The Dartmouth Palestine Solidarity Coalition unequivocally stands in solidarity with the Merrimack 4, a group of actionists in New Hampshire who have been unjustly imprisoned for their valiant commitment to Palestinian liberation.

Just an hour and a half away from our campus, there is an Elbit Systems of America plant. Elbit Systems supplies 85% of Israel's military drone fleet, 80% of Israel's land-based military equipment, and overall is the Israeli regime's largest weapons supplier. We cannot pretend as though we have no way to stop the ongoing atrocities in Palestine when a company that produces the weapons used to massacre our peers in Gaza resides in our own backyard.

On November 20th, 2023, Sophie Ross, Calla Walsh, Bridget Shergalis, and Paige Belanger took direct action against Elbit Systems in Merrimack, New Hampshire. Their principled actions shattered the veil of normalcy that allows us, as subjects of the US empire funding the ongoing genocide, to continue about our lives as though we are not drenched in the blood of Palestinians. They disrupted business as usual at Elbit by symbolically dousing the building in red paint and causing property damage, shutting down Elbit from functioning for several hours. Their courageous action slowed down the US war machine's ability to continue to produce and send weapons to Israel.

The framing of property destruction as "violent" is hypocritical at best and reveals the underlying truth that the United States and the capitalist system at large value private property over human life. The Merrimack 4's unwavering support of Palestinian liberation is an act of opposing state violence, and to characterize a few buckets of paint as an act of terrorism is clearly absurd. Taking action against the war machine is self-defense. Direct action against weapons suppliers is an act of throwing oneself upon the gears of the war machine, an act of accountability to  obstruct the ongoing genocide funded and supplied by US citizens. The prosecution of the Merrimack 4 strips the facade off of US liberalism: our governments - and the capitalist interests they uphold - are more outraged by the destruction of property than the destruction of human life they continue to carry out in Gaza every day.

We know that direct action against weapons manufacturers works. Continuous pressure and direct action against Elbit Systems in Boston forced the war-profiteering company to shut down its location in Boston. In the UK, Elbit's location in Tamworth was shut down after repeated direct actions made it no longer financially viable to maintain a factory that facilitated the ongoing genocide in Gaza. We know that simply calling our representatives and voting is not enough, as evidenced by over 2/3rd of US citizens supporting a ceasefire. Yet the mass movement we have witnessed this past year has not put enough pressure on our government to waver their support for Israel's genocidal campaign. Capitalist imperialist governments will not back down from their settler colonial projects without force. So it is on the masses to forge people power to sabotage an already decaying US empire, ourselves.

It is not just our right to resist genocide; it is our moral obligation to resist from inside the belly of the beast. To be in true material solidarity with Palestinians is to bring the war home, just like Sophie, Calla, Bridget, and Paige are modeling for us. We encourage everyone to write letters of support to our imprisoned comrades (information on where to send letters to political prisoners can be found here) and continue their struggle by taking action against Elbit Systems. If you have the means, consider supporting other political prisoners by donating to Addameer, an organization doing vital work to support Palestinian political prisoners. Solidarity forever with the Merrimack 4.