The following article is by Amos Wolf back in Pittsburgh. Donate to help us pay him $32-an-hour.
PITTSBURGH,PA - On Friday, March 6th, downtown office workers looked on in curiosity and confusion as their commute home for the weekend was interrupted by 50 protestors chanting, “Hey Howmet you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide,” accompanied by a raucous protest band, marching behind a giant banner reading “Howmet Kills.” Some vehicles honked in support while others looked on wearily, waiting for the interruption to pass.
The protest, organized by BDS Pittsburgh and the Howmet Accountability Project, supported by Pittsburgh’s DSA, PSL, and UE Local 667, rallied at the Federal Building before parading to Howmet’s corporate headquarters on the North Shore. The rally was part of a national campaign to stop the Pittsburgh-headquartered company from manufacturing specialized parts for the F-35 bombers that Israel used to destroy Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.
“We're going to show that no one wants this type of work to be done in their hometown. We don't want our city to be contributing to it. We don't want our country to be contributing to it,” said Matt Fiorello, organizer with the Howmet Accountability Project.
The campaign born in Pittsburgh is now going national. It's part of an effort to connect local struggles with international resistance to Trump’s war machine and the genocide in Gaza.
“Organizations in solidarity with Palestine are putting Howmet on notice across the country, from Southern California and Tucson, Arizona to Connecticut, and Upstate New York to Ohio,” said Phoebe Marshall from BDS Pittsburgh.
Organizers hope to build enough public pressure to make the company drop the Lockheed-Martin contracts, which they say provide only a fraction of Howmet’s profits. Fight Back News reports that 16% of Howmet’s business is dedicated to defense contracts.
“Their entire business is not based on murder. Howmet does other things. They could conceivably exist without this war, without this genocide,” explained Fiorello. “They make parts out of titanium, very specialty parts, and another specialty part that's made out of titanium is prosthetic limbs for people who've lost limbs in war. They could be making their billion dollars off of that.“
Caption: Protester leads a chant in front of Howmet Aerospace’s Headquarters.
Activists in Pittsburgh say that they were inspired to target Howmet as a result of collaboration with their counterparts overseas.
“We first heard about the name of Howmet actually, from some anti-war protesters in the UK, and then we realized that their headquarters was here in our hometown,” Fiorello told Payday Report. “We were already active in BDS and in anti-apartheid struggle, and so we figured it was a good fit for our organization to strike back at the company that actually lives in our hometown.”
While turnouts for BDS protests are currently small, activists say that they are sensing growing momentum in the anti-war movement.
“Every day of my life, there are positive signs,” Mel Packer told Payday Report. “Whether it's your neighbors you talk to—you know, I'm in a parking lot with a sign in my car that says ‘stop this war,’ and some guy walks up and says, ‘Yes, this is crazy.’ No one comes up and says, ‘That's ridiculous. We should wage this war.’ Everyone says,’Stop the war.’”
Pittsburgh DSA reports similar experiences recruiting pledges for “No Appetite for Apartheid,” a multi-city nationwide campaign that promotes the boycott of Israeli products, primarily targeting food products that financially support the Zionist occupation in Palestine.
“Through our consumer pledge canvassing, we've been talking with regular Pittsburghers in the streets,” said Barney Kelly from Pittsburgh DSA. “We've learned firsthand that most people in this city really do care about genocide, and they don't want their dollars to go to supporting the Zionist apartheid regime.” To date, the Pittsburgh campaign has collected 350 consumer pledges, and gotten 15 stores to sign on.
Other organizations have also been joining the BDS campaign. Last month, Pittsburgh Presbyterian churches passed a motion demanding that the US enact a full trade embargo on Israel until the occupation of Palestine has ended, apartheid policies are abolished, the separation barrier is demolished, and Palestinian refugees are granted the right to return to their homeland.
Organizers say they intend to intensify their actions against Howmet. This weekend saw actions in Pittsburgh as well as Cleveland and Tuscon. They have further plans to escalate the fight.
“At your job fairs, we will be there. At your corporate events, we will be there. We will stop up your phone lines,” read a statement from Cleveland United Against War. “We will confront you with the truth and the reality you make possible. You will hear us day and night. There will be no ignoring us. We will stop the war machine from operating in our city.”
