At a Scranton courthouse rally for Palestine shortly after the massive Israeli government attack on Gaza in October 2023, it was suggested by a Veterans For Peace (VFP) speaker that the better place to protest was several blocks away at the Army Ammunition Plant, where its operator General Dynamics had been stepping up production of 155mm shells for Ukraine and where business was good, with Israel now begging for more ammunition to pulverize Gaza.
The Scrantonians, led by the Northeast Social Democrats of America, began a weekly vigil at the 155mm artillery shell manufacturing plant each Sunday as workers ended their shift at 1:00 p.m.
Jack Gilroy, an organizer for VFP and several other groups, and Nick Mottern, a member of the VFP national board, had organized a rally at the Scranton plant on July 22, 2023, to oppose the sending of 155mm shells and other weapons to Ukraine, and with the sending of 155mm shells to Israel, they decided to organize a weekday event blocking the main gate of the plant.
In consultation with the Scranton organizers, Gilroy and Mottern shifted the date of the action to Sunday, December 3, 2023, as the Scranton organizers thought that Sunday would draw greater numbers since most Scranton workers had Sunday off except for the ammunition crew that was now working seven days a week. The Biden administration had stepped up production of 155mm shells at Scranton and other smaller plants, projecting a total production rate of 80,000 shells a month by late 2024 and 100,000 shells a month by the end of 2025.
The Scranton Islamic community, like Muslim communities around the nation, has justifiable fears about protesting.
A Mosque leader asked Gilroy to come to the mosque to discuss the fear factor. Before visiting the mosque, Gilroy advised Scranton Police Chief Tom Carroll that the December 3 action at the plant would be non-violent. Chief Carroll said he had been wanting to tell the Muslim community that he was there for their safety. “Would you allow me to go along and speak,” he asked Gilroy.
The congregation of more than 200 was told that two or three of the December 3 protesters planned to risk arrest and that for safety reasons they should consider being at the plant as witnesses and that they had every right to be there and to speak out and carry signs.
Carroll confirmed their right to be outside the facility and advised them not to enter the factory premises since that would be considered a federal crime, Carroll told the congregation that he wanted them to report any hate statements or any indication of threats to them personally or as a community. “I want to ensure your safety,” he repeatedly told the congregation.
On Sunday morning Karlijn van Houwelingen a reporter from DPG Media, one of the largest media companies in Europe drove to Scranton to meet with Veterans For Peace members, Islamic Center members, and a student from the University of Scranton who organized on campus for the Sunday afternoon rally. Van Houwelingen had been assigned to do a story about the 155mm factory and had read about our July action. She spent an hour before the December 3 protest interviewing a dozen resisters in an upstairs coffee house on Biden Street.
Gabriella Murphy, an Army veteran of two tours in Iraq who converted to Islam after leaving the military, functioned as MC and cantor for the event singing out chants in support of the people of Palestine. A drizzle was falling as the event got under way with temperatures in the upper 30s, the chanting serving to ward off the damp chill as well as raise rally spirits. Resisters in white-face death masks and tenderly holding faux infants in shrouds did a solemn funeral procession at the main gate to what some are calling “the Slaughterhouse.”
Mottern read a statement saying that the protesters were blocking the driveway to enforce the Leahy law because the U.S. President and Congress were unwilling to do so. The Leahy law, passed by Congress in 1997, prohibits the shipment of weapons to military or police units of other nations that are committing gross violations of human rights. The law, passed in 1997 mandates that “no assistance shall be furnished under this Act or the Arms Export Control Act to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights.”
Veterans For Peace Director Mike Ferner, from Toledo, Ohio, and Gilroy, from Endwell, New York, lay down in front of the main gate ten minutes before the usual Sunday shift was changed, protected by pieces of cardboard against the wet asphalt driveway into the plant.
Imam Mohrasvid Umar chanted prayers from the Quran.
The rain did not deter chants and speeches, and the gates did not open. Knowing of our event from the wide publicity weeks before the action, General Dynamics apparently decided to shut down the manufacture of the 155mm shells until our action was over. The reaction of the organizers was “At least we stopped production for a day.”
WVIA, the Scranton NPR affiliate, reported 200 people marched in the rain and cold. More important than the large crowd that braved rain and cold was the media coverage that was national and international. Tens of thousands, perhaps even millions, were told the story of the attempt to block munitions from the Scranton 155mm slaughterhouse.
Veterans For Peace believes the Scranton action, including invoking the Leahy law, will inspire similar actions at the hundreds of arms makers around the United States and the world. Organize now!
Veterans For Peace is also exploring legal paths to holding weapons makers complicit in the genocide being committed against the Palestinian people.
Our question to the resisters outside of the General Dynamics 155mm slaughterhouse in Scranton was: Is the murdering of more than 20,000 people of Gaza, many of whom are children and women, a violation of human rights?
We need not tell you the loud response.
CovertAction Magazine is made possible by subscriptions, orders and donations from readers like you.
Blow the Whistle on U.S. Imperialism
Click the whistle and donate
When you donate to CovertAction Magazine, you are supporting investigative journalism. Your contributions go directly to supporting the development, production, editing, and dissemination of the Magazine.
CovertAction Magazine does not receive corporate or government sponsorship. Yet, we hold a steadfast commitment to providing compensation for writers, editorial and technical support. Your support helps facilitate this compensation as well as increase the caliber of this work.
Please make a donation by clicking on the donate logo above and enter the amount and your credit or debit card information.
CovertAction Institute, Inc. (CAI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and your gift is tax-deductible for federal income purposes. CAI’s tax-exempt ID number is 87-2461683.
We sincerely thank you for your support.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the author(s). CovertAction Institute, Inc. (CAI), including its Board of Directors (BD), Editorial Board (EB), Advisory Board (AB), staff, volunteers and its projects (including CovertAction Magazine) are not responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. This article also does not necessarily represent the views the BD, the EB, the AB, staff, volunteers, or any members of its projects.
Differing viewpoints: CAM publishes articles with differing viewpoints in an effort to nurture vibrant debate and thoughtful critical analysis. Feel free to comment on the articles in the comment section and/or send your letters to the Editors, which we will publish in the Letters column.
Copyrighted Material: This web site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. As a not-for-profit charitable organization incorporated in the State of New York, we are making such material available in an effort to advance the understanding of humanity’s problems and hopefully to help find solutions for those problems. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. You can read more about ‘fair use’ and US Copyright Law at the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School.
Republishing: CovertAction Magazine (CAM) grants permission to cross-post CAM articles on not-for-profit community internet sites as long as the source is acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original CovertAction Magazine article. Also, kindly let us know at info@CovertActionMagazine.com. For publication of CAM articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: info@CovertActionMagazine.com.
By using this site, you agree to these terms above.
About the Author
Jack Gilroy is an anti-drone activist.
His plays and novels focus on young men and women who resist war. You can read more at www.bensalmon.org. Jack can be reached at: jgilroy1955@gmail.com.
Nick Mottern Co-coordinates BanKillerDrones.com and is Coordinator of Knowdrones.com.
Nick can be reached at nickmottern@gmail.com.
I fully support protesting Israel and weapons manufacturers. But blocking roads so poor workers cannot leave the factory when their shift ends, and blocking the next shift of workers from arriving on time, only punishes the poor workers who have nothing to do with the US/Israel decision to destroy Palestinians. Most workers in US factories are subjected to unfair “points” attendance systems, and being late to work hurts them. I say this with respect to the protestors- I absolutely want them to protest. But blocking roads is a surefire way to hurt workers. And workers are literally struggling to survive. If the point of the protest is to slow down or stop weapons’ manufacturing, they’re not doing it with this strategy.