Salt Lake City protest at Raytheon Facility on July 4

Salt Lake City, UT – On July 4, dozens of protesters gathered to demonstrate at the Raytheon Applied Signals Technology facility located in an industrial area on the outskirts of the city. Raytheon, a company long since linked to U.S. and Israeli war crimes, is the target of a new campaign by the Utah Anti-War Committee.

Protesters began the event chanting, “Not another nickel, not another dollar, we won’t pay for Raytheon’s slaughter!”

Speaking on behalf of the Utah Anti-War Committee, Nova Morra stated, “I am done being complicit in a genocide. I don’t know how I will leave the earth, I don’t know when, and I think I can tell you why, but I know that I will have lived my life with dignity and respect. I will die knowing I stand for the people of Gaza.”

UAWC member Amber Grace, while discussing the genocide of the indigenous population of the U.S., observed that “this dispossession is exactly what is being continued today when we manufacture weapons for land theft by Israel’s settler project.”

Delivering a speech for Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Sebastian Miscenich remarked, “Last year, Raytheon made nearly $90 billion in weapons sales to the U.S. and its allies, including a $1.25 billion contract for Israel’s Iron Dome system. A Raytheon Tomahawk missile killed over a hundred Iranian schoolgirls in February this year, mostly between the ages of seven and 12. Is this really what we want our public funds spent on?”

Miscenich continued, “250 years ago, the American Revolution won power for the richest white business owners, but today working and oppressed people in America need to take total power over our society.”

Adam Koritz from FRSO talked about the case of Nadia Topete, an immigrant rights activist In Los Angeles recently targeted by a subpoena to appear before a grand jury simply for speaking out against ICE terror in her community. “It is important to stand in solidarity with Nadia right now, as she would for any of us,” Koritz remarked.

While closing out the rally, organizers handed out leaflets and a petition that will be used to demand Raytheon’s removal from the Salt Lake City area.

The energetic demonstration was unfettered by the extreme July heat, as new contacts were brought into a growing coalition. Responses from motorists and cyclists at the rally were overwhelmingly positive.

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