Four campaigners against Brighton based arms manufacturer
EDO/MBM, a subsidiary of ITT, are to appear in Worthing Magistrates Court today.
The four anti-arms trade protestors were arrested on the 22nd February 2008 (see
previous press release, www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/southcoast/2008/02/391986.html),
after supergluing themselves to EDO’s factory in Fishergate. The four protesters
have pleaded not guilty and do not accept that EDO/MBM, which produces bomb components
used in the bombings of Palestine, Iraq and Afganistan, is acting lawfully.
Chloe
Marsh, Spokesperson for the Smash EDO campaign said 'EDO MBM/ITT are the real
criminals. The weapons components that they manufacture are used to commit war
crimes in Iraq and Palestine.'
The trial is scheduled for three days.
For
more info, photos or interviews call 07875708873
Notes for Journalists
The Company
EDO MBM Technologies Ltd are the sole UK subsidiary of huge
U.S weapons manufacturer EDO Corp.From their base in Moulescoombe Brighton, EDO
MBM manufacture vital parts for the Hellfire and Paveway weapons systems,laserguided
missilesused extensively in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Somalia. EDO Corp were
recently acquired by ITT in a multi-billion pound deal. ITT's links to fascism
go back to the 1930s. The founder Sosthenes Behn was the first foreign businessman
received by Hitler after his seizure of power.
The Campaign
There
has been active campaign against the presence o f EDO MBM in Brighton since the
outbreak of the Iraq war.Campaigners include students, Quakers ,Palestine solidarity
activists, anti-capitalists and academics. Despite an injunction under the protection
of harassment act (which failed) and over forty arrests the campaign is still
going strong.Their avowed aim is to expose EDO MBM and their complicity in war
crimes and to remove them from Brighton. They hold regular weekly demos outside
the Moulescoombe factory on Wednesday's between 4 and 6.
THE FILM
On
the Verge is an independent film about the SMASH EDO Campaign “In 2004 a group
of Brighton peace campaigners began to bang pot and pans outside their local arms
manufacturers EDO MBM in disgust of their part in the Iraq war. This has grown
into the Smash EDO campaign, which has cost the company millions, been the subject
of large scale police operations and has tested the right to protest in the UK.Using
activist, police and CCTV footage plus interviews with those involved in the campaign,
'On The Verge' tells the story of one of the most persistent and imaginative campaigns
to emerge out of the UK's anti-war movement and direct action scene.”
