EDO Bath - How it Went

To follow up on the EDO stories, the top people over at The Bath Bomb have given us a speak preivew of the next issue with a tale to tell of the EDO screening;

"Thats rights folks, last week saw Bath Activist Network illicitly screening a copy of the film the cops tried to ban in that shady den of crime and subversion otherwise known as the Quakers freinds meeting house. The film was 'on the verge', telling the story of a dedicated crew of Brightonians who have nearly succeeded in shutting down a bomb building factory after 4 years campaigning. they have suffered continual police harrasment, with over 40 arrests so far, and the bother didn't stop when they took their new film on tour. Obviously not happy with exposing us to the idea that we have the power to change society, the police have been scurring round the country bullying small venues to make them drop the film (teling one woman they would take away her film screening licence if she disobeyed). The same happened in Bath - the Bell, our original venue got a call from a sweaty palmed worm of a human being named Alan Bartlett. Alan, acting under the orders of his police overlords had threatened the Bell out of showing the film. We managed to find the Quaker meeting house as a backup venue, as places of worship are exempt from film laws. Alan tried the same trick, tactfully stating that being a Quaker wasn't a 'proper' religion (well, Alan should know about things not being proper - his job for example). Never the less, the film went ahead to a packed theatre, numbers doubled due to the contraversy caused by police and council bullying. The film was inspirational and the night was a great sucess. And as for our inept, toady friend Alan, and the wanna be film critics that consitute the thin blue line... i'm guessing they havn'y heard the last of this just yet!"

Good on 'em for fighting the censorship of the cops! Good on Kebele too! It shows that when people who care are faced with repression, they can push forward and overcome. The cops attempted censorship has totally backfired and give the film more publicity that it would have had before.

Links;
Bath Bomb - http://www.myspace.com/bathbomb (and check out issue 8!)
Smash EDO - http://www.smashedo.org.uk
Bristol Screening - http://www.bristol.indymedia.org/article/688105


PS. The Smash EDO people will be hosting a big Carnival Against the Arms Trade in Brighton, meet at 12 noon at The Level, Brighton on Wednesday 4th June - Wear red, bring whistles and drums!
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Why We Need Democratic Media: Santa Barbara News-Press

'Cos billionaire owners can push what they think above what we think - how is it freedom of speech if there is nowhere to say it and nobody listening?

"The Santa Barbara News-Press Controversy refers to a series of events starting in 2000 after billionaire divorcee Wendy P. McCaw purchased the Santa Barbara News-Press. McCaw felt that as owner of the News-Press she had authority to choose its content, while the news editors and reporters felt her intervention unduly compromised the neutrality and credibility of the paper. The tensions between McCaw and the newsroom came to a head on July 6, 2006 when five editors and a long-time columnist abruptly resigned. The controversy has continued to the present, without resolution, and has illuminated issues of individual ownership of news outlets by the wealthy but inexperienced, the role of daily newspapers in contemporary communities, the modern role of unions, and the limits of corporate legal restrictions on reporters, employees, competing news outlets, and community members."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Barbara_News-Press_controversy
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The Failure of the Surge

There seems to be more media reports coming out of Iraq about how things are 'turning the corner' or somehow getting better - 'better' being 'lass that loads of people are dying each day'. The problem is that it seems the U$ forces have re-classified how they count their dead and wounded, the Iraqi government also does not count the dead and it is still too dangerous for reporters not surrounded by armed brigades to see what is really going on. But this excellent article tries to get to the root of the matter;

In entering these strongholds, the U.S. military won tactical victories, chasing surviving militia members off the streets or even out of neighborhoods, which, without their local police and defense forces, were suddenly vulnerable to sectarian attack.

This vulnerability was all-too-vividly illustrated in Sadr City, the stronghold of the Sadrist movement. As the home base of the Mahdi Army, this city-within-a-city had not experienced a car bomb attack in two years until American troops sealed it off, set up check points at key entrance and exit points, and began patrols aimed at hunting down Mahdi Army leaders they suspected of participating in death squads and of kidnapping an American soldier. Local residents told New York Times reporter Sabrina Tavernise that the operation had "forced Mahdi Army members who were patrolling the streets to vanish." Soon after, the first car bombs were detonated.

The violence reached a crescendo in November 2006, when a coordinated set of five car bombs killed at least 215 and wounded 257. Qusai Abdul-Wahab, a Sadrist member of parliament, spoke for many residents of the community when he told the Associated Press that the "occupation forces are fully responsible for these acts."

Such events generated immense bitterness among Shia, who took them as proof that the Americans and the Iraqi government were concerned only with attacking the Mahdis, not suppressing jihadist attacks. This encouraged their support of the death squads, which sought to exact retribution on the Sunni communities they believed were harboring the bombers.

Another quote;

As early as May of 2006, Nir Rosen, one of the most informed and insightful journalists writing about Iraq, presciently described the American military's unenviable position in this way: "[T]he American Army is lost in Iraq, as it has been since it arrived. Striking at Sunnis, striking at Shias, striking at mostly innocent people. Unable to distinguish between anybody, certainly unable to wield any power, except on the immediate street corner where it's located… [T]he Americans are just one more militia lost in the anarchy." This description was never truer than today in Baghdad.

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Why We Need Democratic Media - The Evening Standard

I feel that most of the media has a vested interest - first and foremost they are businesses whos' job is to make profit. They make profit by generating an audience that advertisers can sell to. They generate an audience by providing interesting and entertaining content. But it is in their interests to promote a climate conducive to business - because they are one. Their position means it is not in their interest to promote awareness in media laws, media monopolies etc unless it furthers their business interests. Here is an example of how the media cannot be trusted with the truth.

We start with a front page from the Evening Standard;

'Militants in Plot to Paralyze Heathrow'

And here is what a ruling by the Press Complaints Commission said about it; that is was 'alarmist' and 'materially misleading';

Evening Standard condemned by press watchdog for coverage of the Camp for Climate Action's Heathrow protest. Claim of fabrication upheld. In a much awaited ruling the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) issued a stinging rebuke against the Evening Standard today. The usually mild- mannered PCC slammed the Standard's coverage of last summer's Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow as 'materially misleading' and 'alarmist'. The Evening Standard will be forced to carry the ruling with due-prominence today.

But is this on the front page like the original article that has done the damage to the environmental group smeared? Nope - it is buried on an inside page and written is such obtuse and legalistic prose as to dilute the meaning.

Or we could talk about the Spectator?

What we need is real Democratic Media - a form of media that is open and accessible, accountable and who's primary aim is truth and democracy not advertisers, corporations and the super-rich. The internet gives us to power to make this a reality.
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Police Try to Stop EDO Film Screening

There is a company, EDO, that makes weapons including bomb-release mechanism that are used in places such as Iraq. It has a factory in Brighton, a place that was also named an 'International Peace Messenger City' - a title that was subsequently scrapped due to the EDO factory. In the meantime, a group of people acting for peace and around the idea that; "Every bomb that is dropped, every bullet that is fired in the name of this war of terror has to be made somewhere. And wherever that is, it can be resisted”.. created the campaign group 'Smash EDO' This campaign used various forms of protest and non-violent direct action to achieve its aims. The group, who quote both Gandhi and the Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunal following World War II as validity and inspiration to the campaign seemed to be doing quite well in getting the message out. And then the repression against the campaign began. Targets included UK Indymedia who received legal threats from lawyers Reynolds Porter Chamberlain in 2005 over articles posted on the site;

"We act for EDO MBM Technology Limited. Our client has become aware of false and defamatory information about our client that has been posted on your website at www.indymedia.org.uk.
We refer in particular to the statements that our client "war-mongers", is "complicit in the deaths of innocent people" and makes "things to kill children" ...Provided that you comply with our client's requirements, our client will refrain from commencing proceedings against you for libel in respect of your unlawful activities to date, although, of course, our client reserves all its rights in the event of any breach by you of the undertaking."

Indymedia stood its ground and their lawyers ultimately withdrew the writ. There has also been massive police complicity with the bomb-makers with arbitrary arrests and detentions of protesters on flimsy pretenses - until the whole sordid affair began to unravel;

After evidence came to light in the High Court that Sussex Police may have colluded with EDO Corporation to exaggerate the threat posed by demonstrators to the safety of employees, defence solicitors in related criminal cases began to investigate further. Then in what appeared to be a domino effect, the Crown Prosecution Service proceeded to drop all criminal charges, against all protesters, in all related cases, in an effort to protect the confidentiality of internal Sussex police documents which may have helped defendants prove such collusion had taken place.

Complicity that continues to this day. With echos of the whole 'Injustice' film saga, the film made about the protests, 'On The Verge' was canceled after Sussex police pressured the venue. The police denied that they had anything to do with the censorship, then the council confirmed the police had and the police had to scrabble around to make their lies fit the facts. Not only this, but the police have been busy putting pressure on screenings in Bath, Southampton, Oxford and Chichester too!

One of the venue people who had found their planned event canceled remarked;

“I grew up in South Africa and this feels awfully familiar. This has nothing to do with protecting the public - this is nothing but censorship”.

Indeed. This is all against a backdrop of a company that seems to be able to flout the law, gets a personal police censorship service and is still loosing money;

Last week EDO MBM published their 2006 accounts nearly five months late, a criminal offense under the Companies Act.....As a result financial business information firm Creditgate now list the company under a maximum risk credit rating of ZERO and colour code of RED for danger....The 2006 accounts that were signed and ready to file in August 2007 are particularly embarassing for the company as they reveal a year end loss of (£497,000) down from the 2005 profit of £923,000- a plunge of around 150%. A exceptional expense item (£842,000) is blamed on the closure of EDO RUGGED Ltd, a subsidiary of EDO MBM that was closed in 2006, but the cost coincides with a massive unexpected payout by the company when their high court injunction bid against anti-war protesters failed in the same year. However no mention is made of this legal cost in the accounts, while parent firm EDO Corp accounts for the same year refer to legal costs of $2.7million.

As was noted, the screening in Bath got pressured to close, but the Bath Activist Network made alternative plans to fight this censorship and screened the film anyway.

There is a screening due at the Kebele in Bristol on the 27th - will the cops try to close that one too?
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