sustainability and Sudan

    Cambridge Sustainability and Sudan

    The United Arab Emirates are the main backers of the Rapid Support Forces.

    The counter-revolutionary war in Sudan opposes two factions: the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Both of those have been long involved in the violence in Sudan, from the genocide in Darfur in 2003 to the crackdown on the Sudanese revolution in 2019.

    Their war is now inflicting a devastating toll on the population: more than 150.000 deaths, and more than 12 millions displaced. The recent RSF exactions in El Fasher have been extremely brutal, with more than 2000 civilians dead in 48 hours.

    For more info, follow sudan.updates on Instagram.

    CISL and the UAE: a greenwashing partnership

    picture of Ibrahim Al-Zu'bi taken from the ADNOC website.

    Ibrahim Al-Zu’bi

    He is head of sustainability at ADNOC and senior associate at CISL. He is also working for the UAE government.1

    The Abu-Dhabi National Oil Corporation (ADNOC) is the biggest oil company in the UAE and the 12th biggest in the world, owned by the UAE government. You might know its CEO as the host of COP28.2

    ADNOC's logo

    CISL recently told us they were not working with oil companies – this seems to have been untrue.

    CISL sells executive education to emirati groups.

    They also organise events in Dubai, and have strong links with financial institutions there.3 Their ambassador for the Middle East works for the World Trade Center in Dubai4.

    CISL openly boast about their interventions for big real estate & tourism industry groups based in Dubai.5 Real estate and tourism is a huge part in the UAE strategy of diversification from oil&gas. These industries are part of its soft power: what helps it finance wars without facing repercussions.

    What should change?

    CISL must drop Ibrahim Al’Zubi and investigate their other associates for connections with the fossil fuel industry and genocide financing.

    CISL must cut all ties to genocidal states. It is not ethical to sustain the economies of Israel and the UAE as they profit from atrocities.

    We continue to stand against CISL’s model of extractive, colonial “sustainability”. We know it is possible for academic institutions to lend their power to grassroots justice movements. Put people over profits, and imagine a world beyond the extractivist capitalism system.

    See our social media posts about it:

    Sources

    1.  Source: “Ibrahim Al-Zu’bi”. Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). University of Cambridge. Retrieved 2025-11-03. ↩︎
    2. Source: “Abu Dhabi National Oil Company”. Wikipedia. ↩︎
    3. Source: “Middle East: Executive Education”. Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). University of Cambridge. Retrieved 2025-11-22. ↩︎
    4. Source: “Shyrose Osman”. Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). University of Cambridge. Retrieved 2025-11-22. ↩︎
    5. Source:  “GREEN FINANCE FRAMEWORK” (PDF). Majid Al Futtaim. Majid Al Futtaim. 2019-04-01. Retrieved 2025-11-03. ↩︎

  • NO OIL NO ARMS NO EMPIRE

    NO OIL NO ARMS NO EMPIRE

    On November 23rd 2025, a group of activists representing ORCA tagged the office of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), the University of Cambridge’s premier greenwashing operation.

    Through its deliberate attempts to greenwash the colonial actions of its partners – a coalition of major multinational polluters, imperialists, and arms companies, including British Petroleum, Coca Cola, and Rolls-Royce, CISL operates as a PR firm to capitulate to and justify the violent colonialism of some of the most vicious and destructive corporations in the capitalist economy. This includes profiteers of the apartheid regime in occupied Palestine, the genocide in Sudan and the Congo, and the facilitators of land-grabs in the Middle East and North Africa, with many of those companies having strong relationships with Donald Trump, Israel’s Likud party, and the Saudi royal family.

    ORCA sees CISL for what it is, an attempt by capitalists and colonialists to cushion the blow of their murderous and imperialist actions in the Global South and for the university itself to hide its culpability in genocide and environmental devastation. There can be no “sustainability” while capitulating to tyrants, genocidaires, and oil barons.

    For more detailed information on CISL’s shady dealings, see our campaign page CISL & Sustainable Lies.