Over what has been nearly three years, Palestine Action has been busy. In our campaign to decouple the links between Britain and Israel’s arms trade, we have coordinated dozens upon dozens of acts of sabotage against what started as 10 Elbit Systems and its subsidiaries’ locations in Britain. Approximately 280 arrests have been made as our direct action network advances the struggle to shut Elbit down. Elbit Systems, in contrast, has been comparatively quiet.
An Israeli arms manufacturer, founded in 1966, Elbit is the settler colony’s biggest arms company, providing technology and munitions for the Israeli military apparatus. And while they have released statements and press releases in response to our actions, shutting down 2 of the 10 sites in Britain, there was a conspicuous lack of any attempts to propagandise as is often seen by those linked to the Zionist war machine. Israel famously cultivates the diplomatic strategy of 'hasbara', which can be described in English as a relentless culture of ‘explaining’ Israel, using a variety of lies and myths in the service of apologism for Israel’s crimes against humanity. But, sure enough, as Palestine Action refused to stop, to the extent that Elbit was fired from a contract with the Ministry of Defence worth £280 million, the arms manufacturer began to show signs of cracking.
With the recent publishing of two hit pieces published by the Birmingham Mail and a third in the Leicester Mercury to launder Elbit’s reputation, an old adage of revolutionary action comes to surface once again: all reactionaries and imperialists are paper tigers. Far from being an unassailable enemy, Elbit Systems is a paper tiger, and this fact is accompanied by another truth – that from ‘a long-term point of view, it is not the reactionaries but the people who are powerful.’
This is not to say they are harmless, of course. Elbit is a company that provides 85% of Israel’s drone fleet that are used as part of the ongoing process of ethnic cleansing in Palestine. It has also made aggressive acquisitions of other companies to provide Israel with the means to colonise Palestine by land, air or even electronic warfare. And we must note that a significant amount of Elbit’s revenue comes from international business, as they sell not only to Israel but other countries around the world, profiting from oppression on a global scale. To quote our own page on UAV Tactical Systems:
Elbit’s business model is then to sell these technologies on to fuel imperialism elsewhere. Its drones have not only been deployed by British military and border operations, but are employed by the EU’s militarised border agency Frontex. The same technologies outfitting Israel’s apartheid wall run along the US’ border wall with Mexico, and are used for monitoring of indigenous lands. Elbit drones have been purchased in major volumes by India, in turn deploying them in violent military campaigns perpetuating the repression of Kashmiri populations.
Elbit has a lot of money at its disposal, and as Palestine Action begins to threaten their profits it is increasingly likely they will use that capital to try and ensure that they remain active in Britain. Israel’s links with Britain, whatever Elbit’s professional reputation with the MoD, remain strong, and throughout our campaign to end British complicity with apartheid we have had to contend with the British state as well.
In response to unrest and protests against racism, colonialism and the increasingly fascistic state of Britain, the Tory government passed the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act. As our comrades at Liberty pointed out, this bill ‘includes a clampdown on protest, sweeping new powers for the police, and would criminalise Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities’ way of life.’ But that’s not all: introduced to Parliament in 2022, the National Security Bill is close to reaching Royal Assent. Ostensibly a bill intended protect Britain’s interests from harm by foreign powers, Electronic Intifada noted that while the bill’s stated objective is to replace ‘existing counter-espionage laws with a comprehensive framework for countering hostile state activity’, it was clear that the ‘approach being taken is so “comprehensive” that it is questionable whether the bill is really focused on spying in the conventional sense of that term. Many of its provisions could be used against ordinary people seeking to disrupt the weapons business.’ In particular the section on ‘sabotage’ was highlighted as a part of the bill that looked as if it had been written almost entirely in response to Palestine Action. This section declared that ‘“Sabotage” is defined as “conduct that results in damage to any asset,” particularly if the purpose of that activity “is prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom.”’ As Elbit has contracts with the UK Armed Forces and styles itself as an ‘established supplier’, to damage Elbit property would be to commit a crime against the Armed Forces and the British State. This legislation constitutes a flagrant attempt to provide cover for arms manufacturers who profit off of death, showing just how important it is to Western imperialism that Israel and the military industrial complex – which receives much of its funds from Western nations – must be protected.
Alongside the introduction of its new bills, it would be hard to not notice that the British state has escalated how it deals with Palestine Action on a carceral front. Clearly frustrated with the victories we have achieved when tried in front of a jury, which has often led to many ‘Not Guilty’ verdicts for our activists, the number of cases being tried in a magistrates court have steadily risen in an attempt to increase the number of prosecutions as much as possible. I began by saying Elbit Systems is a paper tiger, and then moved on to stating that Palestine Action will likely face a concentration of reaction on two fronts. It might be easy to be disheartened at the scene I have painted. But by speaking of the challenges that face us, this is not to say that shutting Elbit down is now impossible. In the words of Amilcar Cabral, it is to ‘Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories.’ When we speak of the very real threats that face us, it is not to undercut the statement by which we began, but to help us understand as much as possible that just ‘as there is not a single thing in the world without a dual nature [...] so imperialism and all reactionaries have a dual nature - they are real tigers and paper tigers at the same time.’ In order to understand how Elbit is a paper tiger, it is important to understand how they are also a real tiger and have proved to be a consistent producer of misery and death for the Palestinians.
This said, how Elbit conducts itself reveals various signs that belie any notion that they are invincible. Whereas once they had declared with relish that their drones and weapons were ‘battle-proven’, tested first upon the people of Palestine before being shipped elsewhere, confidently stating they were going to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for Israel’s defence needs, now their subsidiaries must rely on local journalists to try and attest their supposed ‘innocence’. For example, in the Birmingham Mail hit pieces, the owners and employees of UAV Engines look to present themselves as humble, salt of the earth workers harassed and terrified by extremists. They protest that they don’t even make any weapons, only engines for drones (they manage to contradict themselves in the same sentence as this, where CEO David Kilroy states that in fact, ‘These engines fall under ML10, which is a classification with the UK Government regarding arms exports.’). In the accompanying video to the earlier hit piece in the Birmingham Mail, they proudly display medals of air time milestones that their drones have served in military operations. Specifically, the short clip shows medals awarded for accumulated service hours of the AAI RQ-7 Shadow drone which has been deployed extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan. While ostensibly a surveillance drone, the Shadow has been used to carry and deliver small explosives and munitions. While Kilroy suggests that there is no unethical dimension to selling arms to 'countries that are friendly to us, our allies, America', those who have been on the receiving end of American drone warfare would likely disagree. This approach to masking Elbit’s guilt can be seen not only in Britain but also in Israel itself. At a conference which saw Israeli military Brigadier-Generals meet with arms industry insiders, Reuters reported that the manufacturers of armed drones are barred from advertising them as such, and that an Elbit sales representative cited ‘information security concerns’ as the reason for this. Around the world we see that Elbit no longer proudly touts the blood on their hands as a mark of quality.
But what are we to do with this information? I could end this article now with the conclusion that we have Elbit on the run, and proclaim some slogan in Maoist Standard English like ‘Down with Elbit! Forward for Palestinian liberation!’ Without direction, without a plan of action, any declaration would ring hollow – not least because of the mounting obstacles facing us. If we’re going to use the metaphor of a paper tiger, how does that fit into our next steps? To understand that, we need to use a different and more recent interpretation of the phrase. In his interview with the podcast Guerrilla History, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines Jose Maria Sison, was asked about this very phrase. In his response, he stated that its usefulness came from the specific nature of the image of a paper tiger – that of an origami shape. An enemy which might seem large and invulnerable, he said, is in fact made out of many smaller parts that have been folded together. By this he means that a system, such as the arms trade for example, has come about through various historical processes in a particular place and time, and is compacted into more solid, structured parts. In order to defeat such an enemy, Sison goes on to add, one simply needs to unfold the paper tiger, methodically breaking down the enemy, dealing with each particular part before moving on to the next. By following such a strategy, an asymmetrical conflict can be won by the supposedly weaker force of revolutionaries. And so the people must be encouraged and motivated to take part in revolutionary action because while the enemy might have the advantage of economic and state power, in truth the masses outnumber them.
Accordingly, we have targeted the smaller parts of the apparatus facilitating Elbit's presence in the UK. This has included landlords such as Fisher German and Jones Lasang LaSalle (JLL), or exporters such as The Good Packing Company. Because all the parts of a greater total supply chain are enfolded into each other, to attack one impacts all of the others. This is what theorist Stuart Hall called 'differentiated unity', where the parts of an interconnected system fulfil different functions such that 'we must comprehend both its internal structure – what it is in its differentiatedness – as well as those other structures to which it is coupled and with which it forms some more inclusive totality'.1 It is as a character in Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa's novel Against The Loveless World describes: 'In what appears to be random, there are actually very complex but deterministic systems, with repeating patterns, constant feedback, and organisation that is very sensitive to the starting conditions.'2 To intervene in one produces profound effects for the other parts, giving a concreteness to Ghassan Kanfani's analysis that 'Imperialism has laid its body over the world... Wherever you strike it, you damage it, and you serve the world revolution.’ However, we cannot rely on such an effect alone, and we must move onto the next 'fold' of the Elbit tiger.
This, in essence, is what we hope to do. On February 14th 2023, we announced that we will be laying siege to Elbit’s site in Leicester, UK. To quote our press release:
From May 1st, Palestine Action will lay siege to Leicester’s Israeli arms factory, UAV Tactical Systems. The mass action will include hundreds staying put for weeks on end, through day and night, refusing to leave until Elbit does. Drawing parallels with the decades-long siege of Gaza, Palestine Action’s siege will symbolically turn this process on its head and cut off Leicester’s link to Israel’s military supply chain.
We seek to mobilise as many people as possible to lay siege to the war machine, starting with the UAV Tactical Systems factory. Through consistent and unyielding resistance, we hope to shut down another Elbit location, to interrupt the flows of profit vital to both the maintenance of Israeli settler colonialism and world imperialism. We recognise that it lies within the power of working class people within this country to reject imperialism and apartheid, and it is only with them as an amassed force that we can end them.
As a call to readers, check out our site to find a list of talks and workshops leading up to the siege that provide an introductory education to Elbit’s part in the colonisation of Palestine. From there, people can attend workshops where they can get involved with local groups which will take part in the siege.
We believe that action, applied consistently, will not only help to shut down this factory but help people to engage with the tradition of anti-imperialist, working class resistance that so often has been brushed aside and condescended to. By taking part in this, you will not only help build resistance in Britain to our country’s centuries-long crimes of genocide, but also contribute to an culture of internationalist solidarity that can take on a world system of oppression. As we have stated, so many oppressive, capitalist states rely on Palestine as a laboratory for technologies of control, displacement and death – reminding us of what so many others have said, that none of us are free until the Palestinian people are free.
References
1 Stuart Hall, ‘Marx’s Notes on Method’ in Selected Writings on Marxism, ed. Gregor McLennan (London: Duke University Press, 2021), 36.
2 Susan Abulhawa, Against The Loveless World (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 244.