The Smash EDO campaign has been contacted by a group of campaigners who forced entry into the ITT/EDO MBM arms factory early this morning, Saturday 17th January. They destroyed equipment inside the factory that is used to make the weapons used in Israel’s wholesale slaughter of
civilians in Gaza.
ITT/EDO MBM, on Home Farm Road, Brighton, manufactures release clips for F 15s and F 16s as well as the Paveway system of munitions which are currently being used by the Israeli military against civilians in Gaza.
We are witnessing a genocide in occupied Gaza carried out by the Israeli military with weaponry supplied by the United States government. ITT/EDO MBM, in Home Farm Road, Brighton, manufactures vital components for the F-16’s and the Hellfire missile that are being used to destroy civilian
infrastructure in Gaza contrary to the Geneva Conventions.
More than one thousand Palestinians have been murdered by the Israeli Army, navy and airforce since December 27th- more than one third of these casualties are children. While Israel claims to be argeting Hamas infrastructure they have targeted schools, hospitals, police stations,
United Nations compounds and civilian homes.
Chloe Marsh, spokesperson for the Smash EDO campaign, said: “The citizens of Britain are no longer prepared to stand idly by whilst Israel commits genocide with the backing of our own government and arms. industries. This is a peace messenger city,ITT/EDO MBM is an obscenity that must be removed
from Brighton and the directors of this foul company ought to be tried for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.”
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.”
Chloe Marsh
- e-mail: smashedopress@riseup.net
- Homepage: http://www.smashedo.org.uk
