On 18 January 2009, as Israeli bombs – many of them containing British-made components – rained down on the people of Gaza, six people entered the EDO arms factory in Brighton, and proceeded to carry out a people’s decommissioning. Equipment used to make weapons’ components was smashed, and computers and filing cabinets were thrown out of windows. EDO claimed they had suffered £300,000 of damage – no mention, of course, of the damage being caused by their weapons in Gaza. All six were arrested and are to be put on trial in Brighton, starting on 26 October.
This little pamphlet aims to put the case for the defence, and covers topics including arms sales to Israel, statements from some of the decommissioners, and past disarmament actions. It is well-researched and makes a convincing argument that the defendants were simply upholding international law, which is being flouted by our government, happy to sell weapons which will be used to commit war crimes.
Particularly powerful is Ewa Jasiewicz’s eyewitness report from Gaza, describing scenes of almost unimaginable horror. She asks the troubling question: “What is enough [resistance]?” and goes on to suggest that “a tentative definition of enough could be to transgress, to cross our own lines of possibility”.
This is what the Brighton disarmers have done: to cross not only their own lines of possibility, but also the lines of societal expectations which keep most of us from doing what we know to be right if it involves much of a personal cost to ourselves.
Two of the defendants have already spent much time in prison on remand: all are likely to receive prison sentences if convicted. But – as is pointed out – juries can and do make intelligent and independent decisions which go against what is expected of them, as has been the case with various disarmament actions including Seeds of Hope, the Trident Three, Pitstop Ploughshares, the B52 Two, and – perhaps most relevant – the Raytheon Nine (see PN 2499-2500).
Decommissioning EDO was a brave and audacious act, well-timed and well-executed. The defendants now have to face trial, to explain why they did what they did, and why it was the right thing to do. Having been in that position myself, I know all too well the importance of support. Read this pamphlet, come to the trial, and above all, continue to resist.
(In 1996, as part of the Seeds of Hope Ploughshares, Andrea Needham decommissioned a Hawk jet bound for Indonesia for use against the East Timorese.)