Workers and Activists in France Organise Against Arms Trade with Israel
Workers and Activists in France Organise Against Arms Trade with Israel
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Stop Arming Israel France - have been waging a concerted campaign against companies trading arms with Israel.
The collective, comprised of trade unionists, workers and activists have held frequent pickets of arms factories, arms fairs and university-based arms research centres, and have flyered workers at the Safran Genneviliers and Safran Velizy plants.
Public actions have also been organised in central Paris, at six central stations, at key roads junctions and in front of the Thalès head office in La Défense, in the Paris business district. More information can be found on their Instagram page.
Meanwhile, students at Rennes University have initiated a campaign calling attention to the university’s complicity in the arms trade with Israel, and demanding that their institution sever links. Their statement is translated below:
The University of Rennes' dangerous links with Israeli armaments and surveillance!
As we know, and as its presidents keep telling us, the University of Rennes claims to be one of France's leading universities in the fields of telecommunications, networks and cyber. Yet these fields of research, which could have real social and public resonance, have long been closely linked to the arms, social control, security and banking industries. For example, the Electronic and Telecommunication Institute of Rennes (Institut d'Électronique et de Télécommunications de Rennes - IETR) works with Thales (Alenia Space branch) on satellite antenna research. The Institute for Research in Computer Science and Random Systems (Institut de recherche en informatique et systèmes aléatoires - IRISA), meanwhile, is championing cybersecurity, once again highlighting its collaboration with Thales.
Thales, the sprawling French arms multinational, works with the Elbit System group, an Israeli arms company, which markets the Hermes 450 drone used by the Israeli army. In recent years, the Israeli army has transformed these drones into missile-equipped combat drones, which were used in the wars against Lebanon in 2006 (1,200 civilian deaths), Gaza in 2008/2009 (1,330 deaths) and Gaza 2014 (2,200 deaths, including 1 /4 children). Since October 7, more than 15,000 Gazans have died, many of them children, in Israeli strikes prepared by the reconnaissance made possible by these drones, and therefore also by technologies developed in our research laboratories.
So it's clear that satellite research at IETR and Thales has concrete implications for the use of these drones.
Just a few years ago, the University of Rennes 1 was working with Check-point, a global player in cybersecurity with insolent sales of two billion dollars. This company, owned among others by the mayor of Jerusalem, works closely with the Israeli army.
Through its research projects, partnerships and agreements, the University of Rennes works with murderous companies such as Thales and Elbit System, which have participated directly or indirectly in the latest bloody wars waged by the Israeli army against the Palestinian civilian population, or by supporting and financially encouraging Israeli colonization of the West Bank.
Why not also mention the links (agreements, partnerships) that the University of Rennes has forged with banks such as BNP or Axa (at the Technologic Institute of St Brieuc). Each of these companies holds several stakes in banks or companies active in Israeli settlements. In addition to these shareholdings, these companies also finance the projects of companies directly involved in the settlements. This was notably the case in 2004, when a consortium of banks (including BNP Paribas) granted a loan of 288 million euros to the Israel Electric Corporation. This company supplies electricity directly to the settlements.
Not content with supplying research to Israeli arms and security control companies, the University of Rennes, via IRISA and OSUR, is building partnerships with Ben Gurion University and Tel Aviv University (TAU). Israeli universities are real cogs in the wheel of research and training for the State of Israel's security and military policies, to ensure control over the Palestinian population. All this is intolerable, and we demand that the University of Rennes does not grant institutional legitimacy to the Israeli occupation, colonization and apartheid, of which the TAU is an accomplice.
As part of the international BDS campaign, it is vital not to forget the dangerous links our university maintains with the Israeli colonial and apartheid system. In Belgium and the UK, workers have blocked the entrances to a factory belonging to Israeli weapons giant Elbit Systems. All over the world, the "Stop arming Israel" campaign is growing. It's time to get involved, to put an end to partnerships between our university and companies that participate in one way or another in the conflict and destruction of Gaza.
AURDIP, (Association of Academics for Respect and International Law in Palestine), is a very good militant tool to start the battle for the University Boycott on our campuses.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Stop Arming Israel France - have been waging a concerted campaign against companies trading arms with Israel.
The collective, comprised of trade unionists, workers and activists have held frequent pickets of arms factories, arms fairs and university-based arms research centres, and have flyered workers at the Safran Genneviliers and Safran Velizy plants.
Public actions have also been organised in central Paris, at six central stations, at key roads junctions and in front of the Thalès head office in La Défense, in the Paris business district. More information can be found on their Instagram page.
Meanwhile, students at Rennes University have initiated a campaign calling attention to the university’s complicity in the arms trade with Israel, and demanding that their institution sever links. Their statement is translated below:
The University of Rennes' dangerous links with Israeli armaments and surveillance!
As we know, and as its presidents keep telling us, the University of Rennes claims to be one of France's leading universities in the fields of telecommunications, networks and cyber. Yet these fields of research, which could have real social and public resonance, have long been closely linked to the arms, social control, security and banking industries. For example, the Electronic and Telecommunication Institute of Rennes (Institut d'Électronique et de Télécommunications de Rennes - IETR) works with Thales (Alenia Space branch) on satellite antenna research. The Institute for Research in Computer Science and Random Systems (Institut de recherche en informatique et systèmes aléatoires - IRISA), meanwhile, is championing cybersecurity, once again highlighting its collaboration with Thales.
Thales, the sprawling French arms multinational, works with the Elbit System group, an Israeli arms company, which markets the Hermes 450 drone used by the Israeli army. In recent years, the Israeli army has transformed these drones into missile-equipped combat drones, which were used in the wars against Lebanon in 2006 (1,200 civilian deaths), Gaza in 2008/2009 (1,330 deaths) and Gaza 2014 (2,200 deaths, including 1 /4 children). Since October 7, more than 15,000 Gazans have died, many of them children, in Israeli strikes prepared by the reconnaissance made possible by these drones, and therefore also by technologies developed in our research laboratories.
So it's clear that satellite research at IETR and Thales has concrete implications for the use of these drones.
Just a few years ago, the University of Rennes 1 was working with Check-point, a global player in cybersecurity with insolent sales of two billion dollars. This company, owned among others by the mayor of Jerusalem, works closely with the Israeli army.
Through its research projects, partnerships and agreements, the University of Rennes works with murderous companies such as Thales and Elbit System, which have participated directly or indirectly in the latest bloody wars waged by the Israeli army against the Palestinian civilian population, or by supporting and financially encouraging Israeli colonization of the West Bank.
Why not also mention the links (agreements, partnerships) that the University of Rennes has forged with banks such as BNP or Axa (at the Technologic Institute of St Brieuc). Each of these companies holds several stakes in banks or companies active in Israeli settlements. In addition to these shareholdings, these companies also finance the projects of companies directly involved in the settlements. This was notably the case in 2004, when a consortium of banks (including BNP Paribas) granted a loan of 288 million euros to the Israel Electric Corporation. This company supplies electricity directly to the settlements.
Not content with supplying research to Israeli arms and security control companies, the University of Rennes, via IRISA and OSUR, is building partnerships with Ben Gurion University and Tel Aviv University (TAU). Israeli universities are real cogs in the wheel of research and training for the State of Israel's security and military policies, to ensure control over the Palestinian population. All this is intolerable, and we demand that the University of Rennes does not grant institutional legitimacy to the Israeli occupation, colonization and apartheid, of which the TAU is an accomplice.
As part of the international BDS campaign, it is vital not to forget the dangerous links our university maintains with the Israeli colonial and apartheid system. In Belgium and the UK, workers have blocked the entrances to a factory belonging to Israeli weapons giant Elbit Systems. All over the world, the "Stop arming Israel" campaign is growing. It's time to get involved, to put an end to partnerships between our university and companies that participate in one way or another in the conflict and destruction of Gaza.
AURDIP, (Association of Academics for Respect and International Law in Palestine), is a very good militant tool to start the battle for the University Boycott on our campuses.