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12th August 2009
Demonstration Against EDO's Complicity in Killer Drone Attacks
For more info please call 07754135290 or e-mail: smashedopress@riseup.net
A demonstration will be held at EDO MBM/ITT, Home Farm Road, Brighton,
from 4 til 6 today (12/08/2009), against EDO's complicity in attacks by
unmanned fighter aircraft (drones).
Protesters will fly kites outside the
Brighton weapons manufacturer to symbolise the aircraft used by the US and
Israeli militaries.
EDO MBM, a Brighton based arms factory, advertise several components for
the US Reaper drone, which has recently been used in assassinations of
"al-Qaeda" suspects in Pakistan. By April 2009 687 Pakistani civilians
alongside 14 people suspected of involvement with al-Qaeda, 50 civilians
for every suspect.
Earlier this year Lord Bingham, a retired senior lawlord, said that drones
were "so cruel as to be beyond the pale of human tolerance" and called for
a debate as to whether they should be seen in the same category as
landmines and cluster bombs.
EDO MBM/ITT will be marketing its drone technology at this years' DSEI
arms fair in London from 8-11th of September, the largest arms fair in the
world (for more info see www.dsei.org).
Chloe Marsh, of the Smash EDO campaign, said "EDO MBM/ITT have helped to
design and market drone technology which has been used in extrajudicial
executions and war crimes by the US and Israel. Today we will stand in
solidarity with the victims of those attacks"
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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