Conscientious Objection to Interview or Work for the War Industry
“I renounce and reject all allegiance to any firm that produces, sells, or gives weapons or weapons systems or hardware or software to any entity. I shall never interview for or accept any offer to work for any such firm.”
I decided to attend the Student Rally Against Genocide. I parked my car a quarter mile away from the event and gathered together our large Veterans For Peace black and white flag, a long banner noting local arms makers, BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin, and a medley of signs with respect for workers and great disrespect for what they make.
As I approached the place where the students would gather, two men in plain clothes came to me and said, “Mr Gilroy, may we speak with you?” I asked them how they knew my name. The older man said they had photos of me. They were campus detectives and wanted to know the students’ names. I told them if I knew their names, I wouldn’t give them to the police. “We are here to protect everyone” they said.
A band of students wrapped in Israeli flags and waving small blue and white flags stood behind a ring of NYS Police and tried to drown out the Rally Against the Genocide speakers. I later offered the students our VFP audio system for future events, but they said the university had just issued a rule banning audio systems.
The young people are so intimated that some do not want to be photographed for fear of reprisal at the school. I asked one vocal woman, whose face was hidden with a keffiyeh, her name, and she said, “Just call me A for anonymous.”
Binghamton University is an incubator for war-profiting companies. Three of the US’s top ten Defense (sic) factories are near Binghamton University. BAE Systems is just across the Susquehanna River from campus and ranks as the #7 war-profiting company worldwide. Citing ongoing wars, Charles Woodburn, the BAE chief executive, said the weapons manufacturer was expecting “sustained growth in the coming years.”
The #1 war products company in the world is Lockheed Martin. This giant profiteer from death and destruction has three war factories just a short drive from the Binghamton University campus. Sen. Bernie Sanders notes that Lockheed Martin’s war profits rose 37% in the past year.
General Dynamics, #5 war profiteer, is a one-hour drive down Interstate 81 from Binghamton University. General Dynamics in Scranton makes 155mm shells, the most wanted ammo by Israel’s war force (labeled Israel Defense Force or IDF)
Binghamton University’s nearby war profiteer, BAE Systems, manufactures the howitzer systems to fire the 155mm shells made in Scranton. 155mm shells cost about $10,000 each, but BAE Systems offers an upgrade to 155mm laser-guided shells that cost $100,000 a round.
BAE Systems masks its violence-making presence in Endicott, NY, by showcasing its production of electric buses. Most school districts can’t afford the $352,000 price tag for one bus . BAE has just 4% of its work in non-military contracts.
Lockheed Martin has one of its 139 US war contract factories in Archbald, Pennsylvania, which is one hour away from Binghamton University. The Lockheed Martin factory makes Paveway I and Paveway 2 bombs that have made Gaza a land of death and rubble.
The pervasiveness of the war industry in the United States is well-known and, not so curiously, accepted by the general public. Professor Joan Roelofs best describes why that is so in her book, The Trillion Dollar Silencer—Why There is So Little Anti-War Protest in the United States. Prof. Roelofs clearly illustrates how the war profiteers share their blood money with well-paid workers who refuse to consider or care that their skilled work results in torn bodies and millions of people killed, as homes, hospitals, schools, and markets are obliterated by the products they make.
Roelofs illustrates how war manufacturing companies infiltrate the culture with donations to almost every segment of society, from the Boy Scouts to the Girl Scouts, the Red Cross to Little League Baseball, the YMCA, and the US Olympic committee, etc. The philanthropy of the arms industry may be a tiny part of their war profits, but it is successful in having communities beholden to the war profiteers and the military.
Binghamton University is just one example of the war industry’s devious ways. A University news story tells how BAE and Lockheed Martin work with students to train dogs as companions for disabled military veterans. This is all tax deductible under corporate tax laws and good community relations for industries profiting from ingenious ways to blow things up. And it’s an inside track to hire Binghamton University engineer students with high salaries to design killing tools.
Students For Justice In Palestine at Binghamton University will follow up on their Conscientious Objection to Interviewing for or Working for War Profiteers. They plan to be at the Job Fair for engineering and tech students on September 5th from 11 A.m. to 3 p.m. not to interview but to hold banners and signs . Some Binghamton University students will offer students copies of the Conscientious Objection Pledge to not interview or work for a Defense (sic) contractor.
Others may assist by attempting to block the doors of the war recruiters. Veterans For Peace from the Binghamton area have agreed to help, along with members of Peace Action of Broome County, NY, Jewish Voices For Peace, Code Pink, and Pax Christi UpState, NY.
The September Days of Solidarity with the People of Palestine are the first week of September. Solidarity with student resisters on university campuses needs to happen nation wide. The clear university student voice for justice and sanity is contrasted with US government psychotic leadership supporting genocide in Gaza and refusing to step back from the brink of nuclear war.
We need to follow sane people.
Follow the students.
