Chicago, IL – Anti-war activist Kait McIntyre appeared in Cook County Judicial Circuit court on the morning of Aug. 1. McIntyre was one of five activists arrested in a civil disobedience protest action July 16 to oppose Boeing Company providing weapons to Israel for the siege on Gaza. She proudly pled guilty to trespassing at Boeing headquarters. “Hospitals, homes for the disabled and playgrounds are being bombed and more and more children die. As a citizen of Chicago, which has one of the largest Palestinian communities in the U.S., there comes a time where you cannot ignore your conscience and you know more drastic actions have to be taken.”

As part of the Antiwar Committee-Chicago (AWC), McIntyre is a leader of a two-year campaign against Boeing for their role as the second largest arms manufacturer in the U.S.. She even ran for Boeing's board of stock holders earlier this year as a way to bring the message to Boeing that we need to end wars, not build a new generation of deadly weapons.

She is now required to pay a fine and is prohibited from contacting the company or setting foot on their premises. With this sentence, she is being threatened with disqualification as a candidate for the board this year. For her, the connection is clear: “Boeing is only interested in profit; they would rather silence people than stop the killings in Gaza.”

Protests around the country against Boeing have grown ever since Israel’s assault on Gaza began a month ago. Recently, the AWC held a die-in at City Hall to demand Boeing be dropped from sponsoring the Air and Water Show, Aug. 16 and 17.

Rather than being dismayed by the verdict, McIntyre took this as a positive sign that Boeing is now paying attention. “It is up to us not only to sustain this pressure, but also to increase it.” She urged people who oppose Israel’s attack on Gaza to join protests against Boeing at the Air and Water Show.

The four other activists involved in the civil disobedience action have their trial date on Aug. 12 at 2:30 p.m. at 2452 W. Belmont Avenue in Chicago. They are calling on supporters to come with them to court.

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Fight Back!: You’re running for the Board of Directors of the Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) on an anti-war platform. Your main goal is to stop them from building a new combat drone for the Pentagon. What’s that about?

Kait McIntyre: Currently, Boeing is competing with other weapons manufacturers to win the Navy UCLASS combat drone contract. It is a larger drone that flies faster and farther, carries a greater payload of bombs and missiles, and can be launched and landed on an aircraft carrier. I oppose this because the U.S.’s use of drone warfare – targeted killing and attacks in countries where we have not declared war – violates international law. Furthermore, U.S. drones have led to the death of many innocent civilians, including children, and I stand in solidarity with those around the world whose lives have been lost and or devastated by drone warfare. While the Phantom Ray is Boeing’s first combat drone prototype, they have been and continue to make surveillance drones that are used to bully and help carry out assassinations overseas. I oppose this as well. We need to end wars, not build a new generation of deadly weapons.

Fight Back!: What do you hope to accomplish through your candidacy and the anti-drone war campaign against Boeing?

McIntyre: If we can help stop them from winning this contract, it will be a blow to the war machine. The Antiwar Committee Chicago’s Midwest Action Against Drones, one of the largest anti-drone marches in 2013, brought together 200 people representing six different states to rally around the demand that Boeing cease its pursuit of this Navy contract and end production and development of the Phantom Ray. What we hope to do with this campaign is to offer a model for other cities with weapons manufacturers to oppose U.S. drone warfare by focusing on a local target. In Chicago, where we have suffered austerity measures such as public school and mental health clinic closings while Boeing receives millions in tax breaks, we felt it was important to highlight how, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “the bombs in Vietnam explode at home.”

Fight Back!: You include an environmental plank in your platform. What is the environmental record of Boeing?

McIntyre: To start with, depleted uranium (DU). Tens of thousands of pounds of micro particles of radioactive and highly toxic waste contaminate the Middle East, Central Asia and the Balkans from the use of DU by the U.S. military. Boeing added to this problem by providing to Israel the depleted uranium bombs that were dropped on Gaza in 2008 and 2012. The Palestinians who did not die as a result of these attacks will likely see the same sharp increases in birth defect rates as the people of Iraq. Israel has used Boeing bombs to poison the earth in Gaza for millions of years.

Fight Back!: Your campaign video says you want an end to corporate warfare. Explain that.

McIntyre: In January, Boeing forced workers in Washington state to accept historic concessions to keep their jobs, starting with elimination of their defined benefit pension. When current CEO James McNerney talked about cutting jobs across the country, he said he knew he was “beginning to sound like Darth Vader.” But, for the workers who lose their jobs, the consequences are in the here and now, not in a galaxy far away. Furthermore, after McNerney cut thousands of machinists’ pensions, he spent $7.2 million dollars on a home in Miami. This type of behavior is unacceptable. Boeing paid no federal income tax in 2013 and has used loopholes to dodge paying taxes in previous years. With Boeing’s enormous profits, it is morally reprehensible that they do not give back to the communities where they operate.

View Kait McIntyre's campaign video

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Washington, DC – 400 people gathered at an international summit in Washington D.C. to oppose the use of drones by the U.S. government. The summit was hosted by Code Pink and featured Medea Benjamin, activist and author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. Many activists and organizers came to hear experts and share experiences in building the movement against U.S. drone warfare. Many were excited to hear academic and author Cornel West.

People came from as far away as Pakistan and Afghanistan to attend. One panel “View From Yemen” featured an attorney, a politician and a family member whose relatives were killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

Kait McIntyre, a member of the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, presented on their campaign, “No Killer Drone for Boeing,” an effort to stop the Boeing corporation from obtaining the U.S. Navy’s killer drone contract. In the workshop titled “Activism: From Boardrooms to Bases,” McIntyre relayed lessons from the campaign and the Sept. 28-29 Midwest Action Against Drones, the largest U.S. demonstration against drones, that took place outside Boeing headquarters in Chicago.

Holly Kent-Payne, another Anti-War Committee-Chicago member and attendee, was glad to discuss the Anti-War Committee’s campaign and is looking forward to applying what she’s learned to upcoming protests against the Boeing Corporation. “We must continue connecting people’s concerns about school closings, lack of employment and other social issues with demands to end U.S. war.”

Members of the Minnesota-based Anti-War Committee also attended the summit.

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