Folks,
Thousands of university students and their allies have been arrested in the last 45 days (including me, one month ago in St. Louis) for protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the role their universities are playing in it.
Many people don’t know that our colleges and universities hold investments in defense contractors and weapons manufacturers – meaning they have a direct financial gain whenever America goes to war.
The students we joined at Washington University in St. Louis had one clear, forceful demand for their administrators: Divest from Boeing, who is currently manufacturing munitions being shipped to Gaza just a few miles away from campus.
From New York to California, courageous activists have had enough of their tuition money and schools' endowment funds being invested in corporations that profit from war, violence, and oppression, specifically the Israeli government’s brutal war in Gaza.
But whether it was war in Iraq in the 2000s or war in Gaza today, one thing remains clear: While we work for peace, the weapons lobby is scheming ways to grow their profits.
Weapons contractors and other war profiteers thrive on the kind of militarized crackdowns and violent suppression of dissent that we have recently witnessed on too many college campuses. They profit from a world order based on fear, division, and endless conflict.
But together, we can use this moment to build something different, and it starts, like it has time and time again, with following the lead of young leaders.
Will you join me, Win Without War, and the alumni, donors, faculty, and community members across the country who care about peace and justice to go toe-to-toe with the weapons lobby?