Seven anti-war protestors are back in Brighton Magistrates Court today (20/06/08)
charged with aggravated tresspass after taking part in a blockade of EDO MBM on
the 19th March to commemerate the fifth annivesary of the illegal invasion and
occupation
of Iraq.
The seven, six of them first year students, were initially denied
legal aid on the basis that "they were intelligent enough to represent themselves"
but this decision was recently overturned when the court was threatened with a
judicial review in the
high courts. The decision to deny them legal aid was
vocally condemned by both University of Sussex Students Union and the NUS.
The
protestors deny the charges against them and instead point to EDO MBM's complicity
in international War crimes as the charges that the police should be investigating.
Notes
for Journalists
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.”
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 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.”
