By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, March 22, 2022
Peace activists climbed atop and occupied the roof of a Raytheon facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Monday to protest the massive military contractor’s war profiteering in Ukraine, Yemen, Palestine, and elsewhere across the globe.
Carried out by a small group of activists with Resist and Abolish the Military-Industrial Complex (RAM INC), the demonstration came a day after the 19th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and as Russian forces continued their deadly assault on Ukraine.
“With every war and every conflict, Raytheon’s profits multiply,” one of the activists involved in Monday’s demonstration said in a statement. “Raytheon profits multiply as bombs fall on schools, wedding tents, hospitals, homes, and communities. Living, breathing, human beings are being killed. Lives are being destroyed, all for profit.”
Once they reached the roof of the building, the activists draped banners over the railing that read “End All Wars, End All Empires” and “Raytheon Profits From Death in Yemen, Palestine, and Ukraine.”
The five activists who scaled the roof locked themselves together as police arrived at the scene and moved to arrest them.
“We are not going anywhere,” RAM INC tweeted.
(Update: Organizers of the demonstration said in a statement that “the five activists who scaled Raytheon’s facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts have been arrested after being on the roof for five hours.”)
Raytheon is the second-largest weapons contractor in the world, and it, like other powerful arms makers, is well-positioned to profit off Russia’s war on Ukraine—now in its fourth week with no end in sight.
Raytheon’s stock climbed after Russia launched its full-scale invasion last month, and the company’s Javelin anti-tank missile has been used by Ukrainian forces as they attempt to resist Russia’s assault.
“The latest aid bill passed by Congress will send more Javelins to Ukraine, no doubt boosting orders to restock the weapon in the arsenal of the U.S.,” the Boston Globe reported last week.
“We took action today to condemn all wars and all colonial occupations,” said a campaigner involved in Monday’s protest. “The new anti-war movement that has grown in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must grow to call for an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine, an end to Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen, and an end of the U.S. military-industrial complex.”
