Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

SchNEWS: A Smashing Defence

SchNEWs | 06.05.2010 21:57 | Anti-militarism | Social Struggles | Technology | Terror War | South Coast | World

"I told many people in Gaza about the people's strike on EDO MBM... When I recounted this action to people, I saw an expression come over their faces that I hadn't encountered before when talking about international solidarity. It was a kind of respect, a sense of surprised pride at a tiny move towards a leveling between the blood sacrifices and living hell of so many here, and sacrifices made by people in comparative comfort zones on the other side of the world - for them" - Ewa Jasiewicz - human rights activist/journalist eyewitness to Operation Cast Lead

In the early hours of 17th January 2009, during Israel's 'Operation Cast Lead' offensive against Gaza, six people broke in to the EDO/ITT weapons' components factory in Moulsecoomb, Brighton, and caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage to the production line. (see SchNEWS 663 and also check out the local paper's video of some of the damage)

On the Newswire: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Indymedia EDO archive

In SchNEWS: 721 | 663

Links: smashedo.org.uk | decommissioners.co.uk


The six 'decommissioners' barricaded themselves inside, and proceeded to smash computers and other equipment, with the aim of preventing the factory from being able to produce weapons. The action succeeded in stopping production at the factory for some time.

On 7th June 2010 nine people will stand trial accused of 'conspiracy to commit criminal damage'. Three were arrested outside the factory. The trial is expected to last for ten weeks at Hove Crown Court (see smashedo.org.uk confirm). The decommissioners will be running the defence that their actions were legally justified as they were "acting to prevent a greater crime".

There is a history of juries finding anti-war activists not guilty when they attack machinery used in war crimes. In 1996 four women from Trident Ploughshares decommissioned a Hawk jet that was about to be shipped to Indonesia – they were found not guilty. (see SchNEWS 62) In 2008 the Raytheon 9, who damaged a factory in Derry supplying weapons to Israel during the 2006 Lebanon war (see < a href="http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news555.htm">SchNEWS 555, were also unanimously acquitted by a jury.

Before entering the EDO factory the decommissioners recorded statements detailing the reasons why they planned to take part in the action (watch them here) one of the decommissioners, Elijah Smith said "I don't feel I'm going to do anything illegal tonight, but I'm going to go into an arms factory and smash it up to the best of my ability so that it cannot produce munitions and these very dirty bombs that have been provided to the Israeli army so that they can kill children. The time for talking has gone too far. I'm not a writer, I'm just a person from the community and I'm deeply disgusted.”

The EDO factory on Home Farm Road in Brighton, has been part of ITT Corporation since December 2007. Before ITT took over the factory was known as EDO MBM, a trading unit of the EDO Corporation. ITT have a fascinating history, having done business with Franco, Hitler and Pinochet. The company was established in 1920 and diversified to weapons production in the 1930s when it acquired the German Focke-Wulf company who were a manufacturer of aircraft for the Nazi Luftwaffe. They are now the 19th largest defence manufacturer in the world. ITT has well established links to the supply of the Israeli armed forces.

THAT DARK AND STORMY NIGHT

On January the 17th 2009 the bombs had already fallen relentlessly on Gaza for three weeks. (see SchNEWS 661) Massive, passionate demonstrations and pickets had been held in many cities around the UK and the world in protest against Israel’s war crimes, but to no avail. (see SchNEWS 662) A growing sense of helplessness was grabbing hold of the peace movement as the Palestinian body count stood at 1400 and rising. 300 of the dead were children.

Just after midnight the six activists broke into EDO’s premises with the aim of stopping the factory's production. This was an entirely accountable action where each person had pre-recorded a video in which they stated the reasons for their participation –to help dismantle the war machine from the factory floor (see more video statements here).

Once inside the building, the six barricaded themselves in and set to work; equipment used to make weapon components -including some used in Israeli F16 fighter jets- were trashed whilst computers were thrown out of the windows. A dummy missile was also hurled out into the car park. Once they were done they calmly waited for the police to arrest them. Three bystanders have also been charged with aiding the decommissioners.

DCI Graham Pratt of Sussex Police was quoted in the Guardian, saying "Windows had been smashed and offices turned over in what I would describe as wanton vandalism, but with machinery and equipment so targeted that it could have been done with a view of bringing business to a standstill”.

According to Andrew Beckett, increasingly secretive press spokesman for SMASH EDO, "Far from being a 'wanton' act it was a pre-planned act of resistance against the massacre going on in Gaza. However, the second part of his statement was entirely accurate: the decommissioning prevented the manufacturing side of EDO from working, slowing down the murderous war machine they are a part of".

The Decommissioners supporters will be holding a vigil outside Hove Crown Court at 9 a.m on the first day of the trial, June 7th. Supporters are encouraged to attend court but politely reminded that the decommissioners want to win this one through force of argument.

There will be an 'If I had a hammer' themed demo in support of the decommissioners on Wednesday 9th June - Bring rubber and inflatable hammers.

Also in SchNEWS 720: KANT PAY, WON'T PAY University of Middlesex building occupied at closure of philosophy department | GOT IT SUSSED Campus strike and march greet University of Sussex cuts | WURZEL DAMAGE Bristol eco-village brutally evicted | DEPORTATION IRAN Bashir Foris, Iranian asylum-seeker is forcibly returned to Iran via Latvia | INSIDE SCHNEWS Dutch anarchist held in prison on trumped up charges of attempted murder of a policeman | BITA SWEET Yarls Wood release victory for Iranian human rights activist | MELTDOWN TOWN Democracy village still going strong in Parliament Square | AND FINALLY... Delete as applicable election round-up

SchNEWs

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. quote from elijah smith — Bystander
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech