Featured Image: (Left) Activists standing out at a Raytheon Facility in Tuscon, Arizona to protest Nuclear Weapons as part of an event coordinated by The Nuclear Resister. (Right) 350 Milwaukee activists standout at a BP station to protest fossil fuels.
Weeks of Action
Our Warheads to Windmills “Two Weeks to Pressure the Profiteers” has come to an enthusiastic close. Between September 16th and the 29th, activists and advocates took on 14 companies with over 50 actions around the United States in person and virtually. The campaign focused on putting pressure on the profiteering nuclear weapons and fossil fuels companies, as well as the banks behind them.
There were standouts and demonstrations at the nuclear weapons and fossil fuel companies, tabling events and letter writing parties to get in touch with the corporate profiteers, virtual action campaigns to shame the companies on social media, divestment campaigning and boycotting to put financial pressure on these industries, and community fairs and other outreach events.
These U.S. actions were part of several global weeks of action promoting peace and climate solutions including the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons “No Money for Nuclear Weapons” week of action. Each day of the Warheads to Windmills Campaign focused on targeting a different company that lobbies the government heavily to maintain these systems of destruction.
Over 50 organizations around the United States endorsed and coordinated live actions as part of this campaign to Pressure the Profiteers, even more participated in virtual pressuring by sending letters, writing emails, social media outreach, and other virtual events. Read on for some of our highlights from the Weeks of Action.
Action Highlights
In Massachusetts, NuclearBan.US hosted and cosponsored several events including a protest at L3Harris in Northampton, MA on September 17th where around 50 community members came out to support the delivery of a cease and desist letter to the company over their nuclear weapons work. The L3Harris in Northampton is a frequent target of campaigns about nuclear weapons, demilitarization, and their contributions to the genocide in Gaza. The event was brought together by NuclearBan.US, Demilitarize Western Mass, Jewish Voice for Peace, Northampton Friends Meeting, and other members of the community. Our event in Northampton made it onto the front page of our local newspaper, and you can read the full story here!
The same day, there was a similar standout at an L3Harris facility in Clifton, New Jersey, cosponsored by New Jersey Peace Action, PAX Christi NJ, JVP Northern New Jersey, CeasefireNowNJ.org, Northern New Jersey Socialists Party, Fellowship of Reconciliation – Metro/NYC/NJ, and Muslim Peace Fellowship. Massachusetts Peace Action organized a letter and postcard writing event in Boston, MA.
We also joined the Connecticut Committee on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in New London, CT on General Dynamics Day, September 18th to take a stand against the Electric Boat engineering facility.
During our Fossil Fuel week there were demonstrations, vigils, and outreach actions targeting Big Oil. See photos below of our local protest in Northampton on Shell day, as well as a demonstration by 350 Milwaukee against BP, and some of Warheads to Windmills’ boycotting flyers in action at a 76 (Phillips 66) Gas station in California!
You can find the full gallery of photos on WarheadstoWindmills.org/action-gallery. Huge thanks to all of the Warheads to Windmills partners and supporters that made these weeks possible and successful. We were able to reach and build connections with other groups and strengthen our movement as a whole while putting the pressure on the companies in a coordinated way.
Where we go from here
The inspiring momentum and energy we saw in these past weeks against the profiteering companies can’t end here. It’s important that we use the connections, resources, and energy we built here to continue to mount pressure on the profiteers. Some of the key ways to do this are to divest our community institutions from fossil fuels and nuclear weapons, and to boycott any products or partnerships by these companies. It’s time to translate the social pressuring we did during the weeks of action into financial pressure to hit these corporations where it really matters to them: their wallets.
All of the resources available on WarheadstoWindmills.org that made these weeks of action possible will continue to be available for continued efforts to pressure the profiteers, including guides and resources on engaging or beginning divestment campaigns in your community, which you can find here: Nuclear Weapons / Fossil Fuels.