Philadelphia, PA — On Saturday, April 13, local groups protested Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed 33,000 Palestinians according to the latest figures. The march gathered in Clark Park.
Organizers say that workers and unions are sending the message today. The Philly Palestine Coalition says groups involved include the Labor for Black Lives Coalition, Healthcare Workers for Palestine, Philly IWW, TNG Local 10/CWA Local 38010, SEIU Healthcare PA, Unity Caucus, Philly Tenants Union, & Workers World Party. According to the post, “Our goal is clear: to stand in unwavering solidarity with Palestinian workers and communities. Together, let’s demand more than just a ‘ceasefire now’ – let’s demand justice and equality for all.”
On April 4 a rally at the University of Pennsylvania kicked off the “Shut Down Ghost Robotics“ campaign. Pics below from the April 4 event:
Since the April 4 event we have been checking more into Ghost Robotics and have some additional information to release later. We also have a report from a March 28 protest at Day & Zimmermann, a munitions manufacturer for the IDF headquartered in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia, PA — Around a dozen protesters marched from City Hall in Center City up to 1500 Spring Garden Avenue, the headquarters of privately held Day & Zimmermann corporation on Thursday, March 28. The company says it has more than 43,000 employees and is a “leading provider of munitions,” which includes 120mm tank rounds for Merkava tanks employed by Israel’s occupation forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as 155mm artillery rounds.
The late March protest was called by Extinction Rebellion Philadelphia and supported by Montgomery County-based Montco for Palestine. Protesters briefly held positions blocking the parking lot and main building entrances — in both cases they were threatened with arrest by Philadelphia Police Department Civil Affairs officers wearing plain clothes & body cameras, although no actual arrests or detentions took place. (The city government says that Civil Affairs is supposed to lead protest responses [PDF].) While one of the officers joked to an organizer that it was a small demonstration, the event highlighted that even early on a wet day people are committed to sending a message about the lethal products made by Day & Zimmermann.
John, a retired 40-year union construction worker, told Unicorn Riot,
“It’s offensive to me our tax dollars go to murder people anywhere in the world, especially that our government is funding and arming this genocide in Gaza. It’s reprehensible, and both parties are responsible for this. This is why we need a party of our own and not subservience to Democrats or Republicans. Day and Zimmermann is a construction company but also is in the munitions business. They do business with Israel, with the IDF. They’re a legitimate target for boycott and for targeting as an accomplice of genocide. They should be in the International Court of Justice with every corporation that arms Israel.”
John, Retired union construction worker
Since the environmental group Extinction Rebellion organized the event, we asked them about the ecological fallout of the current conflict. Another participant told Unicorn Riot that “without a doubt” Day & Zimmermann is contributing to ecological problems because of chemicals in the munitions:
“These bombs are dropping and it’s decimating the ecology. The bombs release pollutants into the atmosphere, so it is happening directly in Palestine that the ecology, the environment is being destroyed and a result of that destruction is that we’re having chemicals released into the atmosphere. […] It’s measurable. It’s a statistically significant change that has been measured since this bombing campaign started in October.”
Protest participant
Another organizer told us Day & Zimmermann munitions are contributing to the ecological devastation of the Gaza Strip:
[Day & Zimmermann is] “one of the largest arms suppliers to the US military […], we’re just here to shut down for Palestine. We want to stop the genocide and we want to make sure that we’re targeting companies that are complicit in that in our local communities and Day and Zimmermann is one of them. […] The ecological devastation in Gaza is unimaginable. Environmentalists have said it’s going to take an insurmountable number of years to even be able to rebuild, to even be able to get the land back to the state that was in originally. Obviously, genocide causes mass pollution problems. Their plumbing system has completely been dissolved. There’s raw sewage that has been consistently been dumped into the sea. […] Plus, you also have the aftereffects of all the munitions being dropped. In addition to internationally banned weapons of war, including white phosphorus. […] And they’ve also obviously destroyed all the agriculture, including the animals. It is a largely self-sustaining–was a largely self-sustaining society–through the blockade. So, yeah, a lot of the trees, it’s polluted [in] forests.”
[Day & Zimmermann subsidiary American Ordinance LLC] operates the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAP), which has been the source of much of the artillery munitions used by the Israeli military, including 155mm rounds, fired by Israel’s M109 howitzer guns, and 120mm M830A1 High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) rounds, fired by Israel’s Merkava battle tanks.
The factory has been operated by Mason & Hanger since 1951. Between 1998-2007, it was operated by American Ordnance, a joint venture of Mason & Hanger and General Dynamics. Day & Zimmermann acquired Mason & Hanger in 1999, and in 2007 acquired General Dynamics’ stake in American Ordnance.
In November, Israeli tanks fired M830A1 rounds as part of their attack on a U.N. school in Gaza. The serial number on one of the rounds suggests that it was made at IAAP by Mason & Hanger in December 1990.
On January 29, Israeli tanks fired M830A1 rounds as part of their attack that killed 6-year-old Hind Rajab, her six family members, and the medics that attempted to rescue her, in the Gaza neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa. The serial number on an exploded round found inside the ambulance suggests that it was made at IAAP by Mason & Hanger in November 1996.
In December, the U.S. government used emergency measures to approve sending Israel an estimated number of 14,000 M830A1 tank rounds, without congressional review. The transfer, from the existing inventory of the U.S. Army, is worth $106.5 million, funded by U.S. taxpayer’s money.
Day & Zimmermann’s factory in Texarkana, Texas, is the current supplier of M830A1 rounds for the U.S. Army. Between 2017-2021, the U.S. Army’s supplier of these munitions was a Northrop Grumman factory in Plymouth, Minnesota.
In a statement on October 13, 2023, Day & Zimmerman Chair and CEO Hal Yoh said, “Acts of terror, oppression and the loss of innocent lives is tragic and should be condemned. This is not about specific groups, ideology, religion, or politics. We stand with those who work to protect freedom and democracy around the world.”
Israel’s demand for these munitions, particularly artillery shells, has also sapped the supply chain for Ukraine’s military, which has been attempting to fend off the Russian army since the full-scale invasion that commenced in February 2022.
Image gallery: (1) Three observers from the building containing Day & Zimmerman offices; two recorded demonstrators. CBS-3 is co-located in the building and did not cover the demonstration. (2) An observer from inside the building recorded also demonstrators. (3) Three Philadelphia Police Department officers believed to all be from Civil Affairs. The officer at right issued threats to arrest after demonstrators blocked entryways.
Join us on Sunday, March 24th from 1-3 in Clark Park to discuss a few recent pieces about Aaron Bushnell, an anarchist who recently immolated himself in protest against the ongoing horror in Gaza.
Ghost Robotics Corporation is a Philadelphia-based robotics company. They are located in the Pennovation Works compound in the Grays Ferry neighborhood in South Philly. They specifically cater to the military and “defense” markets. This article will go over some basic information about the company that readers opposed to colonialism, militarism, technological advancement, or gentrification may find interesting. Others are encouraged to verify this research and supplement it with their own.
Ghost Robotics is best known for their robot dogs. The robot dog, officially known as the VISION 60 Q-UGV, is billed as a “mid-sized high-endurance, agile and durable all-weather ground drone.” It is being used by US and foreign militaries, border security, and commercial companies. The robot is able to operate autonomously to some degree or accept real time instruction from a human operator via remote control. The dog has the capability of accepting add-ons, the most controversial of which have been weapons such as SWORD’s SPUR (basically an unmanned sniper rifle). Researchers have also put together a “guide to combat robot war dogs” that addresses dealing with Spot, a very similar robot dog developed by Boston Dynamics, which is linked below.
Those opposed to the war on Gaza, and Israeli colonization generally, may be interested to know that Ghost Robotics Corporation partners with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Rafael is Israel’s national R&D defense laboratory, developing and producing weapons for the Israeli Occupation Forces. The Ghost Robotics website touts its “cutting edge solutions addressing defense, homeland, and enterprise customer needs.” In an article on The National Interest a journalist covers a demonstration of Rafael using a robot dog from Ghost Robotics alongside a Raven drone to “clear nine rooms and identify the threats there.” An archived version of the article is linked at the end.
In addition to the roboticization of war and policing, and assistance in the genocide of Palestinians, Ghost Robotics Corporation is also part of the Lower Schuylkill Master Plan. The master plan is a scheme concocted by University of Pennsylvania, the City of Philadelphia, and corporate interests to develop the lower Schuylkill River into an “Innovation District,” a “Logistics Hub,” and an “Energy Corridor.” The Pennovation Works compound that Ghost Robotics is located in is an early step in creation of the “Innovation District” along the Schuylkill in South and South West Philly. This same district threatens the Bartram’s Garden area with a bio-technology campus. Also of note is that the master plan’s “Logistics Hub” is responsible in part for the destruction of South Philly’s FDR meadows, building an artificial wetland in FDR Park to offset having destroyed wetlands by the Philadelphia Airport. The Lower Schuylkill Master Plan and the zine Fuck A “Cellicon Valley” are linked below.
Social Media
instagram.com/ghostrobotics
linkedin.com/company/ghostrobotics
twitter.com/ghost_robotics
Staff
CEO and co-founder Gavin Kenneally
CTO and co-founder Avik De
President and chief executive Jiren Parikh (died March 2022)
Guide to combat against robot war dogs
https://www.jwz.org/blog/2021/02/guide-to-combat-against-robot-war-dogs/
Archived News Article Regarding Relation With Israeli defense company Rafael
https://web.archive.org/web/20230206160050/https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-israel-brings-together-robots-and-ai-lethal-combo-175518
More Information About Rafael
https://web.archive.org/web/20130514133537/http://duns100.dundb.co.il/ts.cgi?tsscript=comp_eng&duns=600024863
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Advanced_Defense_Systems
http://www.rafael.co.il/
Pennovation Works
https://pennovation.upenn.edu
Lower Schuylkill River Master Plan
https://www.design.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/LSMP_Exec.pdf
Fuck A “Cellicon Valley” zine
https://phlanticap.noblogs.org/fuck-a-cellicon-valley-zine/
AgustaWestland Philadelphia Corp is a part of a $29,238,432 contract to provide AW119Kx Koala helicopters for the state of Israel and its military. The contract was announced on April 1, 2022 and the work associated with this contract is estimated to be completed by June 2024.
Find more information about this contract at https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/2986932/
3050 Red Lion Rd, Philadelphia, PA 19114
Taken from these resources on major producers of weapons for the zionist entity on US dominated Turtle Island:
Map http://u.osmfr.org/m/1019524/
Spreadsheet https://cryptpad.fr/sheet/#/2/sheet/view/UFC48Halqnl+Vb5DGGx-NqWu-vupKNfgL251iWDOxE4/embed/
Comrades, on Thursday February 29th there was a vigil for a fallen comrade named Aaron Bushnell. A person whom much like the lot of us has been highly affected by late stage capitalism and unlike many of us have seen the devastation is creates first hand. We cannot imagine the pain one person’s soul must have carried and for how long before he took direct action. They say that self immolation is the most extreme form of protest and a most devastating plea and that might very well be the case as it most certainly was for this young person.
Comrades, it is with a heavy heart that that we even have to say that we feel this plea will be met with inaction and with martyr sentiments. While our comrades are giving us all clear messages about what they want to see happen, their desires fall on deaf ears. Even as this person like others before him have given a most extreme example of direct action, so called anarchists, communists, socialists and activists alike continue to fall short of direct action. In fact, the policing of peace seems to increase with each new found wave of protest.
These peace police will always have you scared of the unknown and will drown out any suspected forms of escalation with a simple or convoluted speech of “Think of the vulnerable.” These individual people, these fucking orgs will tell us not to engage with our enemies, to not “stoop to their level” so to speak. But last time we checked, our anger, and the way we and others choose to express it is NOT up to them. They would have you march in a fucking circle, yelling at buildings, begging and voting for politicians who don’t fucking care about us or the vulnerable rather than stand beside to be on the attack. They bolster stupid fucking statistics and “analysis” on when the material conditions will be in favour and somehow that day never fucking comes. Because it fucking won’t.
Dear comrades, we need not keep waiting. That was the message behind this desperate act. Our comrade Aaron has seen that the Israeli government will never stop until their genocide is complete. A while back, our comrade Tort had also seen that that the police would never stop until they devastated a forest, an natural ecosystem, and a whole population of people just play their fucked up games and become more deadly and oppressive than they already are. In a diary found, Tort had called for bigger action and most if not all response was peaceful in nature. We would say that we can’t fucking believe it, but when we look at the bullshit that is these orgs and institutions, we unfortunately do.
The link that we and others here in so called philly to Aaron and Tort is in our political viewpoint as anarchists. Both of these brave souls identified with anarchist tendencies and showed our shared interest in self determination in various ways. A facebook post from Arron which had also called the inaction, was ended with the picture of a circle A. That may mean nothing to some of you out here; but it means something to us. It tells us that very much like us; Aaron desired action. And we stand beside him in his call for that action.
And so dear comrades, we would just hope that you do not turn our comrade into a martyr or as a justification for peace when the message is simple: These states, all states, are institutions of death and violence. It should not have been Aaron that was burning, but that very building behind him. It should not have been Tort dying at the hands of the state but the state dying at the hands of all of us. We’re not begging politicians for fucking crumbs but we are begging you to stop being peaceful and start doing what we know needs to be done. It is time to meet their violence with violence. How can see babies dying everyday and not be attacking? To the peace police we have this to say: Think of our vulnerable, huh? Right now the “vulnerable” are doing more than you fucking are in response to genocide.
Fuck the peace police, fuck yelling at buildings and begging politicians, let’s take our anger and rage and put it out there in these streets. Comrade Aaron, may we never forget what you did or your name. May we not see you as a martyr but as a brave human being capable of extraordinary courage and the most direct type of action. – Anonymous
Join Beehive Design Collective as they present their newly released 10 Year Anniversary edition of “MesoAmerica Resiste!”, their new book, “The True Cost of Coal”, and even a peek into their work-in-progress about California: “The Callegory”.
The Bees use their massive, collaboratively produced, and intricately detailed fabric murals to tell complex global stories of stories of resistance, resilience, and solidarity. Packed with nature metaphors, peoples histories, and teeming with biodiversity, these images offer the foundation for an event of participatory discussion, poetic storytelling, and popular education. “MesoAmerica Resiste!’ focuses on stories from Mexico to Colombia. A map drawn in old colonial style depicts the modern invasion of megaprojects planned for the region… and opens to reveal the view from below, where communities are organizing locally and across borders to defend land and traditions, protect cultural and ecological diversity, and build alternative economies.
“The True Cost of Coal” tells many stories from the frontlines of Southern Appallachia who fought mountaintop removal for coal extraction for decades. This graphics campaign reflects the complexity of the struggles for land, livelihood, and self-determination playing out in Appalachia, and was made with the intention of honoring the tremendous history of organized resistance and the courage of communities living in the shadow of Big Coal.
Sunday, February 11, 2024
5:00 PM 6:00 PM
Making Worlds Bookstore & Social Center210 South 45th StreetPhiladelphia, PA, 19104United States(map)
We hung up banners over the Schuylkill Expressway condemning BlackRock for their investment in both the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Elbit Systems.
The United States is the single largest manufacturer and distributor of armaments in the world. This means weapons producing facilities are all around us, yet seldom do anti-war/anti-colonial movements identify and target the private companies that profit and enable these wars to be fought.
In this particular historical moment, with a years-long land war in Ukraine depleting the global stockpile of munitions and armaments, any disruption to the supply chain related to the production and distribution of armaments and ammunition in the United States has an immediate and real world impact on the ability of forces to drop bombs, fire rockets, deploy mines or bombard with artillery.
Movements attempting to disrupt the live-streamed genocide by Israeli forces in Gaza for over the last hundred days have periodically managed to identify and disrupt the flow of arms from the United States to Israel by targeting facilities or blockading infrastructure such as ports.
In the spirit of free people’s taking matters into their own hands, of autonomous direct action and a refusal to wait for permission, salvation or the intervention of a higher power, we offer the following list of local area arms manufacturers.
As with anything you come across on the internet, we urge groups and individuals to do their own research and reconnaissance prior to engaging in any action.
Headquartered at 1500 Spring Garden St, Philadelphia PA, 19130
Family owned company that operates several major US Army ammunition plants, producing 155mm artillery rounds, 120mm tank rounds, mines, hand grenades and more. Does private security for US Embassy in Jerusalem.
Parent company of American Ordinance LLC, Kansas LLC, SOC, Mason & Hanger
Makes ruggedized displays for military application
Elbit systems is an Israeli arms manufacturer with operations in the US and contracts with Homeland Security for US Border security. It is the target of an international campaign by Palestine Action
Philadelphia, PA — Several hundred supporters of Palestinian rights gathered at Washington Square Park and marched through the historic Society Hill district, arriving at the war memorial parks built above I-95 next to the waterfront Hilton at Penn’s Landing on the Delaware River for an early afternoon protest on Monday, December 11. Unicorn Riot interviewed several participants and heard from the organizers who called upon the Biden Administration to support a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Biden, on his ninth visit to the city this year, was at the Hilton for a political fundraiser with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a fellow Democrat. Earlier in the day he touted federal funding to reopen fire stations.
Protest organizer Sam Rise mentioned how student organizations have been suspended on college campuses, and “institutions and academics have been shamefully bullying and silencing” Palestine supporters. She added that members of the Working Families Party (WFP) have been introducing ceasefire resolutions in local governments. (Two WFP candidates won at-large seats last month in Philadelphia, ejecting the GOP from slots the party held for decades.) “Come November, we’ll remember” was a common chant at the event, as attendees vowed to hold the Biden Administration accountable for his support for Israel at the ballot box in 2024.
Anissa Weinraub from Jewish Voice for Peace talked about the “death and destruction at a rate that is unprecedented in recent human history” in Gaza, where the vast majority of the population is now displaced, with “so many on the brink of starvation”, referring to a “merciless military and their AI-programmed death machine“:
In a throwback to the Vietnam era chant “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” another organizer called out, “Biden, Biden, what do you say? How many kids did you kill today? Biden, Biden you can’t hide, you are funding genocide. Biden, Biden, you will see, Palestine will be free.”
One participant wearing a keffiyeh told Unicorn Riot,
“We are here to fight for human rights, we are here to fight for the people of Gaza, the innocent children that are being bombed day-in day-out. Our cousins, our brothers, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers, we are all humans at the end of the day. We are here to fight for their human rights to live just like we get to live here in America. We should all have the right to live, to live in peace, and the innocent children did nothing wrong, they are just being bombed, for being alive, for being Palestinian.”
Regarding Biden’s recent actions and presence in Philadelphia he added, “It’s sickening honestly. Philadelphia does not stand for this, Philadelphia stands for freedom, Philadelphia stands for human rights, and Biden does not stand for any of that. … Palestinians are people just like us. I have friends that are Palestinian, I am Palestinian. We just want to live, that’s all we want. We just want to live like everyone else, and we are not given that option.”
Protesters gather in Washington Square Park around 1:15 p.m. on December 11.
March on Pine Street in Society Hill.
A man on Pine Street in Society Hill flips off demonstrators marching for Palestine on December 11, 2023.
The waterfront Hilton at Penn’s Landing looms over Palestine protesters. A large obelisk-like monument to Christopher Columbus built in 1992 is at right.
A protest sign lampoons President Biden’s well-known love of ice cream cones on December 11, 2023.
We also found an innovative protest use of a DeWalt drill — this gizmo is known as an “impact train horn” and can make a 130 decibel racket with a squeeze of the drill trigger.
The cordless drill-powered “Impact Train Horn” easily generated noise in Philadelphia on December 11.
Recently on state “owned” land in so-called Southern NJ, Palestinian solidarity graffiti was spotted.
This piece reads ” Free Palestine Free Lenapehoking, Death to Amerika and Israhell”.
The struggle for Palestinian liberation is one that is connected to settler states everywhere, especially the so-called united states. Palestine, Lenapehoking, and the rest of Turtle Island will be free.
