Yemen is Massachusetts’ War!
Demand End to US Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia
Thursday, November 1, 5pm – 6pm
Standout at South Station, downtown Boston
We’ve called Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the “Butcher of Yemen”. And with the unfolding story of the murder and dismemberment of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the world has learned just how accurate the term “butcher” is.
Scattered throughout the area of the Saudi attack on a Yemeni school bus August 9 were blue UNICEF backpacks belonging to the students. We will set up a display of backpacks at South Station in memory of the children. If you have any children’s backpacks, please bring them!
The past two weeks have seen a dramatic shift in mainstream attitudes toward our relationship with Saudi Arabia. The murder of Jamal Khashoggi is reverberating throughout power circles in the U.S., and has shaken the very basis of a consensus around the U.S.-Saudi alliance.
For the first time, U.S. weapons sales, particularly by Massachusetts-based Raytheon Corporation, are being seriously questioned, as the rage around the grisly murder of Washington Post journalist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi has opened the door to unprecedented questioning of the U.S.-Saudi war in Yemen.
The Boston Globe published two articles this week questioning Raytheon’s sale of arms to the Saudis. The President of MIT published a letter which questions whether the Institute should continue ties with Saudi Arabia, and the Harvard Crimson posted a hard-hitting article on Harvard’s ties to the Saudi dictatorship.
Now is the time for us to seize the moment and turn the present tumult against U.S.-Saudi collaboration: in attacking Yemen, in tearing up the Iran nuclear deal, and in promoting devastating sanctions and even war with Iran. In short, we need take advantage of this opening — as long as it exists — to break up Trump’s love affair with the Saudis, and with Raytheon and the other companies that thrive on war.
The Saudi-led war in Yemen is biggest humanitarian crisis in the world, and the US is providing the weapons, intelligence, and aerial refueling of the bombers. Jamal Khashoggi himself described the Saudi-led war in Yemen as a “cruel war”, yet the violence continues; a recent airstrike killed 10 civilians on October 13. The Saudi-led bombing campaign, paired with an ongoing blockade of Yemen’s borders and ports, has choked the country’s access to food, fuel and medical supplies, contributing to widespread famine and disease. The Saudis are intentionally harming and killing the people of Yemen. The answer is to end the US support for the Saudi intervention in Yemen.
A resolution to end the U.S. role in the Yemen war, H.Con.Res.138, was introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) with the support of Massachusetts Reps. Jim McGovern, Joe Kennedy III, and Mike Capuano. Ask the rest of our Massachusetts Representatives to cosponsor this legislation. Additionally, Jim McGovern has introduced a bill to cut off arms supplies and military assistance to the Saudi regime over the Khashoggi murder.
Yemen can’t wait! Please ask your Member of Congress to cosponsor both of these bills to end US support of the Saudi-led war in Yemen and arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Join us at South Station on November 1!