ANOTHER 'OUT OF AREA' HEARING

Following a pattern with all cases we've seen so far, her case will not be heard at her local magistrates court, but at one miles away in Reading. Inconvenient for Deborah, but nicely situated for Aldermaston anti-nuclear activists! Lockheed Martin jointly runs Aldermaston AWE as well as having a £5.3 billion contract with the government to develop new illegal weapons of mass destruction there.

REASONS FOR REFUSING

Deborah has given four reasons for her census refusal:

1) The link with Lockheed Martin (brought to my attention through printing a leaflet about it at Oxford Greenprint Workers Co-op of which I am a member)
2) The statement on the front of the form about using the information to help decide where schools and hospitals should be built: I wish this were true, but these decisions are driven by money, not need (as my time on both Councils has shown).
3) The number of questions not related in any way to anything but 'big brother' monitoring eg religion, nationality.
4) The Census in this form is to be scrapped (Daily Telegraph June 2010). It only ran this time because contracts had been signed and heavy losses would have been incurred. It is acknowledged to be a hugely inefficient way of collecting this data.

She also says:

"I was an active Green Party member for many years and have been a City and County Councillor for the Greens in Oxford. I have always been an activist and until recently believed that the best way to change the world was working with the system. I feel somewhat more cynical and less naive now!"

SOLIDARITY

There will be a solidarity demo for Deborah and against Lockheed Martin outside the court from 9.30am on Tuesday 13 December. Please get in touch if you can offer your support.

MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION

See this feature for more details about the census, Lockheed Martin's involvement and reasons for refusal:
 https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/11/488424.html