The Factory Intifada
A Palestine Action agitprop poem
Image: Palestine Action Poster
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I. Let’s state the obvious first: the act of shaking off isn’t easy for there are many different types of chains. Liberation is always worth the effort, but for some more than others, it entails a great deal of pain. For Palestinians, even something simple, like keeping a grove of olive trees, at a moments notice, becomes a one sided fight. Even the humblest of farmers finds himself tormented by an entire host of opponents, day and night. Or else a journalist, whilst going about their work, might be shot down like an animal in the dirt, All the while, winks and nods and smirks hide in the occupiers' excuses. How do you stop these abuses? For them, whether in exile or apartheid, the catastrophe has distorted even the marrow of their memory. To understand how this came about, needs must we name the enemy. From when and where comes the Hydra’s head? It’s the usual story: from stolen land, empire, piles of the dead. Back several decades, in sixty-six, the rogue state still young our enemy, Elbit came to exist and quickly began climbing the rungs. They can make their myths about homelands, chosen peoples and their defence. But draw the two sides up together, it’s clear, for one, exile retains the present tense. Elbit was the next step: of domination from the river to the sea. Sure, Israel had killed with the usual tools but now they wanted flight technology. All that was on their minds was how to kill more effectively. Not content with burnt out villages dead fedayeen and mourning wives, Elbit helped the settler colony find new ways of taking lives. Developing the tech to help Israel fly help them more completely occupy Elbit set out to kill the beauty of the sky. Nowadays, a bright morning with no clouds, the sort of scene you’d usually like has a different sort of meaning there Like constant surveillance and air strikes. The terror in each sip and in each sup of borrowed seconds and air never stops You want to feel fear in Gaza? It’s simple: you just look up. Absent sight, you’d still hear that onomatopoeia occupying the corner of your ear: the sound of a drone. That buzzsaw whine which never leaves you alone, signifies oncoming brutality and the breaking of stone. A Palestinian could find a quiet side street a small nook free from soldiers But if there’s even an inch of sky above it they’ll always be looking over their shoulder. This isn’t to say, all the while Palestinians remain timid and docile For 75 years, forever under attack the people of Palestine have always fought back. To name a few, whether the PFLP, the PIJ or the Lions Den, the colonised inevitably take up the rifle again. Wherever invasion as a structure persists, the question of oppression has one answer: resist. II. Let’s recap: These parts of occupied life, and all the others, too many to list them. Are only possible with one thing, a war machine by the name of Elbit Systems. Each day, after the morning sun has risen Daylight shines upon an open air prison. Let’s ask again: how do you end this? Why wait for the next revolution of the dialectic? If we must find a solution let’s try something more kinetic. Try to advance the struggle and find a hammer and crowbar have their own poetics. From Jaffa to Haifa to the Golan hinterlands, Anyone who remains are God’s own splinters. Let’s follow their example and at the very least try To stick ourselves in the enemy’s eyes. Marches and petitions are not the right tools for militants. We must stop the enemy from operating even if just as irritants. Out of the present conditions, from it’s challenges, new possibilities beckoned Some questions arose like: ‘How much profit is lost exactly, if Capital stops for even a few seconds?’ Next questions: ‘How can we expand that gap?’ ‘Which tactics and tools are the most apt?’ Simple questions with simple answers, so obvious they seem elementary yet for ages they went unsaid, ‘cos of a withered imaginary. We need to make the arms dealers concede even if only by a fraction. What course is left to us? direct action. Strike a window, you strike at the core of an antagonism Stop the drones, and you start a schism. One part of the supply chains stops, it affects all the others like waves on waves on waves rippling out to a new kind of future one with less bombs and graves. A war against war, spanning back to the Mandatory. But now comrades are picking up tools, and shutting down the imperial laboratory. Interlude: [The colonisation of Palestine happening for over 50 years, the need to challenge war crimes surpassed my own fears. From an activist in Leicester 24th May the only way, direct action they can say what they want: we’re here to stay. It’s hard to tell whether the support we’ve received will work but through direct action, Apartheid finally fell.] III. Don’t get intimidated, and think you can’t match Pal Action at all. Everybody has to start somewhere, and the first step is often small. Hard to believe, in hindsight the first punch thrown in this fight, was just red paint on Elbit’s walls. A bit of hiccup, if barely then thrown out by the building security but whatever initial embarrassment, the first step was taken, the rubicon crossed and just so it’s clearly explained, where pride is lost, confidence is gained. Next step: hit them where it hurts, hit them where they do the work. Let’s not shirk from situating the fight, and talk about the 10 Elbit sites: In Leicester, there’s UAV Tactical Systems In Oldham, there’sFerrantiIn London, there’sKingsway(Both gone today, nobody will miss them) In Shenstone, there’s UAV Engines Limited (UEL) then on to Tamorth there’s Elite KL And in Sleaford there’s RAF Cranwell That’s seven so far on our tally, next there’s Holyhead with RAF Valley. This next one’s not so subtle, rather crystal clear, down here at Aztec West you have Elbit Bristol. Only two more to go, what does that leave? Next at Grantham is RAF Barkston Heath So many to choose from, it’s hard to make a decision Lastly, based in Sandwich is Instro Precision. We’ve hit most on this list, and shut down two, now there’s a question to be asked of you: what are we going to do? If you live near these sites, Speak up! Don’t fear being vocal, these places deserve a visit from some locals. These Zionists kill Palestinians with impunity Let’s see them try it when they have to face a community. Here’s some advice first, though: just so you don’t go and break some things all on your own, make sure to speak to Pal Action for some info. You might also ask, if you were so inclined: ‘Aren’t yours and the Elbit workers' interests aligned?’ I’ll give you an answer, let me know if it’s satisfactory, here it is, in one sentence - there’s no hope in the factory. For Elbit’s staff, words like ‘solidarity’ are seen as a load of shit. There’s no room for ‘socialism’ or ‘democratic worker ownership’ And here’s the thing, even if you gave Elbit workers total control, they’d go back to spilling blood then go on the dole. It seems humanity ain’t worth the toll. And anyway, they can’t return the lives they stole. You want humanity to be made whole? Last time I checked, the most effective option is leaving their roof wrecked and their windows cracked. Don’t get me wrong, declaring victory after one action or a few is certainly a conceit. That’s why one word is important to this strategy: Repeat. Elbit can weather one action or even several, or maybe even ten. So if we want to see an impact, we’ll need to do it again and again. We aim to punch as many holes in each & every fiscal quarter Elbit wants to make a profit, so into the market we throw disorder. Look at our record if you need the proof, all our blockades and occupations on the roof. We’ve tried all other choices, Peaceful protests, our own voices trying to bring them into disrepute, but if you want to shut down a drone factory, you’ll need to put on a red boilersuit! IV. Let me caveat that last part. Sure, all the actions might seem ‘flashy’ But there’s more than one way to help a movement, don’t ever commit to something rashly. Just try and take stock, step back for a minute and stop. There’s many options for you take: Campaigns, media, research, (even writing agitprop). There are dozens of activists currently in the courts - people are needed for prisoner support! The public loves the actions, such spectacles usually thrill them. But who’ll help the actionists with police harassment? Such treatment could easily kill them. I’m not joking, or indulging in hyperbole Just take a look at the Bristol protestors, you’ll see I summed it up superbly. This fight against fetters had to be done better, we need to increase this kind of capacity. It might seem strange to criticise now, but I think you deserve some veracity. Prisoners are our movements spines, whether in Britain or Palestine. It does nobody any favours, to pretend that everything is fine. I’m not loyal, to authorities or institutes I’m just here to play the music of a movement's backbone flute. The police are our enemies too - the thin blue line is the state’s garrotte. I’m sure each pig in military gear would like us taken out and shot. But absent that, they’ll settle for incarceration, if we want to counter this then care work deserves our concentration. For private property and drone makers the coppers will always make the time. Bringing metal barriers, and anti-protest kettles, to help protect the ‘right kind’ of crime. It doesn’t sound as scary in rhyme, but when you’ve seen them face to face seen their marching goose step pace, it’s not hard to imagine that boot forever stamping on the human face. Yes, I know, we’ll just rise like Lions after slumber. but I’m not looking for dewlike chains, I’d rather have some strength in numbers. In the moment, it’s not always easy to know which choice is correct, building a mass movement whilst worrying about op-sec. But if we don’t support the people at our actions & protests, facing prison sentences, and arrests, how can we accomplish the rest of our objectives if our principles can’t be put to the test? I don’t mean to make the movement sound bad I’m sure these convos are already being had, I just feel these concerns deserved to be vocalised before these problems grow in size. If we want to weather state repression, we can’t be afraid of a struggle session. Interlude: [He came out of his time in the ‘soul breaker’ Political prisoners fighting battles of hunger, unshakeable how many of these lives can we save if we take their struggles as ours we have a special duty to our brothers and sisters We must love and support each other. in defiance, countless political prisoners reminds us that we’re not so helpless.] V. But let’s not get it twisted, the movement needs this kind of insurgency, if last four parts didn’t convince you, let me explain its urgency. Whilst this poem is being written, “Israel” bombards and attacks Jenin Its excuse: they want to flush out the new fedayeen. But they’ve needed no reason to trample on Palestinians, whether they hold a gun or just live in a refugee camp. The Hasbara will run the usual story: the IOF does what it does best that it protects its settlers from a raging ‘wasp’s nest’. Tell me, what kind of state is it, compares human beings to insects? Fascists who treat their fellow humans like vermin Israel is not a self-determined nation it is a colony built on extermination. All you see, the violence happening in the Area A zone is made possible with the use of drones. Gaza and the West Bank are merely human testing grounds for all their drone tech and ammunition rounds. Thanks to companies like Elbit, and Rafael the West Bank’s now the seventh circle of hell. At the Freedom Theatre, the streets and roads are blocked off then bombed and then bulldozed. It should be obvious who is the attacker the occupiers perpetrating an ongoing Nakba. Keeping both fighters & civilians captive detained by the Zionist security apparatus. You might be surprised to see that with the powers used by the military they were once Britain’s to be used for colonial emergencies. This is over a century’s worth of complicity, only now it means blocked ambulances and cut off electricity. It’s easy to feel helpless, sitting here writing poetry. Will my words stop any bullets? Hardly we’re talking about the West’s most well funded army But I’ll keep shouting you’ll have to cut out my tongue to disarm me. Now you’ve heard it all, these are the stakes: “Israel” has nothing to give the world It just takes and it takes and it takes. It steals all it can, lives and land. The people refuse to stand for this so we’re putting forth our demands: The death of the old order is at hand, the weakness of warmongers finally shows. If Elbit doesn’t get the message, we’ll communicate it with hammer blows. With the sounding of each heavy clout, the people say - get the drone makers out! No general does the wretched any good, except for Ludd in his spirit we’re breaking the chain from London all the way to Al Quds! VI. Life is a precious thing, hard to keep So easy does a human forever sleep, lost in the blink of an eye their name inscribed in the Raven’s ink. Once, a child asked: When does the moment of return come around? The world offered no response and the corvid went on scratching graves in the ground. If one man is a cloud in trousers, a people entire could be the heavens. A nation of windthrown Calibans fly each Ariel piece torn from the Levant. Whilst the dust clears and the olive groves burn, A horse on its own awaits their return. It’s not an easy path back roads to there once existed, with caterpillar tracks are now demolished. But with patience someday soon the settler state will be abolished. You might think you’ve seen the worst you haven’t, Take a step back, see seventy five years of a river dying of thirst. This land is one divided, made up checkpoints, split roads and walls. Taking in mind the options provided, how are we going to make them fall? It’s a lot to consider, a great responsibility is thrown upon us, but you might still be asking what exactly is the revolution’s promise? Let us conjure an image somewhere hidden in some English town a derelict factory sits, once active but now shut down. It might not seem like the most impressive place, but somewhere within is a revolutionary space. In here, it’s no longer ‘48 In here, the heavy weight of past failures is gone In here, the weapons makers have withdrawn and a nation might someday be one. In here, is the pen & the gun. In here, is a red sun never setting on the horizon. In here, the key still fits the lock In here, the Dome of the Rock remains untouched In here, one can talk a safe stroll on the beach In here, the future’s within reach.