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Derry Anti-War Coalition
To
Whom It May Concern:
On 2nd July, Joshua Casteel
of Iraqi Veterans Against War and Hani Lazim of Iraqi
Democrats against the Occupation spoke at a packed meeting
of the Derry Anti War Coalition. In the course of the
meeting, over 70 people agreed that
DAWC needed to think of new
ways of exposing
Derry's role in the arms trade. Raytheon is one of the
largest arms manufacturers in the world and, despite all the
local parties backing Raytheon's presence in the town, there
is real anger at the possibility that Derry contributed in
the smallest way to massacres in Lebanon and Gaza.
Following a
further packed meeting on Monday 7th August, it
was agreed to take action against the presence of Raytheon,
and their complicity in the murderous Israeli bombardment of
Lebanon and the on-going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There
is some evidence, for instance, that a Raytheon Guided Bomb
Unit was used in the atrocity in Qana.
Over 20 Derry
Anti War Coalition members arrived at Raytheon’s offices on
Wednesday 9 August 2006. When the opportunity to push our
way into the offices arose, most of us tried to get in. The
nine who are now known as the Raytheon 9 are those who
succeeded.
The Raytheon 9
occupied and decommissioned the Derry Raytheon office in our
name. They were there on our behalf and we take full
responsibility for their actions. The Derry Anti-War
Coalition believes that it was legally and morally justified
to engage in non-violent direct action to highlight
Raytheon’s role as war profiteers and to call for the
closure of its offices in Derry. Derry Anti War Coalition is
affiliated to the Irish Anti-War Movement and the Stop the
War Coalition in Britain, and sees this action as an
extension of the mass protests against war which we have
helped organise, and have participated in, over recent
years.
Our members
have been charged with serious offences. We believe these
charges to be unwarranted. No-one was threatened or injured
during the occupation. Since they were there on our behalf,
we believe that the charges against the Raytheon 9 should be
dropped, or else we should all be charged along with them.
Signed,
(Raytheon 99) |
