Ladson, SC – The Elbit Out of South Carolina (EOSC), a coalition of local grassroots groups, held a press conference on Tuesday, March 24, outside Elmec, Inc.’s office to announce Elmec as a new campaign target alongside their current target, Israeli based weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. Elmec, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, is an international defense company specializing in aerospace manufacturing.

Elbit Systems is a privately owned Israeli weapons contractor that provides 80% of Israel’s ground equipment and 85% of its drones. Its Ladson based “Ground Combat Vehicle Assembly and Integration Center of Excellence” was constructed with several tax incentives granted by Charleston County, including a Set Aside Grant and a Fee In Lieu of Taxation (FILOT) agreement.

The press conference highlighted Elmec’s relationship to Elbit, the company’s role in profiting from war and genocide, and the material cost of their presence to community members in the Lowcountry.

The event began with a satirical speech from a stand-in Elmec executive to welcome the crowd to company’s grand opening, who said, “At the end of the day, do we really want Charleston focusing its investments on the needs of working people, spending money at Saint Andrews School of Math and Science or C.E. Williams or Burke, wasting its funds on handouts to working-class nobodies, instead of expanding business opportunities in mass surveillance and hospital destruction for the titans of industry?”

The press conference featured speakers from EOSC’s coalition organizations, Free Palestine Charleston, Charleston Democratic Socialists of America, Lowcountry Action Committee, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization Charleston District.

Autumn Waddell of Free Palestine Charleston stated, “Right here in Charleston we have the opportunity to make a real difference. Elmec and Elbit are our access to international politics. We decided to stand up and fight for the parents in Charleston County who want to send their kids to good, well-funded schools, and for the parents in Gaza who want to know their children will come from school at the end of each day.”

Chris Tittle of Tri-County Tenants Union remarked on the connections between tenants in America and tenants in Palestine, stating, “From Charleston to Palestine, tenants are exploited by the arms and AI economy. Elbit and Elmec use the same AI systems in their weapons that corporate landlords like Cushman and Wakefield use to artificially and illegally inflate the rent. And local politicians are happy to call this ‘economic development,’ we call it economic warfare on the working class.”

The press conference was followed by a mock ribbon cutting ceremony for Elmec, and a car caravan from the Elmec facility to the nearby Elbit Systems facility, which culminated in a picket. Elbit Out of SC and community members have picketed Elbit Systems weekly since October of 2024 and worked to raise public awareness of the weapons manufacturer since spring 2024.

“It was important to end the press conference with our weekly picket at Elbit because it not only shows how physically close these two facilities are, but it gives people an opportunity to do more than talk about the issues affecting workers in Charleston and Palestine and actually take action against war crimes and genocide in Palestine,” said Alfred Peeler, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization Charleston District.

#CharlestonSC #SC #LadsonSC #AntiWarMovement #Elbit #Palestine

Ladson, SC – On Monday, September 22, organizers with the Charleston Community Service Organization (CSO) hosted a rally demanding an end to racial profiling.

The Legalization for All network’s call for a national Weekend of Action and protests were planned across the country in response to the September 8 SCOTUS decision allowing ICE to implement racial profiling tactics.

The Charleston CSO rally was held in front of Elbit Systems of America, an Israeli-owned weapons manufacturer located in Ladson, South Carolina, as a show of solidarity with the Elbit Out of SC coalition (EOSC), which hosts weekly pickets there every Thursday. Organizers from Charleston CSO, EOSC and the Lowcountry Action Committee (LAC), an official branch of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression doing work to stop deaths at the Charleston County jail, all gave speeches and led chants to a diverse crowd of about 40.

“I am speaking up for those that are scared to go grocery shopping because they can be killed or kidnapped while grocery shopping or going to work,” said Lucía Peña, co-founding member of Charleston CSO. “We say no to racial profiling whether it's happening in California, New York City or South Carolina because it’s a denial of our human rights” one organizer said.

Charleston’s Latino community knows what it feels like to be racially profiled by law enforcement. In the early morning hours of June 1, ICE raided El Alamo, a popular Latino-owned night club in Ladson. “They let out all the ‘Americans’ without doing background checks, yet took any Latinos not caring of legal status,” one club patron said. “How was it not racially profiling?” she asked. About 80 people were arrested and transported to ICE facilities across the Southeast in the aftermath of the raid that night.

Regarding the rally, Lowcountry Action Committee co-founder Erica Veal said, “One thing everyone should take away from today is there’s power in solidarity.”

Veal continued, “The same systems that are kidnapping our Latino brothers and sisters off the streets are allowing our Black brothers and sisters to die in the Al Cannon Detention Center.” Approximately 20 people, mostly Black, have been killed by police at Al Cannon Detention Center or died from medical neglect incurred at the jail in the last decade.

“These same systems allowed Elbit to build a weapons factory in our community and take money away from our public schools,” stated Veal, referring to a fee in lieu of taxes (FILOT) agreement Elbit signed with the Charleston county council. The FILOT allows Elbit to operate without paying property taxes, the revenue from which is typically used to support the Charleston area public schools and their primarily Black and Latino student bodies.

Attendees chanted to the rhythm of African drums as they marched back and forth across the road in front of the Elbit factory, holding signs written in both English and Spanish. All the while, off-duty North Charleston police officers, paid $60 per hour by the company to serve as security, looked on.

Dozens of passersby honked in solidarity and two trucks attempted to antagonize the group. One with a Trump flag flying high drove back and forth yelling at the crowd and another deliberately spewed exhaust fumes on the activists as he passed. Despite this, messages of solidarity continued. “The people united can never be defeated. When we unite, we can win. We will not live in fear.”

#LadsonSC #SC #ImmigrantRights #CCSO #ICE #L4A