Nation: Up in Arms

Protests over a weapons show

The annual meeting of the Hyatt Corp. is generally an accommodating affair. Last week, however, the company's gathering in Chicago became the target of protesters who are up in arms over a conference scheduled later this month in the O'Hare International Trade and Exhibition Center and the Hyatt Hotel near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

"Defense Technology '79," the conference calls itself. An "arms bazaar," its foes charge. Whichever, it will bring together on Feb. 18-21 arms manufacturers, potential buyers and military strategy experts from the U.S. and foreign countries, including the Soviet Union, Egypt and South Korea. Nearly 60 exhibitors, among them such U.S. defense manufacturers as Beech Aircraft and Boeing Aerospace, have signed up. Simultaneously, in the Hyatt Hotel, former intelligence officials of the U.S. and Britain and military strategy specialists from business and academia will stage a "Conference on Strategic Directions." The conference, says Chief Sponsor Gregory Copley, editor of Britain's Defense and Foreign Affairs Publications, will offer strategy experts the opportunity to discuss the latest global and military developments "in a frank and private exchange of ideas. No one is going to drive up in a tank."

Opponents of the conference wonder. Complained Chicago Socialite and Democratic Party Activist Marjorie Benton, a U.S. delegate to last year's U.N. special session on disarmament: "This is not a dog show, not a boat show. It's a military hardware show where they'll be selling everything from thumbscrews to missiles." At the Hyatt stockholders' meeting last week, Benton delivered an impassioned eight-minute lecture on corporate morality. Senator Charles Percy and Representative Abner J. Mikva have asked the sponsors to cancel the exhibition.

Letter writers have protested to Hyatt and Illinois' Rosemont Village, which owns the Exposition Center. The group, "Mobilization for Survival," composed of antinuclear, environmentalist and peace activists, has threatened a demonstration if the exhibition takes place. One of the prospective protesters is Actor and Disarmament Delegate Paul Newman.

Such protests have given Hyatt second thoughts about allowing the conference, but cancellation could bring a six-figure damage suit by the sponsors.

Copley, meanwhile, is standing firm, perhaps remembering the annoyance he suffered when a similar gathering he had planned in Miami last year was canceled. Said he: "This is a conference for professionals, and we don't intend to see it disrupted by emotional amateurs."