San Jose, CA – On September 2, San Jose State University intended to host Northrop Grumman at the Fall ‘26 Business, Financial Services, and Logistics Job and Internship fair. Northrop Grumman, a weapons manufacturer which maintains $3 billion in contracts with the Defense Department, is a target for Students for a Democratic Society’s (SDS) ongoing campaign demanding SJSU cut ties with war profiteers.

In response to Northrop Grumman’s invitation to the campus career fair, SDS at SJSU organized a mail-in and rally calling for the career center and university administration to deplatform war profiteers like Northrop Grumman. The mail-in was a tactic employed by students to flood the inboxes of university administrators leading up to the day of the career fair, and it proved to be an effective one.

On the day of the career fair, as student protesters gathered outside the SJSU Student Union, SDS received notice that Northrop Grumman had completely withdrawn from the career fair. This withdrawal follows a similar incident last semester at SJSU, in which student protesters forced Lockheed Martin to withdraw from a campus informational session.

Despite Northrop Grumman's withdrawal, the students continued with their rally outside the career fair to call out the school administration’s ongoing collaboration with war profiteers, echoing chants such as “When Northrop does the killing, admin makes a killing!”

Panda Shim from SDS stated, “Whether it’s Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman, we will not allow these defense organizations who actively supply weapons to commit genocide overseas and terrorize our immigrant communities onto our campus!”

“SJSU has invited Northrop Grumman to this career fair despite the students making it clear, time and time again, that we will not ever accept war profiteers to do business on our campus. Northrop Grumman is the sixth-largest weapons manufacturer on the planet and has been supplying the U.S. and Israeli air forces with missile delivery systems and laser weaponry for their fighter jets and attack helicopters. Shame!” said Mateo Rodriguez-Deal from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Sharat Lin from San Jose Against War provided words of support, “As you build the anti-war student movement here on campus, know that the people of San Jose support your struggle and are building the anti-war, pro-Palestine movement!”

“Our voices matter, our concerns matter, and what happens to people outside our campus matters. San Jose State should be a place where students can build their futures without having to compromise their conscience. Keep war profiteers off campus!” said Haddy Barghouti from Students for Justice in Palestine to close the rally.

While the students were able to successfully kick Northrop Grumman off campus, their fight is not over. This smaller victory was part of a larger ongoing struggle to push their campaign forward and cut ties with all war profiteers.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #WeaponsIndustry #StudentMovement #SDS #SJAW #Feature

Tucson, AZ – On August 20, members of the Tucson Anti-War Committee (TAWC) hosted a call-in event to tell war profiteer Howmet Aerospace that companies that profit from endless wars and genocide are not welcome in their community.

However, when TAWC members started calling, they discovered Howmet Aerospace shut down their phone lines, not even allowing voicemail messages.

As part of a national campaign, the TAWC led teach-ins on Howmet. They also flyered the community with educational information, protested outside the Howmet facility, and hosted regular call-in days. In June, TAWC members and supporters filled Howmet’s Tucson voicemail with 130 messages. They demanding that Howmet quit arming war and genocide and cut their contract with Lockheed Martin.

In response, Howmet completely shut down their phone lines for the August 20 call-in event. Howmet had the phones back up and running the next day, so TAWC members pivoted. The new tactic by TAWC is to send emails demanding Howmet stop building parts for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet and expressing outrage that tax dollars help Howmet profit off of war and genocide while people struggle to afford groceries and rent. 

Howmet primarily produces wheels and engines for commercial trucks and planes. However, 17% of their revenue comes from building specialty parts for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 jets. Like all U.S. weapons, these lethal fighter jets are used to commit war crimes across the world in places like Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen and more.

They were also used in support of the murder of more than 200 fishermen off the Caribbean coast. Each jet can carry up to 18,000 pounds of bombs. These bombs strike civilian infrastructure like homes, schools and hospitals. 

Howmet shows that they prioritize profits, purposely ignore the concerns of the people. The Tucson Anti-War Committee will continue to bring the fight straight to the weapons manufacturers like Howmet.

#TucsonAZ #AZ #AntiWarMovement #TAWC #WeaponsIndustry #Palestine

Minneapolis, MN – On July 16, over 100 people packed the city council chambers and overflow room to oppose the 75-day pilot program contract proposal with Skydio, a drone manufacturing company that has ties to ICE and the Israeli Defense Force. The contract would allow Skydio drones to act as “first responders” to surveil emergency scenes prior to police arriving.

After weeks of organizing by the Free Palestine Coalition against this proposal, which included protests, a call-in campaign, and a petition, the Minneapolis city council rejected the motion in a 6-6 vote.

Sana Wazwaz, a leader with American Muslims for Palestine-MN stated, “The vote against Skydio is a testament to the relentless and boundless drive of our city to set historic precedents in the fight for Palestine. Once again, Minneapolis has set an example for cities across the country – first through our passage of the strongest ceasefire resolution in the U.S., and secondly, through our uprising against operation metro surge. Our people will be known as those who will fight militarization to the end – a city which shows that no BDS win is ‘too radical” for us to achieve.’”

Maeve Aikin, a member of the Minnesota Anti War Committee stated, “City council’s rejection of this contract is a win for our already over-surveilled and overpoliced communities in Minneapolis and a win for the BDS movement writ large. In the imperial core, it is our moral responsibility to reject partnerships with companies like Skydio that materially benefit from Israeli apartheid and genocide as part of the wider strategy of economic isolation. As with Palantir products developed in Gaza and implemented in the Twin Cities during Operation Metro Surge, the IOF’s surveillance technologies will always come home because Israel exists as a military outpost of the United States.”

Jae Yates, an organizer with the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J), related the opposition toward the proposed Skydio contract with Minneapolis residents protecting their neighbors during Operation Metro Surge, stating, “If the majority of the people of Minneapolis, who bravely stood up to ICE's terrorism of our immigrant neighbors this winter, had our way, there would be no debate about whether to give money to a company profiting off of a genocide so that cops can misuse their surveillance technology.”

Abir Ismail, a Minneapolis public school educator and member of Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, pointed to Skydio’s history of providing drone technology and data to both Israel and ICE, stating “These drones can monitor and record all our data. They are used by ICE and the Israeli military. Homeland Security itself has stated that our police, the FBI, ICE and Israeli soldiers undergo shared training. The connection is unbroken.”

After the vote on the pilot program, the council also considered a motion to remove the Skydio proposal from future agendas, which failed 6-6, and therefore will be eligible for future consideration.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #Sydio #WeaponsIndustry #AI #Surveillance #MNAWC

Garland, TX – A coalition of Dallas Fort Worth antiwar organizations including DFW Anti-War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and others, rallied in the city of Garland’s Freeman Heights neighborhood outside of the Paligen Technologies facility, formerly REPKON USA.

The Anti-War group’s Tax Day rally protested the misuse of working people’s tax dollars on war and genocide, as well as Garland institutions’ complicity in funneling students and workers into war manufacturing via the FAME program.

DFW and Garland Community members arrived around 6:30, chanting “Say it loud! Say it clear! Paligen’s not welcome here!”

Mohammad Khan of DFW Shias for Justice told the crowd, “This company has been identified as a principle contractor of producing components of 12,000 BLU-110AB general purpose 1000-pound bomb bodies for Israel”.

Josh Rudd with DFW Anti War Committee stated, “This community does not have a hospital, but they have a bomb factory.”

Dilan Ahmadi of Revolutionary Front said, “By participating in targeted pressure campaigns like ‘Stop the Bombs Garland’, like ‘Boycott Chevron’, we can hit them where it hurts: their pocketbooks.”

The crowd made their way to the adjacent Dallas College campus, where the Garland Chamber of Commerce meets to hold trainings and meetings with the Garland FAME program. Josh Rudd spoke on the FAME program, “We don’t want students being recruited for genocide.”

After the rally, Garland resident and North Texas DSA member Ella Haag told the crowd, “I'm thankful for the DFW Anti-War Committee for taking on this campaign and for bringing attention to the Paligen facility.”

Haag continued, “I've lived in Freeman Heights since 2018 and was horrified to find out I lived across from a bomb factory. It haunts me every day. Every war is connected to this factory. Every life lost from these weapons is connected to this factory.”

#GarlandTX #TX #AntiWarMovement #WeaponsIndustry #DAWC

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following January 12 statement from the Dallas-Fort Worth Anti-War Committee.

Pete Hegseth is not welcome in Dallas-Fort Worth!

Today, Pete Hegseth, the so-called Secretary of War, came to Fort Worth because DFW produces the weapons of war and genocide. From the Lockheed Martin F-35 factory in Fort Worth that Hegseth visited today to the Repkon bomb factory in Garland, our metroplex’s taxes, resources, and labor are being used for imperialist bloodshed.

DFW is home to every major weapons manufacturer in the world, including:

• Lockheed Martin F-35 factory in Fort Worth

• Lockheed Martin Missile & Fire Control International Headquarters in Grand Prairie

• RTX (Raytheon) surveillance system factory in Richardson

• Elbit Systems National Headquarters in Fort Worth

• Repkon MK-80 and BLU-109 bomb factory in Garland

• And more…

We are working on a “Stop the Bombs Garland” campaign to fight back against these genocidal companies and Hegseth’s Department of War, starting with Repkon’s bomb factory in Garland. This factory produces the bombs used by the U.S. and Israel in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran and that the Trump regime is now threatening to use in Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia.

Join the DFW Anti-War Committee this Saturday, January 17th from 3-5pm for a No War On Venezuela banner drop at Mockingbird and Highway 75 in Dallas. Later this month, we will be hosting a presentation in Garland, Texas about the Stop the Bombs Garland campaign and how you can get involved!

#DallasTX #TX #FtWorthTX #AntiWarMovement #Venezuela #Palestine #DAWC #WeaponsIndustry #PeteHegseth