Four days of action have been called by the ‘Defend Kurdistan’ initiative, starting today, November 30th, and continuing until December 3rd. In preparation for the upcoming days we’ve made a small profile of a few companies whose names have been given as targets. We hope that reading these profiles will encourage you and your local groups to take action against them in whatever ways you feel like you can. Remember actions can range from small individual actions like writing to your local MP to Twitter storms and phone blockades, large scale demonstrations, occupations and die-ins. Get creative with what you do and remember to tweet any (appropriate) images to @infodefendk and @kurdistansolnet (if you are in the WISE isles – Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England) or use the hashtags #yoursilencekills, #weseeyourcrimes and #defendkurdistan on social media. Any action, no matter how big or small shows our friends in Kurdistan that we are fighting to defend the revolution alongside them from all around the world.
Boeing:
In 2021, Boeing made an epic £568 million in ministry of defence procurement contracts, and, like most other aerospace companies they have continued to grow and profit into 2022, a year when many in the UK are struggling to heat their homes and afford basic neccessities. According to The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Boeing are the second largest arms company in the world selling predominantly aircraft and attack helicopters that have been used in military operations in Libya, Aghanistan and Israel. However, Boeing also holds the patent the ‘Joint Direct Attack Munition’ (JDAM) bolt-on, which turns large previously unguided bombs into ‘smart bombs’ which use GPS signalling to target a location. These targetting systems have proved particularly lucrative for Boeing and are one of the companies most sought after technologies.
The reason we are mentioning Boeing, rather than any other arms company, here is because of these two pictures:
These photographs were shot in a village near Kobane on 20th November 2022. The morning after the Turkish state launched ‘Operation Claw-Sword’, a campaign of bombing using artillery and air strikes across the Rojava region of North and Eastern Syria as well as in along the border of Southern Kurdistan (Northern Iraq). As we can see from the photographs, Boeing’s name is clearly printed on the inside of a burned out shell showing their complicity in arming the Turkish state.
Turkish Airlines (Türk Hava Yolları – THY):
Turkish Airlines (THY) is one of the largest passenger airlines in the world. Half of the company is owned by the Turkish state and many of its key people have close ties to Erdogan himself or the AKP (Erdogan’s hard-right political party) more broadly. Though Turkish Airlines flys to many destinations around the world much of its promotional material is focussed on holidays to Turkey. The tourism industry is one of growing importance to the Turkish government as, with the current economic crisis in Turkey, it is one industry that is guaranteed to still bring in money. Since the economic crisis in Turkey took hold in mid-2020, Erdogan and his AKP party have suffered a sharp decline in popularity. This is all the more concerning for the regime given the upcoming elections in 2023. Disrupting the flow of tourism to Turkey by targetting their flagship airline is therefore a key way to fight back against Erdogan’s government and its attacks on the Kurdistan.
For more information on Boeing:
- Campaign Against the Arms Trade: Boeing company profile
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: Top 100 Arms Producing and Military Service Companies
For more information on Turkish Airlines: