Students and members of peace or anti-war groups in Boston demonstrated outside the Cabot Center last Friday in response to Raytheon's appearance at Northeastern's Spring Career Fair.
The protest was hosted by Massachusetts Peace Action, a group that deals with issues related to militarism and other social injustices, and Northeastern's Students for Justice of Palestine, or NUSJP, along with several other organizations. According to Brian Garvey, an organizer with Massachusetts Peace Action, their goal was to raise awareness of the crimes of Raytheon, a defense contractor. These organizations criticize Raytheon for creating arms mass destruction and their distribution throughout the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia.
“The primary goal is to make students aware of the things Raytheon does that they don't advertise — the death and destruction their products cause around the world,” Garvey said.
Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham and has multiple facilities throughout Massachusetts. Many Massachusetts residents and organizations feel passionately about this issue and are urging students at all Boston colleges to recognize Raytheon's actions.
“What we're really out here today to do is tell the truth,” Garvey said. “Because we believe that if students understand what a company like Raytheon does, what their job would contribute to if they were to work for that company, they would choose another path.”
Raytheon did not respond to a request for comment on this protest and the matter.
Massachusetts Peace Action is a founding member Raytheon Anti-War Campaign, which officially began in September 2018. This protest is among several hosted at other colleges in the Boston area, including MIT, Boston University, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts Lowell, and University of Massachusetts Amherst. A similar protest was held at the NU career fair last year also.
Together, these protests aim to emphasize that students, especially engineers, should dedicate their work to a cause that is of greater benefit to society.
“There are so many other social issues beyond public transit, beyond climate change that we have to deal with,” said Ryan Costello, who is part of United Against War and Militarism, another official member of the campaign. “And yet Northeastern welcomes these gun companies – they do nothing socially useful.”
Susan McLucas, a member of Massachusetts Peace Action who attended, echoed this idea. “We say, 'Why we get an education is not for world domination,'” he said.
Protesters also pointed to alleged whitewashing campaigns and efforts by Raytheon to divert attention from their role in Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries. For example, according to Garvey, the bombs and technology it also contributed to the cholera epidemic and famine in the region.
“They're sponsoring the Walk for Hunger, which we think is extremely hypocritical,” said Chris Panzica, another protester and member of Massachusetts Peace Action, “because at the same time, they're supporting hunger.”
While this protest is annual, organizers also created a petition this year, in a new approach to create a response from Northeastern University. The petition, which was advertised to students during the protest, aims to meet with President Joseph E. Aoun to ask them to sever their ties to Raytheon. It has not yet been determined when the report will be sent to Aoun.
“[Northeastern is] clearly complicit — we have an auditorium named after Raytheon at Northeastern,” said Danny Bettio, fourth-year anthropology major and NUSJP social chair. “It's clear that this school and Raytheon have a certain relationship that I really disagree with.”
In a Feb. 18 email to The News, university spokeswoman Renata Nyul wrote: “Raytheon is one of the world's most innovative companies at the forefront of technological innovation in defense and security. An outstanding partner of Northeastern in joint research projects, Raytheon has also provided opportunities for our talented students and launched the careers of many of our graduates. We look forward to doing great things together with Raytheon for many years to come.”
During the protest, Garvey also connected the protest and its importance to the meaning of Valentine's Day.
“Valentine's Day, as we all know, is a celebration of love, and I thought about this [philosopher] Cornel West said last week. He said that love is expressed privately as tenderness, but love is expressed publicly as justice,” he said. “The people of Yemen need justice right now.”
