Action Alert -- Petition signatures needed for peace activists

Forwarded to us from Marci Reynolds:


----- Original Message -----
From: "Disarm"
To: "Peace Exchange (E-mail)"
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 7:04 AM
Subject: [peaceexchange] FW: Support for Derry anti-war protestors



>> Dear Friends,
>>
>> You may have heard of nine activists from the Derry Anti-War Coalition who

organised a nonviolent occupation of the offices of arms company Raytheon in
Derry during the recent war in the Middle East. The occupation was in
protest at Raytheon's role in arming Israel.

>>
>> The activists have been charged with aggravated burglary and unlawful

assembly and the bail terms imposed on them effectively remove their right
to take part in political activity. Below is a statement which they are
requesting people sign and send back to them to form the basis of a
petition. See the statement and email address below should you wish to sign.

>>
>> ...We're a little late on the Peace Exchange update this time, but it

should be with you in the next week!

>>
>> Yours in peace,
>>
>> Kat and David
>>
>>
>> Kat Barton and David Gee
>> Joint Managers, Peace & Disarmament Programme
>> Quaker Peace & Social Witness
>> Friends House, 173 Euston Road
>> London NW1 2BJ
>> T: 020 7663 1067
>> E: disarm@quaker.org.uk
>> W: http://www.quaker.org.uk/qpsw and http://www.peaceexchange.org.uk



>>
>> Thought for August: The UK government states: 'There is no direct military

threat to the United Kingdom or Western Europe. Nor do we foresee the
re-emergence of such a threat...' So why did the UK spend more on the
military in 2005 than any other country apart from the United States?

>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: resistderry@aol.com [mailto:resistderry@aol.com]
>> Sent: 31 August 2006 16:50
>> To: Disarm
>> Subject: Support for Derry anti-war protestors
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear brothers and sisters,
>>
>> We would really appreciate it if you could add your names -- and short

messages of support -- in solidarity with these 9 people who could face
serious spells in jail for protesting against the presence of U.S. arms
manufacturer Raytheon in Derry. There's now an urgent need to build a strong
international defence campaign and use the trial to expose the arms
industry's actions in the Middle East. Many thanks for your support!

>>
>> The Derry Anti War Coalition
>>
>> *******************************************************
>>
>> SUPPORT DERRY ANTI-WAR PROTESTORS
>>
>> The British authorities in Northern Ireland are mounting a very serious

attack

>> on the liberty and rights of anti-war protestors. Nine activists who took

part

>> in an occupation of the American arms corporation Raytheon's offices in

Derry

>> have been charged with aggravated burglary and unlawful assembly. The bail

terms

>> imposed on them effectively remove their right to take part in political
>> activity.
>>
>> Raytheon is the fifth biggest arms manufacturer in the world. It

manufactured

>> the 100 GBU-28 bunker buster bombs urgently flown by the United States to

Israel

>> at the height of the destruction of Lebanon by the Israel Defence Force.

Among

>> the many services Raytheon has performed for Israel is supplying

electronic

>> equipment for the apartheid wall being built on Palestinian land. The

National

>> Lawyers Guild of the US has accused Raytheon of being 'implicated in the
>> commission of war crime'.
>>
>> On 9 August 2006 the Derry Anti-War Coalition organized a non-violent

occupation

>> of Raytheon's plant in the Ulster Science and Technology Park. This

followed

>> direct action that has been mounted by anti-war protestors against US

military

>> planes at Shannon airport in the South of Ireland and Prestwick airport

near

>> Glasgow. The Derry protestors decommissioned computer equipment used by

Raytheon

>> to produce software for its weapons systems.
>>
>> Nine of them were arrested by the police, among them Eamonn McCann,

well-known

>> as a civil rights activist and campaigning journalist. They have been

charged

>> with aggravated burglary and unlawful assembly. These are very serious

offences

>> that could mean the accused could be denied the right to trial by jury

under

>> British security legislation prevailing in the north of Ireland.
>>
>> The protestors' civil liberties are further threatened by the terms under

which

>> they have been released on bail. They are forbidden to communicate with

each

>> other or with anyone working for Raytheon and may not take part in any

public or

>> private anti-war meeting. These restrictions bear comparison with those

imposed

>> by striking British miners brought before courts during the 1984-5 strike.
>>
>> It is particularly ironic that this attack on the right to protest should

be

>> taking place under the authority of Peter Hain, British Secretary of State

for

>> Northern Ireland. Hain made his political reputation in the early 1970s as

an

>> anti-apartheid activist who organized direct action against tours by the

South

>> African rugby and cricket teams. As a leading figure on the Labour left,

he

>> continued to endorse direct action, writing in 1983: 'the more direct

action

>> there is against nuclear weapons in Britain, the greater the freedom a

Labour

>> government will have to get rid of them.'
>>
>> The Raytheon Nine are facing imprisonment for staying true to the

principles

>> Hain has abandoned. Like peace campaigners elsewhere in Ireland and in the

rest

>> of the world, they took non-violent direct action. Their trial is a threat

to

>> the global anti-war movement. At a time when the clouds of war are

darkening and

>> spreading over the Middle East, the right to protest must be defended. We

demand

>> that all charges against the Raytheon Nine be dropped immediately.
>>
>> Send signatures to this statement and messages of support to

resistderry@aol.com

>>
>>
>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>