As we go to press, the trial of the Raytheon 9 is underway at the Laganside Courts in Belfast. The anti-war activists, including journalist Eamonn McCann, are charged with criminal damage and affray connected to a protest they engaged in during the Israeli army’s invasion of Lebanon in August 2006. They occupied the Raytheon factory in Derry and destroyed computer equipment.

 Raytheon is a multinational company which produces guidance systems for weapons which are used by the Israeli military.  When the non-violent action of the protestors is compared to the brutality of the war, it is clear that the Raytheon bosses, who profit from death and destruction, are the real criminals. The Socialist Party calls for the factory to be taken into public ownership and for the equipment and the skills of the workforce to instead be used to provide goods which help improve lives, not destroy them.

The judge has allowed the defence to present the argument that they were impeding war crimes, rather than committing a crime, although the jury could still be instructed to discount this evidence. Police have testified that the protest was not violent and there was no active resistance of arrest.

Fifty people attended a protest outside the court on 27 May. This was impressive considering the attempts to undermine such solidarity action. The trial was moved from Derry, where the case is better known, to Belfast and the starting date of the trial was changed at the last minute to cut across a previous demonstration.

For the latest information, visit www.raytheon9.org