Keene, Greenfield, Amherst Rally

In Keene, New Hampshire about 45 people attended a climate rally, Karen Seaver told the Valley Post. “It was cool to see it happen on just a few days' notice,” she said. Seaver was at the rally. She is a professor at Keene State College and she works at the Harris Center for Conservation Education. The rally was organized by a group that has a web site at https://ThirdAct.org. The rally was on March 21.

Keene is about 15 minutes by car from Brattleboro, town line to town line. The trip takes 30 minutes by bus from downtown Keene to near freeway exit one in Brattleboro. There is one Greyhound bus per day.

In Massachusetts the minimum wage is $15 an hour. In Vermont it's $13.18. In New Hampshire it's $7.25 an hour.

In the 2020 election, Trump got 46 percent of the vote in New Hampshire. Trump got 31 percent in Vermont and 33 percent in Massachusetts.

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In Greenfield, 32 people attended a peace rally on March 25. Emily Greene has organized many rallies in Greenfield, though this one was organized by someone else. Greene was at the March 25 rally and told the Valley Post, “It was much agreed that Israel needs to stop stealing land from the Palestinians, and that one way to do this is for the U.S. to stop giving money and weapons to Israel.... The U.S. rewards Israel with a huge annual aid package of $3.9 billion."

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In Amherst about 25 people attended a peace rally. Members of UMass Dissenters, Revolutionary Marxist Students, and other groups, protested Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, L3 Harris, Infineon, and Leonardo DRS at the Engineering Career Fair at UMass Amherst. The organizers said, "Raytheon has a long history of partnership with UMass. Raytheon often comes to career fairs and attempts to recruit UMass students. Raytheon works towards nuclear warfare and its CEO and board members have spoken openly about their profit from war and how they funnel millions of dollars into lobbying for more war.”

The organizers said, “General Dynamics supplies weapons to Saudi Arabia for the bombing of school buses filled with children in Yemen. General Dynamics' portfolio is 65 percent arms sales to despotic nations such as Saudi Arabia and Israel. General Dynamics is hungry for young talent at the UMass engineering job fair, where it seeks to gain more employees to help design and build their tools of death and destruction.”

The organizers said, “The UMass web site says Infineon prides itself on making life 'easier, safer and greener, through semiconductor solutions.' Conveniently, Infineon and UMass have left out the fact that these semiconductors are largely produced for guided missile technologies, used to terrorize and kill civilians throughout the world.”

Arsema Kifle is a student at UMass Amherst. Kifle said, “A multi-billion dollar corporation that creates weapons to kill people has no place on my college campus. UMass cannot be complicit in the global cycle of endless war and death. As a student at this university it is my duty to stand up and fight back against Raytheon at UMass.”

Aryan Agarwal is a student at UMass Amherst. Agarwal said, “How does partnering with one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers make UMass a destination of choice for students?”

Mitchell Brecht is a student at UMass Amherst. Brecht said, “Raytheon, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin are essential cogs in this war machine that keeps the ruling elites and war mongers satiated. It’s essential for us as students to use our time and energy to learn about our society to facilitate greater change, while inspiring others to join us in the struggle for a better world.”

Toby Paperno is a student at UMass Amherst. Paperno said, “Raytheon explicitly profits from war and works to create more needless death globally. UMass Amherst should not be partnered with a military corporation that uses UMass students to create weapons of destruction to kill people all over the world.”

Terrell James is a grad student at UMass Amherst. James said, “As a Black graduate student I am very concerned about the partnership with Raytheon. If UMass does not believe that Black Lives Matter abroad how am I supposed to believe that Black Lives Matter on campus?”

The rally was on March 22.

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