ThyssenKrupp grows rich on war and genocide
Many are angry. Angry at the genocide in Gaza. Angry at the bombs falling on civilians, schools and hospitals. Against global military rearmament. Against the bloodshed and forced displacement of millions. Against propaganda for “war capacity” and a Germany “ready to defend itself”. Against arms supplies and arms industry profits, and against plans to reintroduce compulsory military service. Against automated assassination through AI-directed drone attacks.
Too much anger.
That rage was unleashed yesterday.
Against the arms company ThyssenKrupp.
Yesterday, three trucks were set on fire at the ThyssenPlastics plant in Berlin, and a warehouse was set on fire.
Why ThyssenKrupp?
Through its subsidiary ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), Thysenkrupp makes billions building warships of all kinds. These include submarines, corvettes and frigates produced in Hamburg, Kiel and Emden. Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems (TKMS) is Germany’s sole supplier of submarines.
TKMS has been producing “Dolphin-class” submarines for Israel since 1993. The submarines are equipped with nuclear-capable cruise missiles. In order to launch cruise missiles or ballistic rockets vertically, TKMS has developed what is known as a VLS (Vertical Launching System), with which Israel’s Dolphin-class submarines are equipped. Their main area of operation is the eastern Mediterranean. The Dolphin submarines built by TKMS are Israel’s secondary nuclear strike capability in the event of an attack.
In 2022, TKMS and Israel signed a new contract for the manufacture of Dakar-class submarines. In addition to the delivery of three submarines, the contract, worth around 3 billion euros, also includes the installation of a simulator in Israel, logistical support and the supply of spare parts. ThyssenKrupp is investing 250 million euros in its shipyard. This includes a new shipbuilding workshop and a fuel cell production unit. The German government is assuming 540 million euros of the costs, and has also invested over 850 million euros in Israeli companies, particularly in the military sector, as part of an industrial cooperation. Netanyahu has been accused of corruption in connection with the three-billion-euro contract, as Netanyahu’s cousin and private legal advisor, David Schimron, was also the Israeli representative for Thyssen-Krupp Marine Systems.
In May 2023, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Atlas Elektronik, a subsidiary of Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, officially launched their latest deployment of anti-submarine sonar. Atlas specializes in the development of AI-based deepwater sonar systems. Atlas Elektronik is a supplier in the development and production of integrated sonar systems for submarines, minehunters and warships such as Torpedos. It is also a 100% subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp AG. Israel Aerospace Industries is a pioneer in the field of unmanned systems for air, land and sea. The world’s first unmanned underwater drone, the “Blue Whale”, was developed by IAI for the Israeli Defense Forces, and over the last few decades IAI has become a pioneer in land-based robotic systems and unmanned ships.
The genocide in Gaza shows the reality of AI-based military technologies: tens of thousands of civilians and children dead, wounded, traumatized and mutilated. ThyssenKrupp profits from this and other wars.
“Once more we emphasize the urgent need to organise campaigns against the arms industry, the war profiteers of all kinds including those that supply the military machine with food, energy and any other resource. We must not forget about resistance against all and every national military apparatus and multinational military coalitions. We must continue to struggle against all nation-states and all supranational political and economic unions and conglomerates, that claim our lives, our societies, the natural resources and the territories in which we live; against military mobilization and their industry that feeds on the wealth we produce; against rulers that claim to govern in our name while only protecting capital and ruling classes; and against all that enables war to thrive. We recognise here a need to be present and active in a space of public discussion and in spaces of the anarchist and antiauthoritarian movement in particular.
Over the walls of nationalism and war!
No border divides us, no nation unites us!
Stop the genocides in Gaza and everywhere!
Solidarity with all deserters!”
(Call for international days of action against militarism and nationalism from the Balkans, 1st to 10th October 2024)
via: sansnom Translated by Act for freedom now!