* Thursday October 22nd - Rally outside the Foreign Office, London
demanding an end of arms exports to Israel. In support of of the new
decommissioners petition. Sign it here
 http://www.petitiononline.com/decom1/petition.html

main rally 4 - 6pm

picket 12-2pm (both outside the Foreign Office (Whitehall)

For more information on the week of action see:
 http://decommissioners.co.uk/2009/09/16/october-16th-26th-support-the-decommissioners-week-of-events/

Please support the 'Support the Decommissioners' petition urging the
British government to end arms exports to Israel.. To sign the petition
click

If you are a Brighton and Hove resident sign this pettion to Brighton and
Hove Council

Who are the Decommissioners:

'If the law and the police can't do anything about it it's
about time somebody else did'

The EDO Decommissioners

On January the 17th 2009 the bombs had already fallen relentlessly on Gaza
for three weeks. Massive, passionate demonstrations and pickets had been
held in many cities around the country and the world in protest against
Israel's war crimes. However, a growing sense of helplessness was
grabbing hold of the movement as the Palestinian body count stood at 1400
and counting. 300 of the dead were children. This was the night of the
'citizen's decommissioning'; of the weapons manufacturer EDO
MBM/ITT in Moulsecoomb, Brighton.

Just after midnight Elijah Smith, Tom Woodhead, Robert Nicholls, Ornella
Sabiene, Robert Alford and Harvey Tadman and broke into EDO’spremises
with the aim to, in Elijah Smith’s words, “...smash it up to the
best of [their]

abilities”. It was an entirely accountable action where each
decommissioner had pre-recorded a video in which they stated the reasons
for their participation - to help dismantle the war machine from the
factory floor (to view their video statements go to
 http://www.youtube.com/watchv=mfa8R2AxUFg&feature=related). Once inside
the building, they 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, filing cabinets and office
furnishings were thrown out of the windows. Once they were done they
calmly waited for the police to arrest them. Three bystanders were also
arrested on the day and are now implicated in the decommissioners’
court case.

According to EDO £300,000 worth of damage was caused and Detective Chief
Inspector Graham Pratt was quoted in the Guardian as 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”. He was of course misguided. Far from being an action of
“wanton vandalism”, it was a thought through act of resistance
against what could only be described as a massacre

going on in Gaza. However, the second part of his statement was rightly
observed: the decommissioning prevented the manufacturing side of EDO from
working for several weeks, hence slowing down the murderous war machine
they are a part of.

One of the decommissioners, Elijah Smith, is still remanded. A ten week

court case was scheduled to start in the last week of October 2009. It has
now been scheduled to begin on May 17th 2010. The defendants will argue
that they were entitled to decommission EDO because the factory was
complicit in war crimes.

Click here -
 http://fs08n2.sendspace.com/dl/b394d9a68c6d6154a3e4bb1b0d5ed990/4ad58bfe4f7c9c17/wnrj55/decommissioners-booklet-web-version.pdf
- to download 'If I had a Hammer', a 32 page booklet explaining why the
decommissioning was necessary.

Email  smashedo@riseup.net to order copies of 'If I Had a Hammer' and
'Support the Decommissioners' T-Shirts and Hoodies.

Download the 'Support the Decommissioners' flyer, please print out and
hand out in your area -

front -
 http://www.smashedo.org.uk/resources/Support%20the%20Decommisioners.pdf

back -
 http://www.smashedo.org.uk/resources/Support%20the%20Decommisioners.pdf

For more info see www.smashedo.org.uk and  http://decommissioners.co.uk/

One decommisioner is still on remand: Elijah Smith, XP 7551, HMP Lewes,
Brighton Road, Lewes, BN7 1EA. Letters of support are always appreciated.
If you want to support financially postal orders can be made out to HM
Prison Service with prisoner number and your name and address or make a
donation to the campaign at www.smashedo.org.uk/donate.htm. Please tag
donations as 'prisoner support',