Reject Raytheon AVL plans May 22 walk and rally

Press release from Reject Raytheon AVL:

Local coalition Reject Raytheon AVL has organized a day-long set of events focused on opposition to the construction and operation of the Pratt & Whitney plant on property donated by Biltmore Farms LLC. The purpose is to raise public awareness about the dangers and concerns associated with this plant.

The day will begin with a 9-mile walk that departs at 9 am from Pack Square, formerly the site of the Vance Monument, and ends at Bent Creek River Park. It will be led with drumming and chanting by Buddhist monks from the Great Smoky Mountains Peace Pagoda. Based on initial responses, 20-30 people are expected to make the walk, carry signs and banners. The route will proceed down Patton Ave. to Clingman, over to West Asheville and onto Heywood Rd, then onto Brevard Road down to the park.

The walkers will join with more walkers on Brevard Road behind the Farm Bureau offices, and the larger group will walk the remaining 1.5 miles to the park, stepping off at 1:30 pm.

As walkers enter the park, they will be met with more people who have arrived for the rally, which is scheduled for 2:00 pm. The rally will feature Reject Raytheon speakers from the Sunrise Movement, Veterans for Peace, Democratic Socialists of America, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. A local Palestinian activist is also scheduled to speak. There will a table distributing information about the expected effects of the P&W plant.

The rally will conclude with a direct action where some participants will attempt to enter the adjacent bridge construction site in order to conduct a ceremony of healing for the land and the people affected by the plant.

Pratt & Whitney is wholly owned by Raytheon Technologies, the second largest war corporation in the world. It will manufacture engine parts for commercial and military use, most notably for the F-35 fighter jet, now being used by Israel in its bombing of Gaza. The F-35 is also likely to be sold to Saudi Arabia and the UAE and used in Yemen.

Dangers and concerns about this plant center on:

• its pivotal role in the military-industrial complex responsible for the endless wars and killings in which the US is engaged;
• the significant contribution made by the aerospace industry to the climate emergency;
• the likely contamination of the French Broad River from chemical coatings used in the plant;
• the misguided use of tax incentives and bond issues by the Buncombe County Commission to support this form of economic development when an equal investment could produce more jobs aimed at creating a sustainable future;
• the intention of the Chamber of Commerce and Biltmore Farms to continue further development of this land for industrial use.

Ken Jones, an organizer of this event, said: “We are here as a witness to the destruction taking place now and in the future because of this plant and to the complicity of our elected officials and the business community in bringing a war profiteer like Raytheon to our community. We want Asheville to stand for and act on a vision of peace and justice and a green transition, to create good jobs that follow that vision, and to actually walk its talk about being a progressive town.”