Activists convicted of weapons factory trespass vow to keep exposing illegal arms trade

When fellow activist Gavin Pidwell and I were convicted of aggravated trespass of EDO, an arms manufacturer, at a UK Magistrates court on 23 August, pro-Israel commentators were quick to call it a “BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] fail.” However, this ignores both the wider implications of the arms trade and the long history of the campaign resisting EDO.

EDO/ ITT Exelis are UK-based designers and manufacturers of military aircraft weapons systems. Their products (and components to which they own the patents) can be found in a variety of weapons, such as the precision-guided Paveway bomb and the Sabre bomb rack. In 2007, EDO was bought out by the American conglomerate ITT, one of the world’s larger arms companies. When ITT split into three parts last year, EDO became a part of the defense chapter ITT Exelis.

The UK-based grassroots campaign Smash EDO has been protesting against the corporation using a diversity of tactics since 2004, with weekly noisy demonstrations being held outside the premises in Brighton. It grew out of the movement against the Iraq war, and a general frustration amongst activists over the ineffectiveness of the mass resistance to the war. There was also a need for people coming back from solidarity work in Palestine to follow the advice from Palestinians and campaign within their local community. Rather than marching, people protesting EDO wanted to directly target the war and occupation profiteers, to bring the war back to the factory floor.

There have been rooftop occupations, phone blockades (in which people from around the world have phoned the company and questioned them about their business), mass demonstrations targeting their investors and numerous blockades of the factory through the years.

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