Waltham Concerned Citizens Co-Sponsors Talk on
“Raytheon: The Local Connection to Famine and Death in Yemen”
Waltham Concerned Citizens (WCC) will co-sponsor a talk on “Raytheon: The Local Connection to Famine and Death in Yemen,” Thursday, November 7, at 7 p.m., at First Lutheran Church, 6 Eddy Street, Waltham.
For four years a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has been bombing the country of Yemen, routinely striking hospitals, schools, food-storage facilities and water-treatment plants. They are also using man-made famine as a weapon of war. Over 14 million people, half the population, now live on the brink of starvation. The war in Yemen, which the United Nations calls “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” has caused the deaths of at least 85,000 children under the age of 5 from starvation. One million people have contracted cholera.
Raytheon is a major arms supplier for Saudi Arabia, and it is estimated that between 2009 and 2015 alone Raytheon delivered $2.5 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham and has facilities in Cambridge, Burlington, Woburn, Tewksbury, Andover, Billerica, Marlborough and Northborough.
The event offers attendees an opportunity to learn more about this crisis, the local connection and what they can do to make a difference.
There will be a related peace vigil demanding that Raytheon stop selling arms to human rights violators, especially to Saudi Arabia while it is making war in Yemen, on Saturday, November 16, from 11 a.m. to noon, at the corner of Main and Moody Streets on Waltham Common.
In addition to WCC, these events are co-sponsored by Raytheon Antiwar Campaign, Mass. Peace Action, Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment, Newton Dialogues on Peace and War, Arlington United for Justice with Peace and Veterans for Peace.
Waltham Concerned Citizens was founded in 1981 to work for peace and justice. Its initial focus was on a nuclear weapons freeze. WCC has also sponsored programs and activities that have addressed other issues, including U.S. intervention in Iraq, Central America, Afghanistan and the Middle East; affordable housing; civil liberties; and the environment. WCC holds regular peace vigils on the first and third Saturdays of the month.
For more info, call (617) 354-2169 or email info@masspeaceaction.org
or Jennifer Rose at (617) 548-6330/info@