Garland, TX – On July 2, outside the Garland Chamber of Commerce meet and greet, the DFW Anti-War Committee held a protest to demand that Garland Independent School District (GISD) and Dallas College stop sending students to build bombs in the Paligen Technology factory.

The event was hosted at Tavern on the Square, the owner of which berated, threatened and called the police on protesters for writing chalk messages on the public sidewalk near his business. Messages included “Stop the bombs Garland,” “Stop partnering with Paligen” and “No to Garland students building bombs.” Police came and went without incident and the protest proceeded.

“We were able to have some really good conversations with people in Garland who were horrified to find out that schools are partnered with a place like Paligen that’s been involved in so many war crimes,” said Kai Leslie of DFW Anti-War Committee and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The MK-84s produced by Paligen have been heavily used by Israel in the genocide in Palestine, including the bombing of a school that killed 65-year-old retired school principal Mohammad Eltif, along with over 100 others. Israel has also used Paligen’s MK-84 to bomb dozens of universities in Iran.

Regarding the private GROW networking event being protested, Kate Deremo of DFW Anti-War Committee explained, “This is one of Paligen Technologies opportunities to connect with the local business community. The Dallas County Manufacturers’ Association, which is a subset of the Chamber of Commerce, is the direct link between Paligen Technologies and GISD and Dallas College. Their membership in the DCMA is the driving factor in both their access to students as well as influence in educational programming.”

DAWC has standing plans to protest Dallas College board meetings to continue to pressure for Paligen to be dropped from all partnerships with schools and to end student involvement in building bombs at the facility. The next Dallas College protest will be at 4 p.m. on August 11 at Dallas College headquarters.

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Garland, TX – On Friday, June 12, 20 community members gathered outside the Paligen bomb factory in Garland, Texas to say no to Trump’s war on Iran. The factory, situated in a working-class Chicano neighborhood, produces vast quantities of the bombs that the U.S. and Israel are dropping on communities in Iran, Lebanon, Palestine and elsewhere. The DFW Anti-War Committee has an active Stop the Bombs Garland campaign to target this factory.

Speakers at the protest condemned Trump’s war on Iran and Paligen’s bombs used to wage it. Paligen, the U.S. subsidiary of Turkish REPKON, has been coming under increasing fire in Türkiye for its bomb production in the U.S. in an effort to skirt around trade embargoes with Israel. These same bombs, the Mk-80 and BLU-109 series, make up a core part of the U.S. and Israeli arsenals in their current wars of aggression around West Asia.

Jo Hargis with the DFW Anti-War Committee commented, “These bombs have been used in countless attacks on Iran, Lebanon and Palestine, and have been used in war crimes as far back as the U.S. wars on Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia. Now Paligen, which is complicit in killing students and destroying educational institutions, is bringing Garland-area students into their bomb factory for ‘experience’ through the FAME program.”

A member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization Dallas, Glen Reed, said, “It was great to see people come out and make a stand against this company that has been profiting off of killing innocent lives in Iran and Palestine.”

Community members in attendance chanted “Stop the bombs Garland” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” towards the nearby Paligen bomb factory and the Dallas College campus, which houses the office of Paul Mayer, board of trustees chair and initiator of the FAME program partnership with Paligen.

Lauren Aguilar, a Garland resident and organizer with the DFW Anti-War committee, said, “The partnership between schools and Paligen is revolting. The location of this bomb factory, close to schools and colleges and neighborhoods within a mile radius, is another important factor in this fight to shut down this factory. There are a lot better partnerships schools should be making instead of Paligen.”

The Stop the Bombs Garland campaign has an active petition demanding Paul Mayer remove Paligen from FAME, available at tinyurl.com/NoFamePaligen.

#GarlandTX #TX #AntiWarMovement #Paligen #DAWC

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