Denver drives out Lockheed Martin with pro-Palestine car rally

Highlands Ranch, CO – On Saturday, July 20, Denver Anti-War Action (DAWA) held its second car rally in a series of pro-Palestine actions targeting Lockheed Martin. Saturday’s action was directed at Eric Brown, who is the vice president of mission strategy and advanced capabilities for Lockheed Martin Space communications.

With over 20 cars in attendance, protesters made several loops through Eric Brown’s Highlands Ranch neighborhood over the course of an hour, drawing the attention of his neighbors. Two Arapahoe County Sheriff’s vehicles were parked on Brown’s street, but there was no interaction between the police and the protesters, nor was there any interaction or sighting of Brown.

At the nearby meeting location before the procession, speakers reminded the gathered crowd of Lockheed Martin’s complicity in the Palestinian genocide. Mat Hunsaker, a member of DAWA, related Lockheed Martin’s complicity in the genocide to current conversations about political violence, saying, “Many days, it feels impossible to hold both endless grief and longing for hope, especially as we see the media decrying ‘political violence’ while manufacturing consent for genocide. But we keep showing up because we know the truth is on our side. We refuse to let war profiteers live in peace while they perpetuate political violence around the world.”

The car rally finished up with a lot of energy and a speech from Julia Swezy, a founding member of DAWA. “When we let war criminals and profiteers know that the people oppose them, that the people refuse to let them know peace, that the masses do not take their side or buy their lies, we weaken them.”

Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the second largest employer in Colorado with over 10,000 employees. While the main arm of Lockheed Martin provides F-35 fighter jets and weapons to Israel, their space program also provides satellite and surveillance technology that the Israeli military uses to target Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

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