As they marched down West St. from Smith’s College Hall to L3Harris Northampton Offices, Smith students and local activists chanted “Free Free Palestine” and “What do we want? Divestment! When do we want it? Now!” The Oct. 25 protest was against L3Harris, a weapons manufacturing company that has offices in Northampton and whose weapons are used by the Israeli military. Protestors called on Smith to divest from L3Harris, the city of Northampton to shut down the location and L3Harris employees themselves to stop manufacturing weapons and distributing them to the Israeli military.
The protest was co-sponsored by Smith Students for Justice in Palestine, as well as the Anti-Imperialist Action Committee, Palestine Action US, the Berkshire Communists, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Smith students walked out of classes as part of a national walkout called for by the national Students for Justice in Palestine. Smith SJP organizers went around to different buildings at 1:40 p.m. and called “Walkout!” Students left classes and met at College Hall. From there, protestors from local groups met them at Veterans Field and they marched on to the L3Harris offices.
“We hope to get the president’s attention, which I think we did. And hopefully they will hear our demands and actually do something,” said Tulip ’24, an SJP member.
Once at L3Harris, protestors chanted “L3Harris blood on your hands, Smith College blood on your hands, Northampton blood on your hands” at the intersection the company sits on before moving down the street to the Halligan-Daley Historical Park to give speeches. Four speeches were given calling for direct action to support Palestinains amidst the current Israel-Hamas war and Israel’s ongoing apartheid state and criticizing L3Harris for producing and selling weapons that are being used to bomb the Gaza Strip.
“Those bombs are not created in Palestine, those bombs are created right here and we’re here today to tell them to shut it down,” said a demonstrator leading the event.
The protestors called for the L3Harris location to be shut down and moved out of Northampton. The Sophian reached out to Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise for a comment, and has not heard back. Protestors also called for Smith College to divest from L3Harris as well as other weapons companies like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
“I don’t want the money I am spending on my education to go to companies that are building bombs to kill innocent people,” said Hannah C. ’26, who walked out of an environmental science class.
L3Harris Technologies is a global aerospace and defense technology company. L3Harris’ technology are parts of multiple weapon systems used by the Israeli military, including Israel’s air-to-ground bombs and its main warplanes, battle tanks and warships, according to The American Friends Service Committee. For example, L3Harris manufactures parts for the Lockheed Martin F-16 planes that the Israeli Air Force uses. These weapons have been used on attacks on densely populated civilian areas and during current attacks on Gaza that UN experts have called war crimes. L3Harris currently has an office in Northampton, within a half mile of Smith College’s campus.
According to Security and Exchange Commission filings, Smith College invests in multiple exchange-traded funds, a sort of pooled investment group. In 2023 alone, a fund Smith invests in has invested over $8 million in L3Harris, with investments going as far back as 2010.
In an email, the Smith Office of College Relations stated, “[…] regarding requests for divestment in any business or fund, Smith has a formal process through the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR), a subcommittee of the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees. The website provides the detailed steps that students can pursue to put forward a divestment request. The AICR will consider the request and make a recommendation.”
“I thought that the protest today had great solidarity. There were more people than I thought there would be. I liked that community members could join,” said Cassandra Lopez ’27. “We are trying to get Smith to diviest, trying to shut L3Harris down in Northampton.”
The prior week, six people were arrested by the Northampton Police Department at L3Harris for trespassing, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace. The Northampton Police Department as well as their Captain, Victor Caputo, were contacted for a statement. The University of Massachusetts at Amherst held a similar walkout on Wednesday and 500 students marched towards Whitmore Administration Building where demonstrators protested the Administration’s connections to Israel. Later on, demonstrators decided to sit in until the Chancellor addressed their concerns. At this event the UMass Police Department (UMPD) arrested 57 people; those arrested were released late Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The UMPD was reached out to and declined to comment on the arrests.
