[News] Chicago area activists shut down weapons manufacturer implicated in Gaza genocide

[Anti-Imperialist News]

mondoweiss.net
<https://mondoweiss.net/2024/02/chicago-area-activists-shut-down-weapons-manufacturer-implicated-in-gaza-genocide/?ml_recipient=112712527552448427&ml_link=112712318770480559&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2024-02-09&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation>
Chicago area activists shut down weapons manufacturer implicated in Gaza
genocide
Khadija Quadri Al Jilani
February 8, 2024
------------------------------
[image: PXL_20240207_1224529742-1024x771.jpg]

Activists shut down Woodward MPC manufacturing facility in Niles, Illinois,
on Wednesday, February 7, to protest the company’s role in the ongoing
genocide in Gaza.

Woodward is responsible for creating the parts of war equipment and bombs
used to drop on Gaza. On its website, Woodward says it provides “control
and actuation solutions on air superiority and air defense missiles, direct
attack missiles, guided bombs and rockets, anti-ship missiles, guided
artillery and mortar rounds, hypervelocity vehicles, training and target
missiles, and launch boosters.”

The demonstration began at 6:00 a.m. as activists blocked off four
entryways to the Woodward facility, including three intersections leading
to it.
[image: Protesters block the Woodward MPC manufacturing facility in Niles,
Illinois, February 7, 2024. (Photo: Instagram/@jeegheel)]Protesters block
the Woodward MPC manufacturing facility in Niles, Illinois, February 7,
2024. (Photo: Instagram/@jeegheel)

Rifqa F., an activist with Direct Actions for Palestine
<https://www.instagram.com/directactions4palestine/>, told Mondoweiss, “We
are here —more than 100 Palestinians, Arabs, and our allies— at the
Woodward facility in Niles, because this facility creates the fins and has
a contract with Boeing that creates and manufacturers the bombs that are
killing 27,000 Palestinians in Gaza.” Mahmoud A., an activist with the same
group, added, “Palestinian youth, allies, and community members demand that
Woodward ends its contract with Boeing and its contract with Israel, we
also demand a permanent and unconditional ceasefire now, and a liberated
Palestine, from the river to the sea.”

Woodward has been coming under public scrutiny after an image was shared on
social media depicting part of a missile found in Gaza showed it was
manufactured by Woodward. As Mark Fraunfelder detailed in Boing Boing
<https://boingboing.net/2023/10/24/u-s-guided-missile-maker-goes-dark-on-social-media-after-gaza-photo-gets-circulated.html>,
the company shut down its social media accounts following the attention and
would not return attempts for comment.
[image: Photo shared on social media of part of a missile found in Gaza
with identification it was manufactured by Woodward. (Photo:
Twitter/tnega74)]Photo shared on social media of part of a missile found in
Gaza with identification it was manufactured by Woodward. (Photo: Twitter/

Protestors formed lines at each blocked point, and demonstrators bound
their arms together inside PVC pipes. Law enforcement informed protesters
they would provide two warnings before subsequently bringing out their
equipment to cut through the PVC piping, followed by arresting the
demonstrators.
[image: A protester blocking the Woodward MPC manufacturing facility in
Niles, Illinois, February 7, 2024. (Photo: Instagram/@jeegheel)]A protester
blocking the Woodward MPC manufacturing facility in Niles, Illinois,
February 7, 2024. (Photo: Instagram/@jeegheel)

At approximately 9:30 a.m., demonstrators blocking the intersection of
North Caldwell and Howard began to be surrounded by a large circle of riot
officers with K-9 dogs, carrying equipment to cut off the pipes and make
zip-tie arrests. Officers blocked off all other activists and instructed
them to stay on sidewalks or be arrested.

For the next hour, law enforcement continued to cut the pipes and cut
through and undo all forms of wiring and equipment inside the pipes of each
interlinked demonstrator. Each demonstrator was then zip-tied and arrested
by an officer and taken to a police truck.

After the arrests on North Caldwell’s intersection, law enforcement moved
to the second intersection of N. Croname and Howard Street, where one
demonstrator, with his arms bound by PVC, told *Mondoweiss*, “We’re here to
demand that Woodward ends its contract with Boeing and stop arming Israel’s
genocide against the Palestinians. We’re far away so it’s easy to think
there’s nothing we can do, but this is because of our taxpayer dollars,
this is because of our companies. The way that our country runs is just as
guilty. It’s our job to stop [the genocide] too.”
[image: A phalanx of riot policy officers waiting to make arrests outside
of the Woodward MPC manufacturing facility in Niles, Illinois, February 7,
2024. (Photo: Instagram/@jeegheel)]A phalanx of riot policy officers
waiting to make arrests outside of the Woodward MPC manufacturing facility
in Niles, Illinois, February 7, 2024. (Photo: Instagram/@jeegheel)

After an hour, law enforcement proceeded to the third intersection of
Merrimac Avenue and Howard Street. This time, demonstrators danced in a
dabke circle, a Palestinian dance, as officers approached them and made
their announcement again.

A total of 36 demonstrators were arrested, and calls to action were made
across social media requesting urgent calls be made to the Niles Police
Department, demanding their release. A group of activists and allies waited
in the parking area as they were released over the following hours. By
approximately 3:30 p.m., it was confirmed all protestors had been released.
[image: Protesters blocking the Woodward MPC manufacturing facility in
Niles, Illinois with riot police in the background, waiting to arrest
activists, February 7, 2024. (Photo: Instagram/@jeegheel)]Protesters
blocking the Woodward MPC manufacturing facility in Niles, Illinois with
riot police in the background, waiting to arrest activists, February 7,
2024. (Photo: Instagram/@jeegheel)

Protester Yolanda J. told *Mondoweiss*, “We just got released about
twenty-thirty minutes ago from Niles Police station. We were arrested for
unlawful assembly because we shut down all the roads leading to the
Woodward factory in Niles. The same factory that is responsible for wings
that are attached to the bombs being dropped on Gaza and in Falasteen.

“It was a very necessary action. We were part of the front line (first
intersection) in part of a group called Jenin, which is the stronghold of
the resistance in the Middle East and especially in Filasteen, and it was
an honor to be a part of this group — to hold up our people and to bring
justice to them like they deserve or at least stop business as usual, and
to be very honest not a lot of people got into work and not a lot people
got out, so our job was successful.

“We successfully shut down the weapons manufacturing company called
Woodward, and yeah, we got arrested. It was something that was very much
necessary to do, and it was for our people in Filasteen. Usually, being
arrested isn’t the ideal choice, but when you’re in the beast of the belly,
you don’t have many options, and our one option —the option that we did,
was to get arrested, and I don’t regret it, and I will do it again.”
------------------------------

*Khadija Quadri Al Jilani*
Khadija Quadri Al Jilani is a writer, photographer, and graduate student in
sociology.
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