Local Editor
A man in the United States is facing felony charges for spray painting ‘Yemen’ on the Palo Alto offices of arms manufacturers Lockheed Martin. The act was in protest of the U.S.-backed Saudi war in Yemen, which Lockheed Martin has profited from, through arms sales.
Bryce Druzin has been branded a ‘hero’ by peace activists after spraying ‘Yemen’ in blood red spray paint, on the offices of weapons giant Lockheed Martin. Below that, he also sprayed "8-9-18," the date when the Saudis dropped a bomb on a school bus that killed 44 children. The 500-pound, laser-guided bomb was manufactured by Lockheed Martin. Druzin then called the police and waited at the office until they arrived, at which point he handed himself in.
Druzin has been following the U.S.-backed Saudi war in Yemen, and told reporters, “I grew up in Palo Alto, and it’s just embarrassing to have this company in my hometown. ...We should all be embarrassed. I mean, if we have a neighbor who helped kill tens of thousands of people, I wouldn’t want them in our neighborhood.”
Over 7,000 civilians have been killed by Saudi forces, and 14 million are said to be on the brink of starvation. The war began in 2016 when the Saudi government decided to rid Yemen of it’s Houthi-led government. Since then, the U.S. and the U.K. have been the leading arms exporters to Saudi Arabia’s war effort.
Journalist and peace campaigner Ben Norton said on the matter. “A hero in California spraypainted 'Yemen' in blood red on the main sign for the office of death profiteer Lockheed Martin. He added '8-9-18,' the date when Saudi dropped a Lockheed bomb on a school bus, killing 44 children. He faces a *felony* charge now.”
By targeting Lockheed Martin and amplifying his protest online, Druzin said he wanted to call attention to the weapon maker’s willingness to cozy up to the likes of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who visited the company’s Sunnyvale campus last spring.
Hopefully, Druzin said, his direct action inspires students at nearby Palo Alto High and Stanford University to walk out on a school day to protest Lockheed Martin for continuing to profit off of the brutal warfare in Yemen.
America bans arms sales to countries that use them to illegally kill civilians in conflicts, but the U.S. State Department has a weak record of enforcing those laws. Lockheed Martin—the world’s largest defense contractor, with 97,000 employees and business in 70 countries—came out as the biggest beneficiary of a $110 billion Saudi arms deal struck in 2017, according to Defense News.
A report issued by anti-war NGO Code Pink noted how Lockheed Martin executives like Ronald Perrilloux Jr., a former U.S. military attache to Saudi Arabia, have repeatedly tried to minimize the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Perrilloux has participated in public events to boost the war effort and defend Saudi Arabia and its allies, saying the U.S. should “help them finish the job” in Yemen.
Druzin told San Jose Inside that he believes a company with such wanton disregard for human life should have no place in his community.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
