On 17th January 2009, as the bombs rained down on Gaza, six people entered the EDO factory in Brighton, which makes parts for weapons that have been used against the people if Iraq, Afganistan and Palestine. They threw computers and filing cabinets out of the first floor window and took hammers to machinery used for weapons production. Their aim was to disable the war machine and to take action against those who profit from the aerial bombardment of Gaza. The offices were out of action for a month and hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage was reported.
The EDO Decommissioners always intended to go to trial – not as the accused but as the accusers making the case that their action was lawful because they were disarming an arms factory which is complicit in war crimes.
The trial date has been moved on a number of occasions, and it is now due to start on June 7th. In the run-up to this, Target Brimar are calling for solidarity with the EDO Decommissioners in Manchester. On Monday 17th May at 12.30 pm we’ll be leafleting outside Barclays on Mosley Street in Manchester City Centre; please join us.
There has been a five year long campaign of direct action against EDO MBM/ITT aimed at persuading them to stop producing weapons components in Brighton. EDO’s components are used by the US and UK in Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel in Palestine.
As ITT’s market maker, Barclays act as a ‘middle man’, purchasing shares from a seller and holding them until such a time as a buyer becomes available. This ensures the stability of ITT’s share price by allowing shareholders to sell off their assets at any time, even when a a buyer is not immediately available, and vice versa. Barclays also profits from this enterprise by selling ITT’s shares at a markup.
———
We’d also like to remind people in the North West about our own home-grown arms component manufacturer, Brimar in Chadderton, which sells components to the Israeli air force and to the British and US for use in Iraq and Afghanistan . Target Brimar holds a vigil at the factory at 4pm on the first Wednesday of every month and it would be great to see you there on 2nd June, 7th July and 4th August.
We will also be holding a letter-writing session at Nexus Cafe on Dale Street in Manchester on Sunday June 20th, 11am-1pm. We’ll have form letters to local MPs, MEPs, councillors and newspapers raising the issue of an arms factory on their patch, so please drop by to sign up and send some off. There will also be materials if you want to write personal letters to some of the protesters who have been given unjust and racist sentences for demonstrating against the invasion of Gaza in January 2009.
For more information see:
http://www.targetbrimar.org.uk
http://www.smashedo.org.uk
http://gazademosupport.org.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=102652103115133&ref=mf#!/event.php?eid=102652103115133&ref=mf