Image by Edgar Serrano.
As residents of a Vermont town that recently passed the AFSC Apartheid-Free Communities pledge, we write today to ask our Vermont state and federal representatives to stop collaborating with the weapons industry made up of corporations like GlobalFoundries, General Dynamics, and Israel’s Elbit Systems that, besides building deadly weapons, have been exposed as causing severe harm to our pristine Vermont environment.
American and Israeli weapons are being used to continue the genocide in Gaza and the apartheid system in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and we oppose this warmongering system. We strongly object to Vermont being a home to these global corporations. We object especially given that our delegation to Washington, Senators Sanders and Welch and Representative Balint have brought legislation to stop the flow of offensive weapons to Israel. Besides being part of an industry that makes things that kill and oppress people, including in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, these companies also produce surveillance tools that abridge our own rights and freedoms. But that is a whole story of its own.
Voters in Winooski, Plainfield, Thetford, Newfane, and Brattleboro passed the Apartheid-Free pledge and joined together to stop support in Vermont for Israeli apartheid and occupation that makes genocide possible. At our own town meeting in Thetford, residents were reminded that in the 1980s Vermonters protested South African apartheid which resulted in the passage of a Vermont divestment bill. As Vermont voters who have signed on to the AFSC pledge, it is our task to take on the powerful weapons companies in Vermont.
The means of collaboration with these weapons companies is through our
congressional delegation’s and state government’s political aspirations to bring high tech jobs to Vermont. Our state government is also dedicating 4.5 million dollars to make Vermont a high tech hub, and as Governor Scott’s office boasts in a press release last year, “to transform the Green Mountain State into a world leader” in semiconductor production. We ask our representatives at both the state and the federal level to oppose these chip-making industries in Vermont that make targeting systems that kill civilians even though touted as “smart.” We believe that now more than ever Vermont’s business-as-usual exposes all of us to the moral hazard of Israel’s ongoing genocidal actions. We are therefore compelled to inform fellow citizens that Vermont officials are in fact collaborating with a system fueling genocide in Gaza and the apartheid system in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The weapons industry, furthermore, is a double-edged sword in Vermont. Besides being for war, the manufacture of these weapons and weapons components is ruining our environment. The largest employer in Vermont, Globalfoundries, is a major polluter. A recent article in Seven Days exposed this tragic situation: “Water samples submitted to state regulators since 2023 show 17 different PFAS present in wastewater regularly released into the [Winooski] river from the Essex Junction plant.” These “forever chemicals” linger in the environment causing cancer, birth defects, reduced immune system function, and learning and behavioral problems for children–and there is a growing call to eliminate their use. Additionally, the vast amounts of water and electricity required to make these chips puts a strain on our environment. This high tech industry is really a manifestation of the war industry in Vermont, and it is misusing our resources as well as creating a toxic environment for Vermonters.
The online news site Vermont Digger reported that the Department of Defense has awarded nearly 200 million dollars to defense contractors General Dynamics (Williston) and Elbit Systems (one of Israel’s largest weapons manufacturers based in Haifa, Israel) to supply the army with the Iron Fist Active Protection System. A General Dynamics brochure states that the system works by launching a small warhead from atop a vehicle “defeating or destructing the threat through a shock wave effect.” At the same time, another of Vermont’s large weapons manufacturers, Globalfoundries, participates in the trusted foundry program for the department of defense, producing chips for aerospace and defense systems. Globalfoundries exposes itself as a war-maker by showing the controversial F-35 fighter jet in its own promo about the “trusted foundry program.” Nothing subtle here.
As we’ve said, while these companies, and the contracts our politicians help bring in for them, build weapons of war, they also hurt our Vermont environment and will cause health problems going forward. Marguerite Adelman of the Vermont PFAS/Military Poisons Coalition contends that “after the celebrated grants and contracts have been fulfilled, Vermont citizens will be paying personally with their health and their money for a very long time.”
Vermonters don’t want these lethal things produced in our state with our tax money. We want be promoting education, health care, energy self-sufficiency, basic needs that continue to require our attention. We are asking our Vermont representatives to not collaborate with a system designed for making wars. Let’s set a good example in Vermont, and truly work towards peace and a healthy environment
Lynne Rogers and Duncan Nichols live in Thetford, Vermont
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