by Gray Trammel
Seattle Against War (SAW) organized a protest at Pike Place Market on Sept. 16, to bring attention to 200 days of the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran, which was part of a national day of action by the Anti-War Action Network. About 45 people were in attendance, waving various flags and signs that read, “Feed the Hungry,” and “Hands Off Palestine and Iran! No Blood for Oil.” Speakers emphasized the ongoing harm and destruction the war has caused.
“This violence is not inevitable,” one speaker said into the microphone. “We can change this! And not only because we are organizing, but because our history and our ancestors have already shown us how. Imperialism is not just bombs. It’s mass graves, systemic rape, forced starvation, and sanctions.”
Khalid, a member of Nidal, spoke to the audience and criticized technology companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Palantir for profiting from contracts with the Israeli military and government, while providing technology used in the genocide in Gaza. He said the companies’ connections to the Israeli government makes Seattle residents complicit, because much of the technology is developed in this city.
“Powered by the labor, powered by the technology, coded right here in this city. We in Seattle refuse to be complicit,” Khalid said.
Khalid also singled out Palantir, calling it, “One of the most disgusting war profiteers,” in the tech industry, and noted how the company’s software was used in the bombing of an all-girls elementary school in Minab, Iran, on Feb. 28, which killed over 100 schoolgirls and adults and kicked off the start of this war.
“I want to just commend the Ansar Allah movement in Yemen,” Khalid said as attendees loudly cheered and clapped. “Through their resistance through their armed struggle, and nothing less than their resistance and armed struggle they have achieved major wins against the Epstein-aligned, U.S. and Israeli-backed regimes and government forces led by Saudi Arabia and the complicit gulf countries.”
A member of Veterans for Peace, a global organization with over 140 chapters, said that the group firmly believes that this war is illegal.
“Veterans for Peace condems the attacks on Iran in the strongest possible terms, stating that the war is neither defensive nor based on truth regarding national defense and liberation,” they said.
Musician Mike Frazier performed a song, “World Without Empires,” which he wrote several years prior about fascists losing, and was joined by SAW’s Rae on the fiddle. Some pedestrians stopped to take photographs and videos of the demonstration, and accepted flyers from protesters.
The protest was endorsed by several organizations, including the Hands Off Iran Coalition, Veterans for Peace, Southend Indivisible, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Seattle Families for Palestine, the National Iranian American Council, and About Face.
The speakers highlighted an Oct. 7, protest that will be held at Seattle Central College, and encouraged people to sign the petition to kick Palantir out of Seattle.
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