In response to the Jan. 24 letter to the editor [“Protests at L3Harris are wrong-headed“], we as members of Demilitarize Western Mass must declare that we too reject NIMBYism (Not In My Backyard) and other manifestations of purity culture within movement work. We don’t do this work because we simply don’t want L3Harris in our neighborhood, we do it because we don’t want weapons to be manufactured anywhere, at all.
We target the L3Harris facility in Northampton because it is local and within our reach. We, Demilitarize Western Mass, stand firm in three core beliefs. 1) We believe that forcing L3Harris out of Northampton is a winnable goal, with successful precedents against weapons manufacturers set in Providence, Boston, and throughout the UK (Elbit factory in Oldham shut down by Palestine Action). 2) We believe that a concrete strike against the broader L3Harris corporation would force them to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars relocating instead of reinvesting into its death work. 3) We believe that our work locally generates momentum and creates a model for other people, in every town where L3Harris has a facility, to take up arms against them until there is nowhere left for them to go.
Our north star is a world where both local and international safety and well-being are prioritized over the interests of imperialist accumulation. We demand freedom, self-determination, and a livable planet for everyone across the globe. Importantly, this is not an unattainable goal. We reject the idea that war, famine, genocide, and climate change are natural or normal parts of life. Rather, they have been systematically normalized by racial capitalism. But another world is possible! As author of “Freedom Dreams” Robin D.G. Kelley argues, “Without new visions, we don’t know what to build, only what to knock down. We not only end up confused, rudderless, and cynical, but we forget that making a revolution is not a series of clever maneuvers and tactics, but a process that can and must transform us.”
Nuclear weapons with enough power to end all life on earth, tech used to hack citizens’ text messages, drones that allow genocide to be carried out without anyone feeling like they directly did any killing — these are not tools invested in our safety and well-being, they are tools of utter terror. They brutalize communities, ruin our environment, and assist the ultra-wealthy getting wealthier. The sooner we reckon with this reality, the sooner we can reinvest defense industry money into education, housing, and healthcare, things that statistically keep people safe.
This only happens if we let it. At Demilitarize Western Mass, we will continue to fight the war machine, and we encourage our neighbors to join us. Email demilitarizewesternmass@gmail.com to learn more.
Annie Bethell and Clara Wagner lives in Holyoke.