16th October 2009
Smash EDO to Council: We should discuss weapons factory in our city
Photo opportunity: Demonstration calling for a council motion to discuss EDO/ITT factory. Outside Brighton Town Hall, Bartholomew Square. Monday 19th October 12-2pm. For more information contact Andrew Beckett or Chloe Marsh: 07754135290.
During the massacre in Gaza in January this year, the Green Party attempted to table a motion condemning the activities of EDO MBM/ITT in Brighton at the full Council meeting. The motion was refused a hearing by the city Council convenor. People from the Smash EDO campaign and sympathetic residents are holding a rally outside Brighton Town Hall in Bartholomew Square this Monday 12-2pm to demand that a new motion condemning EDO should be discussed.
A leaked document from the Green Party reveals that the reason given for blocking the motion was that ‘the issue is not directly related to Brighton and has no bearing on the well being of the city’. Ryan Bridgewater, local resident disagrees. He writes: “I was born in Brighton and still live locally. The arms factory IS of concern to Brightonians and locals, as has been demonstrated by the wave of protests attended by hundreds of local people.”
Hundreds of residents have signed an online petition to the council urging them to accept the tabling of the motion and condemning the activities of EDO and their complicity in war crimes. Signatures and comments can be viewed at: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?edoitt2&1
On the evening of the council's refusal to table the motion six people broke in to the EDO factory in solidarity with the people of Gaza, who were being bombed with the aid of Brighton manufactured EDO components. In an attempt to ‘decommission’ the weapons they caused up to £300,000 worth of damage to the machinery aiding this atrocity.
Chloe Marsh from the Smash EDO campaign says “This is a great example of how local democracy fails local people. Brighton council are attempting to sweep this burning local issue under the carpet. I won’t allow Brighton council to ignore the fact that we have a bomb factory on our door step. I will be there this Monday, demanding it be heard.”
Jocelyn Jones, a local resident added to the petition: “I feel very strongly that the free men and women of Brighton and Hove should have a voice in what happens in their town and in their name. Personally I would like to see EDO shut down. They produce weapons that have been used in unjust wars and atrocities against civilians.”
Notes for Journalists
EDO MBM, based in Moulsecoomb, is a weapons manufacturer owned by the American multi-national ITT. They make weapon components for the Paveway guided bomb programme, which was the most used aerial weapon in the attack on Iraq. They also own the patents of the Zero Retention Force Arming Unit and the Ejector Release Unit ERU 151, both essential components for the F16 aircraft’s VER-2 bomb rack, used by the Israeli Air Force against civilians in Gaza.
Since 2004 there has been a growing campaign against EDO MBM in Brighton. Campaigners have used diverse tactics to highlight and resist this murderous business in our city. There have been blockades, rooftop occupations, street theatre and hundreds of noise demos outside the factory. Thousands of people have also taken to the streets against them during nationally advertised events.
Contact: Andrew Beckett or Chloe Marsh, Smash EDO campaign
Tel: 07754135290 E-mail: smashedopress@riseup.net Website: www.smashedo.org.uk