Activists shut down Woodward MPC manufacturing facility in Niles, Illinois, on Wednesday, February 7, to protest the company’s role in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Woodward is responsible for creating the parts of war equipment and bombs used to drop on Gaza. On its website, Woodward says it provides “control and actuation solutions on air superiority and air defense missiles, direct attack missiles, guided bombs and rockets, anti-ship missiles, guided artillery and mortar rounds, hypervelocity vehicles, training and target missiles, and launch boosters.”
The demonstration began at 6:00 a.m. as activists blocked off four entryways to the Woodward facility, including three intersections leading to it.
Rifqa F., an activist with Direct Actions for Palestine, told Mondoweiss, “We are here —more than 100 Palestinians, Arabs, and our allies— at the Woodward facility in Niles, because this facility creates the fins and has a contract with Boeing that creates and manufacturers the bombs that are killing 27,000 Palestinians in Gaza.” Mahmoud A., an activist with the same group, added, “Palestinian youth, allies, and community members demand that Woodward ends its contract with Boeing and its contract with Israel, we also demand a permanent and unconditional ceasefire now, and a liberated Palestine, from the river to the sea.”
Woodward has been coming under public scrutiny after an image was shared on social media depicting part of a missile found in Gaza showed it was manufactured by Woodward. As Mark Fraunfelder detailed in Boing Boing, the company shut down its social media accounts following the attention and would not return attempts for comment.
Protestors formed lines at each blocked point, and demonstrators bound their arms together inside PVC pipes. Law enforcement informed protesters they would provide two warnings before subsequently bringing out their equipment to cut through the PVC piping, followed by arresting the demonstrators.
At approximately 9:30 a.m., demonstrators blocking the intersection of North Caldwell and Howard began to be surrounded by a large circle of riot officers with K-9 dogs, carrying equipment to cut off the pipes and make zip-tie arrests. Officers blocked off all other activists and instructed them to stay on sidewalks or be arrested.
For the next hour, law enforcement continued to cut the pipes and cut through and undo all forms of wiring and equipment inside the pipes of each interlinked demonstrator. Each demonstrator was then zip-tied and arrested by an officer and taken to a police truck.
After the arrests on North Caldwell’s intersection, law enforcement moved to the second intersection of N. Croname and Howard Street, where one demonstrator, with his arms bound by PVC, told Mondoweiss, “We’re here to demand that Woodward ends its contract with Boeing and stop arming Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians. We’re far away so it’s easy to think there’s nothing we can do, but this is because of our taxpayer dollars, this is because of our companies. The way that our country runs is just as guilty. It’s our job to stop [the genocide] too.”
After an hour, law enforcement proceeded to the third intersection of Merrimac Avenue and Howard Street. This time, demonstrators danced in a dabke circle, a Palestinian dance, as officers approached them and made their announcement again.
A total of 36 demonstrators were arrested, and calls to action were made across social media requesting urgent calls be made to the Niles Police Department, demanding their release. A group of activists and allies waited in the parking area as they were released over the following hours. By approximately 3:30 p.m., it was confirmed all protestors had been released.
Protester Yolanda J. told Mondoweiss, “We just got released about twenty-thirty minutes ago from Niles Police station. We were arrested for unlawful assembly because we shut down all the roads leading to the Woodward factory in Niles. The same factory that is responsible for wings that are attached to the bombs being dropped on Gaza and in Falasteen.
“It was a very necessary action. We were part of the front line (first intersection) in part of a group called Jenin, which is the stronghold of the resistance in the Middle East and especially in Filasteen, and it was an honor to be a part of this group — to hold up our people and to bring justice to them like they deserve or at least stop business as usual, and to be very honest not a lot of people got into work and not a lot people got out, so our job was successful.
“We successfully shut down the weapons manufacturing company called Woodward, and yeah, we got arrested. It was something that was very much necessary to do, and it was for our people in Filasteen. Usually, being arrested isn’t the ideal choice, but when you’re in the beast of the belly, you don’t have many options, and our one option —the option that we did, was to get arrested, and I don’t regret it, and I will do it again.”
Khadija Quadri Al Jilani
Khadija Quadri Al Jilani is a writer, photographer, and graduate student in sociology.
Good for them, even if it makes the riot squad get restless.