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

New Brighton, MN – On October 16, about 50 Minnesotans gathered outside a Howmet Aerospace facility in New Brighton as a part of the Anti-War Action Network’s nationwide call-to-action targeting weapons manufacturers.

The rally, organized by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, put a spotlight on Howmet’s ties to the U.S. military industrial complex. The Howmet facility, like many other weapons manufacturers hidden among suburban residential streets, postures itself inconspicuously. A Minnesotan driving past the facility would have no reason to assume the scale of Howmet’s connections to the U.S. war machine or the genocide in Palestine.

But in fact, one of Howmet’s top brags is its role in manufacturing parts for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II. For this fighter jet, Howmet produces pieces ranging from the titanium bulkheads to the fasteners, or as Howmet itself puts it, “From nose to tail.” Lockheed Martin has been supplying the Israeli Air Force with F-35 fighter jets for nearly a decade. Israel, in turn, has been using them to carry out extensive airstrikes across Gaza.

Howmet does not limit its war profiteering to business with Lockheed, but is subcontracted by several of the weapons manufacturers actively selling weapons to Israel. In 2024, 16% of Howmet’s total revenue came from the defense aerospace market sector. Howmet has been subcontracted by all the major players – some include RTX Corporation, Boeing Company and General Electric – ensuring Israel can conduct its genocide in Palestine.

Nadiyah Salawdeh with the Twin Cities branch of the US Palestinian Community Network stated, “When we protest corporations like Howmet, we aren’t only saying that what they create leads to the death of millions. We are saying that they have an interest in and actively do ensure that these imperialist wars and genocides are never ending.”

Salawdeh continued, “When a child in Gaza reads ‘made in the USA’ on the bomb that murdered their entire family, it is because corporations like Howmet want the genocide in Palestine to continue.”

Maddy Schwartz, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee and a public employee in AFSCME Local 668 closed out the program by highlighting another angle of Minnesota’s complicity with Howmet.

The Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI), chaired by Governor Tim Walz, has $11.5 million invested in Howmet. Schwartz underlined the necessity of continuing to demand the SBI divests from Israel, and reminded the crowd that despite a ceasefire agreement, Israel’s violence has yet to end. “Palestine is still occupied. Apartheid still exists.”

Schwartz continued, “This ceasefire agreement is not justice and this ceasefire does not change our calls for a Free Palestine. We will continue to stand against the Israeli occupation, apartheid, imprisonment of Palestinians and genocide as long as these exist.”

Before the rally ended, emcees encouraged the crowd to attend the MN Anti-War Committee’s upcoming rally calling for the SBI to Divest MN from apartheid Israel. The rally will be held on Tuesday, October 21 at 10 a.m. outside the Retirement Systems Building located at 60 Empire Drive, Saint Paul.

#NewBrightonMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #WeaponsIndustry #MNAWC #AWAN #MNPA #DMN

Niles, OH – On October 12, members of the Pittsburgh BDS Coalition joined up with activists from various local groups to protest outside a Howmet Aerospace factory, known to be manufacturing parts for the F-35 jet which is being used by the IDF in occupied Palestine. The boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement works to isolate Israel for the crimes it is committing in Palestine.

From the outset, protesters were clear that their enemies are the Howmet and Lockheed Martin executives who signed a genocidal contract which ensures that the country’s specialized titanium industry is used to manufacture tools for the war machine, rather than needed services like prosthetic limbs for the thousands of injured Gazans. The movement expressed support for the workers through chanting slogans like “Drop the contract, not bombs” and “Keep Gaza alive; cancel the F-35.”

Although only a small group was able to protest outside the factory, support from the local community was tremendous. Many people driving past the factory honked in support of the protest, even though Niles is the kind of semi-rural factory town which is often written off as inherently conservative.

The action in Niles is the second event to come as part of the Week of Action against Howmet, where organizers are moving past recognizable urban centers to protest outside the factories.

The project has been organized by the Pittsburgh BDS Coalition, in collaboration with groups like BDS International, Jewish Voices for Peace, the Anti-War Action Network, DSA, PSL, as well as a number of regional Palestine Solidarity Committees across the US.

As Pittsburgh BDS organizers see it, it’s time for the Palestine solidarity movement to go beyond regional demonstrations reacting to atrocities committed by the Zionist entity, and go on the offensive with a nationally coordinated campaign against the local infrastructure of genocide.

#NilesOH #OH #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #WeaponsIndustry #BDS

Garland, TX – A coalition of DFW Anti War Committee, Palestinian Youth Movement and Freedom Road Socialist Organization rallied outside the REPKON USA facility off of Glenbrook Drive, on October 10. Settled in a relatively quiet suburb outside of Dallas next to a high school football stadium, the REPKON facility spans 38 acres and is responsible for the production of the Mk-80 and BLU-109 “bunker buster” bombs, the vast majority of the munitions dropped on families and refugee camps in Gaza along with other theatres of war around the globe.

Formerly part of General Dynamics, the facility was sold to REPKON’s defense holdings in 2025. The facility itself is no stranger to public pressure, with groups having held multiple teach-ins, community canvases, rallies and direct actions there since 2023 while it was still owned by General Dynamics.

Reacting to the impact of this facility, Siham Saadeh with Code Pink Dallas and the DFW Anti-War Committee said, “For many of us across DFW, learning that a bomb body plant, disguised as an aerospace defense site, sits blocks from a high school field was like a blow to the gut. It is shocking, ominous and unbearable. Communities across the world, especially in Gaza, live under the real-world consequences of these weapons every single day. And yet, we’re transforming that shock into action. Our resistance to this bomb manufacturer is a gesture of solidarity and a powerful statement: we refuse to be complicit.”

In light of the recent ceasefire agreement, a member of the DFW Anti War Committee stated, “Whether they fall in Gaza, in Yemen, in Venezuela, or in our own backyards, we will not rest until this factory becomes a site of creation rather than destruction. Regardless of any platitudes or promises of temporary peace, the time for change is now, and the time for change is always!”

The energy was high leading into the evening, with a wide range of speakers from Code Pink, Jewish Voice for Peace, and other groups sympathetic to the liberation of Palestinians delivering obituaries of those martyred by the bombs manufactured in Garland. Their voices echoed across the field, with chants of “We demand an arms embargo.”

As the sun set, demonstrators made their way to the corner of Glenbrook Drive and Walnut Street to hold a vigil honoring the memory of those who have lost their lives at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces. Demonstrators were met with an overwhelmingly positive community response, with many locals expressing their support for bringing awareness to REPKON’s involvement with the Palestinian genocide.

One DAWC member, who grew up in Garland, shared their thoughts, “When learning about the bomb factory, I felt shocked and then I felt sick. When thinking about how the place I grew up plays a key role in tearing families apart and killing children, I feel a pit of dread in my stomach. Knowing every bomb that kills a mother, father, son and daughter in Palestine passes through Garland at some point, makes me feel sadness and grief. As community members in Garland, we have power to say this is not what our city is about and is not something we want here. We need to say it loud!”

Not everyone was in support, however. As the evening progressed, a local biker presenting a tattered American flag stood by the vigil. As speakers shared the stories of those martyred by REPKON’s bombs, the counter-demonstrator stationed himself in the median of Glenbrook Drive, displaying the flag for commuters to see. According to many attendees at the scene, he was holding it backwards.

#GarlandTX #TX #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #DFWAWC #PYM #FRSO #WeaponsIndustry

Zeeland, MI – For the second year in a row, Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids rallied outside of war profiteer Woodward FST to commemorate the anniversary of the Al Aqsa flood. Over 40 people chanted to the sounds of snares, claves and cymbals as surrounding factories marked their second shift change and employees filtered into the parking lot.

Before the action, PSGR learned that Woodward sent out an all staff memo claiming organizers were being paid to protest, and cautioning employees from speaking with anyone. In their speech to the crowd, FRSO member Anthony O'Hegarty said, “We aren't here at Woodward to shame people working at this job. Most people don't know that the work going on in here is in anyway connected to this genocide.”

Organizers attempted to pass along information to Woodward employees but were rebuffed, saying they were instructed to not take anything from the protesters. A small group of employees stayed to listen, nodding in agreement that Michigan factories shouldn't be part of killing children.

O'Hegarty urged employees to question their boss’s complicity in the genocide, to question their contracts with Boeing, and to ask why Woodward has tried to downplay their military involvement by removing information from their website.

West Michigan is home to many military contractors. Machine fragments bearing Woodwards' logo were found on the ground in Gaza in late 2023. While Woodward has facilities in other states, the Zeeland location serves as a unique testing facility. Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids hopes their presence will inspire workers to question the facilities contracts and to get organized.

While reading an emotional statement by one of PSGRs founding Palestinian members, organizer Mary McQuirter stated, “our fight is not only for our land, it is for the soul of humanity itself. You do not need to stand in Gaza to resist – you need only to stand in your place with conviction and with compassion.”

At the end of the day, the only ones who were paid to be at Woodward were the employees sacrificing their time and energy to line the pockets of billionaire war profiteers. The rest – they stood with conviction alone.

#ZeelandMI #MI #AntiWarMovement #PSGR #Palestine #WeaponsIndustry

Denver, CO – On July 26, Coloradans gathered outside Denver’s Union Station in a rally against software development company Palantir, which is complicit with apartheid Israel.

Palantir develops artificial intelligence used both by ICE to facilitate mass arrests and deportations and by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), with programs like “Lavender” and “Where’s Daddy” used to target and slaughter innocent Palestinian civilians and families by identifying targets, tracking them back to their homes, and deploying bombs.

The protesters took aim at the Tabor Center, a skyscraper located in downtown Denver which leases out the 15th floor to Palantir to use as its headquarters. The event began with attendees painting signs with demands, which would later be taped to the sides of the building, with slogans such as “Palantir out of the Tabor Center.”

Protesters rallied around banners and handmade signs demanding an end to the forced starvation of civilians in Gaza, decrying Palantir’s role in facilitating war crimes, and denouncing the complicity of the Tabor Center in giving this genocidal company a place to call home.

During the event, speakers from local and national organizations spoke out about the evils of Palantir.

Feven Nebiyu with Students for a Democratic Society stated, “Where other companies provide advanced weapons for the IDF to attack innocent men, women, and children in Gaza, Palantir takes it a step further and removes the need for a human assailant at all, promising Israel the luxury of committing a handsfree genocide.”

After speeches, people hit the streets, marching from Union Station up the 16th Street Mall to Palantir’s headquarters. Once there, people took to the sidewalks with brightly colored chalk; arrows pointed to the building with slogans like “Palantir is watching you,” “Let Gaza eat!” and “ICE runs on Palantir and Palantir runs on genocide.”

Speeches from Terry Burnsed, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace and Democratic Socialists of America, as well as Eliot Howe, a member of Denver Anti-War Action, garnered huge support from the crowd as the emcee led enthusiastic supporters in chants like “Hey hey! Ho ho! These murderous tech bros got to go!” and “Palantir out of Denver!”

Howe stated, “The genocidal, military-outpost ethnic state needs money and weapons, after all! And the U.S. is a genocide profiteer through and through,” but ended on a note of hope, “We won’t let our city be the shelter for war profiteers like Lockheed and Palantir. We say Palantir, get out of here! Denver doesn’t want you here!” and, later, “Alone we can do very little, but together we can change the world!”

Moving to the other side of the building, demonstrators taped signs to the windows and added more chalk slogans to the sidewalks as they heard from Kacey Hicks, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, who stated, “We have to organize the wrath and the might of the people to make sure that the billionaires in the ruling class cannot keep killing Palestinians with our tax dollars.”

Returning to the 16th Street entrance, people were unsurprised to see the immediate removal of their chalk art, scrubbed away by security and building maintenance, but they didn’t let that stop them from adding more in its place.

Garnering people and support along the way, protesters again took to the streets in the return to Union Station, boldly chanting, “We’ll be back, we’ll be stronger, you can’t hide it any longer!” referring to the crimes committed by Palantir. The people of Denver show no sign of slowing down in their fight to get Palantir out of their city and aim to continue escalation and make business as usual at the Tabor Center untenable until their demands are met.

#DenverCO #CO #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Palantir #WeaponsIndustry #AI

Elbit provides 80% of Israel’s land based weaponry and 85% of its drones. In the summer of 2023, Elbit built a facility in Ladson, South Carolina which produces the SIGMA Next-Generation Mobile Tactical Cannon – a massive 150mm vehicle-mounted gun – for the Israeli military.

“Make no mistake, there will come a day when everyone, including members of this council, act as if they were always against the genocide, just as people now act as if it was obvious to oppose Jim Crow or South African Apartheid,” one speaker told the council. “However, we will not let anyone in Charleston County forget that members of this body not only did not stand out against this genocide, but instead used their positions of power to financially incentivise these genocide profiteers to move into our community, and then y’all remained silent as they shipped weapons of death to erase generations of Palestinians.”

Elbit was subsidized financially by the Charleston County council to set up shop via a $700,000 grant awarded through the state and, more importantly, via a Fee In Lieu Of Taxation (FILOT) agreement signed with the county. The FILOT agreement awards Elbit decades of property tax breaks. Charleston County schools are funded with business property taxes, so the FILOT functionally takes money away from our local children and gives it to Elbit to produce weapons to murder Palestinian youth.

EOSC has been organizing for a year and a half to shut down the Ladson factory. Every Thursday since the one-year anniversary of Al Aqsa Flood, the group has held pickets in front of Elbit, including a massive rally on May Day 2025. Members have also canvassed nearby communities, tabled at local events, flyered the streets, held numerous teach-ins to educate the public, and disrupted a job fair where Elbit attempted to recruit employees from a local community college.

One condition of the FILOT agreement includes a hiring requirement of 300 employees, which Elbit has yet to reach. The coalition has been using agitational tactics to prevent Elbit from hiring the workers it needs to legally maintain the tax breaks. This would effectively will cost Elbit millions over the five-year term of its contract with the county.

These efforts have begun to yield results. Elbit officials warned the Charleston County Council they are uncertain about the future of the Ladson facility. Meanwhile, EOSC is continuing to escalate their tactics.

EOSC’s most recent action at the County council was prompted by news that, in mid-July, ships in the Mediterranean Sea were said to be carrying cannons that activists have reason to believe were produced at the Ladson facility in Charleston County. This is the first news of this kind to surface since the facility opened two years ago.

After coalition members left the council chambers, Larry Kobrovsky, a council member who frequently leaves the chambers and refuses to face EOSC organizers when they share public comments, compared the group to the KKK and nazis. While ESOC has developed a positive working relationship with some councilmembers, there is still more work to be done on this front.

“Ultimately, attacking the FILOT tax breaks is one tactic among many that our coalition is using to shut down this factory,” said another coalition member. “It will take a mixture of agitation, base-building, education, local labor and community solidarity to accomplish these goals. But we will win!”

For more information about the Elbit Out of South Carolina Coalition visit ElbitoutofSC.com.

#CharlestonSC #SC #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #WeaponsIndustry #Elbit #EOSC

Grand Prairie, TX – Members of the DFW Anti-War Committee on did a banner drop March 1 in front of the local Lockheed Martin Fire and Missile Control Center to protest against Lockheed’s annual coding competition, Code Quest.

Jo Hargis with the DFW Anti-War Committee said, “This action was part of our campaign against weapons manufacturers within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. One aspect of this campaign is tackling the influence of weapons manufacturers on students. At previous actions we have protested job fairs where weapons manufacturers were tabling and handed out flyers to educate students on the military industrial complex at campuses such as the University of Texas at Arlington.”

Another member of the DFW Anti-War Committee, Josh Rudd, said, “Weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin have contributed to U.S. imperialism around the world, particularly in the genocide on Palestine. The goal of students should be to gain an education, and companies that play a role in contributing to genocide should have no part in our education system.”

Attendees chanted slogans such as “Lockheed Martin you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide” and “We know what your factory’s for, occupation, endless war.”

According to Lockheed Martin’s website, “Each year, Lockheed Martin hosts Code Quest, an annual computer programming competition where teams of two to three high school students work together to solve problems by using Java, Python, C#, and/or C++ programming to complete the ‘quest’. The problem set consists of 20 to 30 challenging problems created by Lockheed Martin engineers and computer programmers.” Aside from Grand Prairie, Texas, competitions were in a total of 19 cities, including Denver and Orlando.

#GrandPrarieTX #TX #AntiWarMovement #WeaponsIndustry #DFWAWC #LockheedMartin

Garland, TX – Organizers and activists held a large teach-in and town hall meeting, December 1, just outside the gates of General Dynamics, one of the largest ordnance suppliers to the Israeli genocide in the United States. The facility and surrounding neighborhood are no stranger to controversy, with others having held protests, disruptions and rallies outside its gates before.

DFW Anti-War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Free Palestine Denton, Jewish Voice for Peace, Code Pink, and Palestinian Youth Movement organized the events.

The coalition engaged the community by canvassing the surrounding streets to bring the neighborhood into conversations about the roles of weapons manufacturers like General Dynamics across north Texas communities, taking into careful consideration the makeup of the neighborhood and preparing canvassers to meet residents where they were. Organizers who did not have experience knocking doors were trained by others who had prior experience and paired together. The community reception was warm.

Planners spent a month engaging the rest of their DFW communities for food, music, art and cultural workshops to share with the neighborhood, from embroidery and crafts for children to music workshops and a town hall to field questions from local residents. As the day moved on, community members of the neighborhood came from across the street to find an enthusiastic crowd.

Participants of all ages joined in to learn, chant and sing. Leaflets were handed out with information about local organizations’ campaigns, alongside songs and chants from the last 90 years. An activist from Jewish Voice for Peace shared a particularly impactful Yiddish song from the 1930s We Will Outlive Them featuring the line “The world will grow more beautiful, love greater, hatred smaller.”

The event shifted into a town hall meeting, fielding questions from participants and community members about the weapons manufacturer, and heard from the organizers about their groups’ campaigns against General Dynamics.

Organizers stressed the importance of working with a long strategy in mind against weapons manufacturers. Amid the many roles weapons manufacturers play in American life, from our education to our families’ careers, General Dynamics has held its place in this neighborhood for generations and family stories from these factories are not uncommon in north Texas. The fight against them is certainly not a short one.

Once a boat factory before 1952, this General Dynamics facility is a direct legacy of the United States’ long history of suppressing the labor movement by forcing communities to compromise for quality industrial jobs by pushing them into weapons production. General Dynamics supplies 80% of the MK-80 and BLU-109 bombs dropped in Gaza.

General Dynamics facility is tucked grimly between a community college and a high school football stadium, the surrounding area is a quiet, working-class neighborhood where you can sometimes hear the football games and marching bands on weeknights. Israel’s own Elbit Systems is similarly located across the street from another quiet suburb and high school in Fort Worth. Communities like Garland, Texas and others across the state send their children to school right next to bombs that kill children abroad.

#GarlandTX #TX #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #WeaponsIndustry #DAWC #FRSO #PYM #CodePink #JVP

Grand Rapids, MI – On October 7, roughly 80 people in more than 25 cars drove from Grand Rapids, Michigan to protest at Woodward Zeeland, an engineering firm with locations worldwide which has been connected to the genocide in Gaza.

After the U.S.-funded attacks on Lebanon and Palestine, and the escalation of the genocide, organizers led by Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids (PSGR) launched a campaign targeting local war-profiteers that culminated in the rally and die-in outside of Woodward Zeeland.

Gathering at a church in Grand Rapids, the group painted their cars with slogans demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel, pointing out the complicity of Woodward in the genocide, and for Representative Hillary Scholten to end her support of Israel. The caravan drove from Grand Rapids to Zeeland, a small community outside Holland, Michigan. On their way the caravan passed Scholten's house, honking their horns and getting thumbs up from neighbors.

Other groups involved in the protest included FRSO Michigan, the Grand Rapids Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and Students for a Democratic Society at Grand Valley State University.

In an online statement, PSGR elaborated on why this company is a prime target: “Woodward Zeeland tests fuel spray nozzles and jet engines for combustion. This is an important connection point to other war profiteers in the state, where different military contractors work together to spread out responsibility for genocide.”

The group stayed outside the facility from 1 until 3 p.m., where they rallied, gave speeches, and spoke to workers leaving the facility during the shift change. “You deserve to feed your families without having to work three jobs. You deserve affordable rent and safe clean housing!” said Emerson Wolfe, the cochair of PSGR, directly addressing the Woodward workers. “You deserve public healthcare and education without having to pay thousands and thousands of dollars! You deserve all of this without having to build bombs.”

As the action ended, the protesters held a die-in outside the facility to directly signal Woodward’s direct complicity in the genocide and the invasion of Rafah.

Wren Burns, a Zeeland based organizer with PSGR, spoke on how the devastation of Gaza makes them feel as a parent: “How can community or family be the cornerstone of this town when places like Woodward are how we make a living? War makes the deaths of children measurable in dollars and cents. If you can’t quantify the life of your own child, how can you do that with someone else’s?”

Another community member spoke on this importance of educating the next generation about the horrors of imperialism. “My son has been coming to events with me all year and today I realized he needed to be there too, so I took him out of school early to join the rally.” She continued, “Our kids have to see and understand what this country is doing. We owe them the respect and dignity of giving them space to life their voice and come to terms with what’s happening.”

The historical significance of the date wasn’t lost on the organizers, either. Answering the Antiwar Action Network’s national call for a week of action in early October, Grand Rapids joined dozens of cities across the nation by organizing marches, rallies and direct-actions to make clear their immediate demand, ending U.S. aid to Israel now.

Outside of the Woodward facility, the assembled protesters commemorated the importance of the Al-Aqsa flood. “A year ago today, I woke up and texted my comrades and said ‘look at the news! The people of Gaza have liberated themselves,’” said Sam Tunningley, of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “It was one of the most incredible days of my life.”

A Palestinian community member stated, “This is the moment! This is the year! We will tear down imperialism from its core! By this time next year, we will see a free Palestine! We will see a free Masjid Al-Aqsa and we will pray there in safety!”

“This year of resistance – witnessing the strength and determination of the Palestinian people – is teaching us what liberation looks like,” Emerson Wolfe said, signaling at the diverse array of protesters, ranging in age from children to elders from all walks of life.

Woodward has been under fire since fragments of Boeing bombs dropped on Rafah contained identifier codes linking them back to Woodward. Direct actions outside of the Woodward headquarters in Colorado brought together 300 people late last year. In February, 33 people were arrested outside of the Niles, Illinois Woodward location for blocking entrances to the facility. After the Zeeland action on October 7, three out of the nine publicly known Woodward locations in the U.S. have been targeted by anti-genocide protesters in the past year.

#GrandRapidsMI #MI #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #WeaponsIndustry #PSGR #AWAN #FRSO

Jacksonville, FL – On Saturday, October 5, around 150 protesters congregated outside of Jacksonville’s port authority (Jaxport), as part of the Palestinian Youth Movement’s International Day of Action, to demand that the port cut all ties with Maersk, one of the world’s largest shipping and logistics companies. Jaxport has had a contract with the shipping behemoth since 2015.

“The people of Gaza have been bombarded by U.S.-made weapons, [made from] weapons components that are transported into these ports that we stand in front of today – and to that we say ‘shame,’” declared Sara from The Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network in the opening talk.

“Like many other corporations, Maersk feeds off the endless budget of U.S. imperialism,” emphasized a speaker from Freedom Road Socialist Organization, “the U.S. empire spans across the globe and has long relied on domination in the Middle East, with Israel as its gateway for foreign investment, resource control and oppression. Israel also seeks their own empire and it’s our money, our tax dollars, being used to fund this violence – let us be very clear that they cannot sustain their empire without us.”

Early into the protest, rain descended on the crowd, but, despite the onslaught, the ralliers prevailed.

“Victory goes not to those who inflict the most but those who can endure the most,” a member of the Teamsters called to the drenched protesters, “The demands of the Palestinian trade union movement are not ambiguous, it’s not that we don’t know what they want – they want an end to these arms shipments.”

The sentiments of many of the speakers, that we cannot let this constant flow of death continue, were echoed in the fearful response from Jaxport. It had police blockade the entrance before the event even began, with squadrons waiting out of sight behind it.

Maersk has transported over $300 million in weapons components on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense. Divestment from Maersk would be a direct blow on the supply chain that fuels the genocide of Palestinians.

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #WeaponsIndustry #Maersk #FRSO #JPSN

Bloomington, MN – On September 14, 80 activists marched on the Bloomington General Dynamics facility to highlight the company's role in facilitating Israel's relentless attacks against occupied Palestine.

This event, organized by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, began with a rally at the intersection of Penn Avenue and 88th Street at the corner of the Penn Lake Library. Following 45 minutes of lively speeches and chants, demonstrators marched to the front of General Dynamics’ “Mission Systems” facility.

Michael Runyon, founder of Students for Palestine Normandale, explained why community members were calling attention to General Dynamics.

“[When] Israel began their genocide of Gaza, the CFO of General Dynamics told investors that the thing that stands out is the artillery side,” Runyon said. “In other words, if you want to make money, we can do it by killing men, women, and children. They are on track now to produce 100,000 artillery shells per month.”

Over the past eleven months, Israel has targeted Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure using a variety of arms made by General Dynamics, from the 155 mm artillery shells Runyon referenced in his speech to 2000 lb bunker buster bombs; from tanks to cybersecurity systems; from robotic combat vehicles to sophisticated guns.

General Dynamics, the world's fifth-largest weapons manufacturer, generates an estimated $38.5 billion in revenue per year. The corporation has spent decades furnishing the state of Israel with a range of munitions and equipment, but public scrutiny has increased since Israel's well-documented campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide commenced last October.

Sarah Martin, a longtime member of Women Against Military Madness, pointed out the complicity of the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) in enabling Israel’s many war crimes. “We Minnesotans don’t want over three billion dollars of our money flowing to death and destruction,” Martin said. “We need to divest, and we need to divest now!”

Martin was referring to an ongoing divestment campaign spearheaded by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC), which aims to pressure the SBI to divest an estimated $4.3 billion of public money from entities that are actively or passively linked to Israel’s economy.

Neil Radford, a rank-and-file union member of MFT59 and a member of Minnesota Workers United, pointed out that over $30 million dollars of Minnesotan pensioners’ money gets siphoned toward General Dynamics alone.

Radford stated, “When Americans are willing to forgo any sense of morality in what their labor creates, or our collective responsibility to each other as human beings; when they see war as inevitable and an opportunity for investment and upward mobility; they will end up working for a company like General Dynamics and continuing a path to a hopeless future.”

Event emcee Naveen Borojerdi closed out the program with several robust chants and the cry, “We’ll be back!” to whoops and cheers from the assembled crowd. Attendees were encouraged to stay up-to-date on the AWC's continuing SBI divestment campaign by visiting divestmn.com.

#BloomingtonMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #WeaponsIndustry #GeneralDynamics #MPAC #WAMM #MWU #AWC

Wilsonville, OR – On Monday, June 24, 20 pro-Palestinian protesters rallied at the office of Collins Aerospace in Wilsonville, Oregon. The rally was called by PDX for Palestine to protest the company’s involvement in the genocide in Gaza. Collins Aerospace is a subsidiary of Raytheon, and the Wilsonville facility produces weapons components that go to the Israeli military.

The protesters formed a picket line and marched directly in front of the building next to its windows as workers inside went about their workday, chanting slogans such as “Raytheon, Raytheon you can’t hide! You make weapons for genocide!”

“We as Oregonians are here to say that we don’t want weapons manufacturers in our backyard. We don’t want them to be able to persist business as usual when they are arming a genocide,” said Catie Mohr, member of PDX for Palestine.

The rally continued on for two hours with protesters in good spirits and no escalation with police or security. The event closed with organizers committing to continuing the struggle against companies like Raytheon and all other war profiteers in Oregon.

#WilsonvilleOR #OR #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #WeaponsIndustry #PDXforPalestine

Littleton, CO – On Wednesday, June 12, Denver Anti-War Action (DAWA) furthered their fight against Lockheed Martin with a rally outside the weapon manufacturer's Space Division headquarters in Colorado.

Dozens of protesters showed up between the hours of 3 and 6 p.m. as employees finished up with the workday. While vehicles lined up at the intersection to begin their commute home, protesters denounced the corporation for their contribution to the crimes against humanity being committed in Gaza.

Alongside chants and speeches, fliers detailing the horrific effects of carpet bombing and white phosphorus were given to those leaving the facility, forcing them to witness graphic images of the violence they ignore.

“The employees that work at this building get their salaries from blood money,” said Mat Hunsaker, a speaker with DAWA. “While Palestinians starve to death, they stock their fridges with groceries paid for with blood money. While Palestinians are living in tents, they pay their rent and mortgage with blood money from the U.S. and Israeli governments.”

“They say they don't make weapons of war here – that all they do is work on innocent satellites. They scoff and roll their eyes at us. They think we're ignorant, that we're misled, that they have nothing to do with the carnage the United States perpetuates,” said Raika Sailing, another DAWA organizer.

The satellites developed and built in the Space Division are far from innocent. Satellites were invented for the purpose of war and, true to their origin, aid Israel with the surveillance of Palestinians and aim of missiles. “But we're not the ignorant ones,” Sailing continued. “We're not the ones who turn a blind eye to genocide. We're the ones who make the genocide stop.”

Amongst the demands of DAWA’s Lockheed Martin campaign is the demand to end all material support to Israel. This includes not only weapons and fighter jets, but the space technology that is used in tandem with those weapons.

#LittletonCO #DenverCO #CO #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #WeaponsIndustry #DAWA

St. Paul, MN – On Saturday, June 1, Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) members had their 17th annual Walk Against Weapons of War. The day was sunny as 125 WAMM members and supporters rallied at Langford Park within a residential community. They then continued with a march to Forward Edge ASIC, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin.

This yearly walk initially protested Alliant Techsystem Inc., a Honeywell spinoff of its defense businesses. In the 1970s and ‘80s, Honeywell was the target of massive local protests because of its production of cluster bombs.

Continuing with this tradition, WAMM focused their walk against Lockheed Martin, the largest weapons manufacturer in the world. With record profits in 2023, Lockheed Martin is a glaring example of the health of our nation's war machine. The State Department reported that sales of U.S. military equipment to foreign governments in 2023 rose to $238 billion. Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets, sent to Israel, are being used to indiscriminately bomb Palestinian citizens, killing and displacing 90% of the population of Gaza, predominantly women and children.

Robyn Harbison, WAMM director, emceed the program in the park before the march and welcomed the people, “Lockheed Martin clearly makes money from the mayhem and misery of war, and takes from humanity the possibility of having world peace. That is why it is our duty to fight back! It’s our duty to fight for the freedom and safety of all people, including Gazans and all those terrorized by the U.S. military.”

Anna Madison, member of new WAMM committee, Families Against Military Madness (FAMM), spoke at the rally, emphasizing the role of arms makers, “While our fellow parents and caregivers in Gaza are left to collect the only remaining pieces of their children and loved ones after they’ve been desecrated by bullets and bombs; the employees and shareholders can rest easy knowing that each dead body represents a new profit opportunity. So, when you hear over and over that ‘no one wins a war,’ one only needs to watch Lockheed’s stock price to see who the clear winner is.”

Holding banners reading, “Women Against Military Madness, Walk Against Weapons” and “No MN money for weapons manufacturers,” the activists took to the streets, marching to Lockheed. On the route, Harbison led the marchers in chants like “Killing children is a crime!” “Free free Palestine!” and “Lockheed, Lockheed we know you, bombing Gaza is what you do!“

As the marchers continued taking the streets, bystanders and shop merchants saw the activists waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs, “Forward Edge ASIC = merchant of death,” “No tax dollars for Lockheed Martin,” “Free Palestine” and “Let Gaza Llve.”

Finally, the marchers gathered in front of the ForwardEdge ASIC main entrance. Mike Runyon, representing Students for Justice at Normandale Community College, spoke to the crowd, reminding them, “This is the United States’ genocide. It belongs to Joe Biden, and the presidents that came before him. From Harry Truman and on, this is about the American empire. Joe Biden put it best himself as a senator in 1986. ‘[Supporting Israel] is the best $3 billion investment we make. If there were not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region.’”

Before the march returned to the park, people went to the war profiteers’ front door and placed articles of children’s clothes with a piece of paper attached to them saying, “Representing a child killed in Gaza by U.S. weaponry.”

As chants rang out on the way back to the park, marchers were joined by children and youth from a nearby Tibetan cultural school, where their voices were clearly heard throughout the neighborhood, chanting “Free Palestine!” They were excited in joining the march for the children of Gaza and the liberation of Palestine.

#StPaulMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #WomensMovement #WAMM #WeaponsIndustry

Littleton, CO – On Wednesday, May 29, the Denver Anti-War Action (DAWA) continued their pro Palestine actions against weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin with another all-day picket at the corporation’s Colorado headquarters.

Around 50 protesters engaged in direct action throughout the day, forcing Lockheed employees to take fact sheets that laid out their location’s specific role in the ongoing genocide in Palestine, attached with explicit imagery of carpet bombing and the brutal effects of white phosphorus.

The fliers pointed out the connections between Lockheed Martin and Israel, included graphic imagery of war crimes, and the specifics of the activity that Lockheed Martin is engaged in in Colorado. Lockheed Martin’s primary roles in the genocide are sending F-35s, F-16s and C-130-Js to the occupation as well as providing the tools for mass surveillance and missile and drone targeting with satellites and GPS systems that are produced in Littleton.

One protester with the DAWA, Solveig Swain, explained, “We have to see these traumatizing images constantly by following the news coming out of Gaza. Those actively contributing to the genocide, the people providing the satellite surveillance used to target Palestinians, need to see the results of their crimes as well.”

These engineers of a genocide at Lockheed Martin did not appear out of thin air but were hand picked by Lockheed Martin. Tom Chaney, an organizer with the Students for a Democratic Society Denver (SDS) explained, “These young engineers are brought in with promises of money, with promises of safety and security for the future. There is no security when you’re funding a genocide.

Lockheed Martin, through “donations” and funding for “research” provided to Colorado universities, has deep ties to these institutions which allow them to aggressively recruit Colorado’s students. The end of this relationship is one of the demands of the SDS,and DAWA is also fighting to break the ties with corporations that arm Israel.

Another speaker with the DAWA, Julia Swezy, laid out the future of the movement, “We are building our discipline and militance daily. We will fight until the resistance achieves the victory they deserve, the liberation they are entitled toAs the resistance forces in Palestine wage their struggle against the occupation, those in the United States fight to end the supply of weapons that facilitate the genocide. By building militant people power in a similar fashion to the protests against the war in Vietnam, these activists hope to strike blows against domestic weapons manufacturers in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.”

#LittletonCO #DenverCO #CO #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #DAWA #WeaponsIndustry