Twenty years ago, on 29 January 1996, a small group of women broke into a British Aerospace factory in Warton and disarmed a Hawk warplane bound for use in Indonesia's then-ongoing genocide in East Timor. Charged with committing over £2m of damage, they spent six months on remand before being acquitted of all charges by a jury – a verdict that generated national media coverage and inspired countless activists across the globe.
Author Andrea Needham will be talking about this action and its lessons for today.