Press Release - Smash EDO Rally Calling for Council Motion Condemning EDO

Photo opportunity: Demonstration calling for a council motion to discuss
EDO/ITT factory. Outside Brighton Town Hall, Bartholomew Square. Monday
19th October 12-2pm. For more information contact Andrew Beckett or Chloe Marsh: 07754135290.

During the massacre in Gaza in January this year, the Green Party
attempted to table a motion condemning the activities of EDO MBM/ITT in
Brighton at the full Council meeting. The motion was refused a hearing by
the city Council convenor. People from the Smash EDO campaign and
sympathetic residents are holding a rally outside Brighton Town Hall in
Bartholomew Square this Monday 12-2pm to demand that a new motion
condemning EDO should be discussed.

A leaked document from the Green Party reveals that the reason given for
blocking the motion was that ‘the issue is not directly related to
Brighton and has no bearing on the well being of the city’. Ryan
Bridgewater, local resident disagrees. He writes: “I was born in Brighton and still live locally. The arms factory IS of concern to Brightonians and locals, as has been demonstrated by the wave of protests attended by hundreds of local people.”

Hundreds of residents have signed an online petition to the council
urging them to accept the tabling of the motion and condemning the
activities of EDO and their complicity in war crimes.
Signatures and comments can be viewed at:
 http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?edoitt2&1

On the evening of the council's refusal to table the motion six people broke in to the EDO factory in solidarity with the people of Gaza, who were being bombed with the aid of Brighton manufactured EDO components. In an attempt to ‘decommission’ the weapons they caused up to £300,000 worth of damage to
the machinery aiding this atrocity.

Chloe Marsh from the Smash EDO campaign says “This is a great example of
how local democracy fails local people. Brighton council are attempting to
sweep this burning local issue under the carpet. I won’t allow Brighton
council to ignore the fact that we have a bomb factory on our door step. I
will be there this Monday, demanding it be heard.”

Jocelyn Jones, a local resident added to the petition: “I feel very
strongly that the free men and women of Brighton and Hove should have a
voice in what happens in their town and in their name. Personally I would
like to see EDO shut down. They produce weapons that have been used in
unjust wars and atrocities against civilians.”

Ends

Notes for Editors

EDO MBM, based in Moulsecoomb, is a weapons manufacturer owned by the
American multi-national ITT. They make weapon components for the Paveway
guided bomb programme, which was the most used aerial weapon in the attack
on Iraq. They also own the patents of the Zero Retention Force Arming Unit
and the Ejector Release Unit ERU 151, both essential components for the
F16 aircraft’s VER-2 bomb rack, used by the Israeli Air Force against
civilians in Gaza.

Since 2004 there has been a growing campaign against EDO MBM in Brighton.
Campaigners have used diverse tactics to highlight and resist this
murderous business in our city. There have been blockades, rooftop
occupations, street theatre and hundreds of noise demos outside the
factory. Thousands of people have also taken to the streets against them
during nationally advertised events.

Contact: Andrew Beckett or Chloe Marsh, Smash EDO campaign
Tel: 07754135290 E-mail:  smashedopress@riseup.net Website:
www.smashedo.org.uk