Denver commemorates Nakba Day with march on Palantir

Denver, CO – On the afternoon of May 15, in honor of Nakba Day, several dozen pro-Palestine and anti-war activists held a rally at the headquarters of Palantir in downtown Denver. The rally condemned the technology company, which develops artificial intelligence programs to assist Israel in the surveillance and mass slaughter of Palestinians.

On the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, protesters heard speeches describing the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes. The group marched through Denver, carrying bundles of sheets to represent the tens of thousands of Palestinian martyrs. Protesters arrived at the Tabor Center, which houses Palantir, to lay down the sheets in front of the building and support the approximately 20 protesters who had recently occupied the building’s lobby.

Despite the empty threats of imminent arrest from the building security, the activists occupied the lobby for almost an hour, with their calls for accountability echoing through the building.

Protesters chanted “Palantir profiteers off of Palestinian tears” and “Palantir profiteers off of immigrants’ fears,” highlighting the fact that Palantir contracts with not only the Israeli’s to murder Palestinians, but also the Department of Homeland Security to facilitate the mass deportations.

Eliot Howe, the emcee of the protest, read Denver Anti-War Action’s demands of Palantir, namely that Palantir cut all ties with Israel and cancel all contracts with the Israeli government, and that Palantir end all contracts with government agencies that use its technology to violate human rights.

When over a dozen police officers arrived in riot gear, the activists on the inside exited the building to join the outside crowd, where speeches highlighting Palantir’s complicity in the modern day Nakba in Palestine continued.

The group stood firmly in the Tabor Center’s Plaza, undeterred by the police’s attempts at intimidation. They chanted “AI WMD: Threat to all humanity” and “From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go” before marching back through downtown to close out with a call to get further organized against the Zionist entity and ongoing genocide.

The rally was called by the Colorado Palestine Coalition, and several organizations supported the event, including Denver Anti-War Action, the United States Palestinian Community Network, Denver Democratic Socialists of America, Denver/Boulder Jewish Voice for Peace, Colorado May Day Club, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Andrew Marquetalia, representing DAWA, emphasized the reason for protesting Palantir, saying, “The software written here is the architecture for the modern-day Nakba. It puts the names of countless people on lists and marks them for death!”

Marquetalia continued, “We must fight back by jamming a wrench in the gears that are churning out the latest iteration of genocidal technology.”

Denver Anti-War Action recognizes the importance of Palantir in facilitating and expediting the genocide in Palestine and is ready for a fight to get Palantir out of their city and ultimately to challenge militarized AI in general.

It is clear that DAWA aims to disrupt business as usual until Palantir’s work is untenable in the mile high city.

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