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17th March 2009
Smash EDO Commemorate the 6th Anniversary of the Invasion
of Iraq while Seven Campaigners Stand Trial for Resisting
Weapons Factory
The campaign against EDO MBM/ITT is holding an all night protest
vigil at the EDO factory in Home Farm Road, Brighton from 4.30pm
Thursday 19th to 10am Friday 20th to mark the sixth anniversary
of the invasion of Iraq.
The invasion of Iraq began on the night of 19th/20th March
2003. Since then over a million people have died as a result
of the invasion and occupation. EDO have been making money out
of the suffering of the people of Iraq. The company produce
components for the Paveway III and IV, the most used missiles
in the 2003-4 bombardment
Seven people are currently on trial for aggravated trespass
in Brighton Magistrates court charged with locking on to the
fence of EDO MBM/ITT on March 19th 2008 to commemorate the sixth
anniversry of the invasion. They are arguing, in their defence,
that EDO's business is not lawful. Paul Hills, Managing Direrctor
of EDO, is currently being questioned at the Magistrate's Court
over his companys' complicity in war crimes. The trial is scheduled
to
Chloe Marsh, press spokesperson for the Smash EDO campaign,
said "six years have passed since the UK and US, armed
by companies like EDO MBM, invaded Iraq. Since then millions
of lives have been ruined. The only people who have profitted
out of the invasion and occupation are private companies like
EDO MBM. We will keep on campaigning until EDO close down."
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.”
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