Upcoming Events

Derry | Anti-War / Imperialism

no events match your query!

New Events

Derry

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link Ukraine Shoots Down F-16 With Patriot, A... Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:53 | Anti-Empire

offsite link Surprise Offensive Puts 300 km² of Russ... Fri Aug 09, 2024 08:44 | Marko Marjanović

offsite link The Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire

offsite link In 3 War Years Russia Will Have Spent $3... Thu May 09, 2024 02:17 | Anti-Empire

offsite link UK Sending Missiles to Be Fired Into Rus... Tue May 07, 2024 14:17 | Marko Marjanović

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.  We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below). 

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°106 Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:21 | en

offsite link Luis Arce allegedly planned the assassination of his rival Evo Morales Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:12 | en

offsite link In Kazan, the order of the world changed , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Oct 29, 2024 07:01 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°105 Sat Oct 26, 2024 05:27 | en

offsite link Settlers prepare for 'resettlement in Gaza' Fri Oct 25, 2024 12:46 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Search words: Rayth...eon 9

Response of Raytheon 9 to their acquittal

category derry | anti-war / imperialism | feature author Thursday June 12, 2008 02:09author by Goretti Horgan - Derry Anti War Coalitionauthor email resistderry at aol dot com Report this post to the editors

Statement issued by the DAWC, calling for Raytheon to be prosecuted

featured image

The six anti-war activists who occupied arms manufacturer Raytheon's offices in Derry and destroyed its computers have been acquitted by a jury in Belfast.

Derry Anti War Coalition calls on the office of the Attorney General and the Crown Prosecution Service, in light of the jury's verdict of 'not guilty' to criminal damage charges, to institute an investigation into the activities of Raytheon at its various plants across the UK, with a view to determining whether Raytheon is a criminal enterprise.

After their acquittal on three charges of criminal damage to the computer equipment and office of Raytheon, the world's largest supplier of Guided Bomb Units, Colm Bryce and Eamonn McCann spoke to supporters and press outside the court. Colm Bryce began:

The Raytheon 9 have been aquitted today in Belfast for their action in decommissioning the Raytheon offices in Derry in August 2006. The prosecution could produce not a shred of evidence to counter our case that we had acted to prevent the commission of war crimes during the Lebanon war by the Israeli armed forces using weapons supplied by Raytheon.

We remain proud of the action we took and only wish that we could have done more to disrupt the ‘kill chain’ that Raytheon controls.

This victory is welcome, for ourselves and our families, but we wish to dedicate it to the Shaloub and Hasheem families of Qana in Lebanon, who lost 28 of their closest relatives on the 30 July 2006 due to a Raytheon ‘bunker buster’ bomb.

Their unimaginable loss was foremost in our minds when we took the action we did on 9 August, and the injustice that they and the many thousands of victims of war crimes in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered, will spur us on to continue to campaign against war and the arms trade that profits from it.

We said from the beginning that we came to this court not as the accused but as the accusers of Raytheon. This court case proved that Raytheon in Derry is an integral part of the global Raytheon company and its military production. This is no longer a secret or in doubt. Raytheon have treated the truth, peaceful protest, local democracy and this court with complete contempt. The most senior executive who appeared said that the charge that Raytheon had ‘aided and abetted’ the commission of crimes against humanity was “not an issue” for him. Raytheon should have that contempt repaid in full and be driven out of Derry and every other place they have settled. They are war criminals, plain and simple. They have no place in our society and shame on all those in positions of power or influence who would hand them public funds, turn a blind eye to their crimes, cover their tracks or make excuses for them.

These crimes continue daily and hourly in the Middle East. It is up to those of us who oppose those wars of domination and occupation to build a movement that matches the enormity of what is being done by Western governments. We hope that this victory gives courage and heart to all those involved in that movement and the many more who need to be for us to achieve our aim of stopping these wars. Until then, the very least we can do, to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Middle East is to dissociate ourselves from the corrupt governments of the US and Britain. That means opposing the visit to Belfast of the world’s biggest war criminal, George W Bush on 16 June.

We feel totally vindicated by this decision and wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of those who gave us support, especially to our families and friends, to the members of the Derry Anti War Coalition and the Irish Anti-War Movement , to our excellent legal teams. Of course, we particularly want to thank the jury who listened intently through three weeks of evidence before ensuring that justice was done today.

Eamonn McCann then addressed supporters and press saying:

The outcome of this case has profound implications.

The jury has accepted that we were reasonable in our belief that: the Israel Defence Forces were guilty of war crimes in Lebanon in the summer of 2006; that the Raytheon company, including its facility in Derry, was aiding and abetting the commission of these crimes; and that the action we took was intended to have, and did have, the effect of hampering or delaying the commission of war crimes.

We have been vindicated.

We reject entirely and with contempt the statement by Raytheon this evening suggesting that the result of the trial gives them concern about the safety of their employees. This is an abject attempt to divert attention from the significance of the outcome. Not a shed of evidence was produced that we presented the slightest danger to Raytheon workers. The charge of affray was thrown out by the court without waiting to hear defence evidence.

Our target has always been Raytheon as a corporate entity and its shareholders and directors who profit from misery and death.

There is now no hiding place for those who have said that they support the presence of Raytheon in Derry on the basis that the company is not involved in Derry in arms-related production. We have established that not only is the Derry plant involved in arms-related production, it is also, through its integration into Raytheon as a whole, involved in war crimes.

We call on all elected representatives in Derry, and on the citizens of Derry, to say now in unequivocal terms that the war criminal Raytheon is not welcome in our city.

We call on the office of the Attorney General and the Crown Prosecution Service, in light of this verdict, to institute an investigation into the activities of Raytheon at its various plants across the UK, with a view to determining whether Raytheon is, as we say it is, a criminal enterprise.

We believe that one day the world will look back on the arms trade as we look back today on the slave trade, and wonder how it came about that such evil could abound in respectable society. If we have advanced by a mere moment the day when the arms trade is put beyond the law, what we have done will have been worthwhile.

We took the action we did in the immediate aftermath of the slaughter of innocents in Qana on July 30th 2006. The people of Qana are our neighbours. Their children are the children of our neighbours. We trashed Raytheon to help protect our neighbours. The court has found that that was not a crime. This what the Raytheon case has been about.

We have not denied or apologised for what we did at the Raytheon plant in the summer of 2006. All of us believe that it was the best thing we ever did in our lives.

images from 27th May 2008 outside Laganside solidarity protest and (c) Paula Geraghty

Related Link: http://www.raytheon9.org

raytheon_9_victory9.jpg

raytheon_9_victory8.jpg

raytheon_9_victory6.jpg

raytheon_9_victory1.jpg

raytheon_9_victory5.jpg

Resistance and victory especially is beautiful
Resistance and victory especially is beautiful

 #   Title   Author   Date 
   Great victory     daffy duck    Wed Jun 11, 2008 23:55 
   Beautiful Work     paul o toole    Thu Jun 12, 2008 00:20 
   Congrats Raytheon 9?     Keep er lit!    Thu Jun 12, 2008 00:22 
   Congrats     Ronan    Thu Jun 12, 2008 00:35 
   Congrats from the Shannon US Warport.     Edward Horgan    Thu Jun 12, 2008 00:44 
   Congrats to raytheon 9     wageslave    Thu Jun 12, 2008 01:44 
   Who and what action is next?     Sevinch    Thu Jun 12, 2008 03:17 
   Brilliant Job     Jimmy D    Thu Jun 12, 2008 05:41 
   congratulations!     Rev Simon Moyle    Thu Jun 12, 2008 05:57 
 10   well done!     ross    Thu Jun 12, 2008 07:53 
 11   Fantastic outcome     Miriam C    Thu Jun 12, 2008 08:15 
 12   Truth is marching on     Bryan Law    Thu Jun 12, 2008 08:44 
 13   A great day! Next...     radical jonny    Thu Jun 12, 2008 09:18 
 14   well done and thanks     Joan    Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:24 
 15   congratulations     penderyn    Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:30 
 16   Wind behind us     MichaelY    Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:40 
 17   Congratulations from Brisbane, Australia     Gary MacLennan    Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:14 
 18   Solidarity and Celbratory emails     Ciaron    Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:39 
 19   Congrats for the resistance and the solidarity against the war machine!     Ciaron    Thu Jun 12, 2008 12:01 
 20   Congrats & Thanks     michael kearney    Thu Jun 12, 2008 13:11 
 21   Another Success story! (but can we connect these acts of resistance?)     redjade    Thu Jun 12, 2008 13:18 
 22   Congratulations     Sean O'Reilly    Thu Jun 12, 2008 13:29 
 23   Well Done - Very Interesting     Imogen    Thu Jun 12, 2008 15:46 
 24   Hats Off     josh    Thu Jun 12, 2008 17:46 
 25   Congrats and a question     DM    Thu Jun 12, 2008 20:29 
 26   Reply to DM     Ciaron    Thu Jun 12, 2008 20:48 
 27   congratulations     Patrique    Thu Jun 12, 2008 21:05 
 28   Brilliant news - well done and thank you     Starstruck    Thu Jun 12, 2008 22:34 
 29   YOUTUBE-Eisenhower warns of the likes of Raytheon (2 mins)     I Like Ike    Fri Jun 13, 2008 02:54 
 30   Raytheon 9     Colin Cameron    Fri Jun 13, 2008 03:26 
 31   Solidarity from Ulla Roder     solidarity    Fri Jun 13, 2008 04:28 
 32   Congratulations     ALL    Fri Jun 13, 2008 19:20 
 33   Athas athas athas     Seamus    Fri Jun 13, 2008 21:27 
 34   Appreciated in Germany     Coiín    Tue Jun 17, 2008 20:17 
 35   Also reported favourably in Denmark     Coilín    Tue Jun 17, 2008 20:39 
 36   Solidarity     Solidarity    Wed Jun 18, 2008 05:18 
 37   Congratulations     Anthony Kelly    Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:00 
 38   Absolutely brilliant news     Monica Jones    Thu Jun 19, 2008 17:58 
 39   Congratulations     John and Mette    Wed Jun 25, 2008 17:14 


Number of comments per page
  
 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy