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RI arrests black people for drugs almost three times as often as white people


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race_disparities_in_arrest_ratesBlack Rhode Islanders are almost three times as likely to be arrested for drug charges than white Rhode Islanders, according to a new analysis by the American Civil Liberties Association of Rhode Island.

“The glaring racial disparities in enforcement of these laws have been going on for too long and must be addressed,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the RI ACLU. “This report is yet another wake-up call about both the overcriminalization of private conduct and the significant racial disparities that permeate our criminal justice system at just about every level.

The report looks at all 50 states done by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch that showed black adults are arrested 2.5 times more often than white adults. In Rhode Island, that ratio is even higher, with 2.9 Black adults arrested for every white adult that is arrested.

Brown said this was “especially troubling” because the report also shows Rhode Island has one of the lowest arrest rates in the nation “per overall population.”

While almost three black Rhode Islanders are arrested for every one white Rhode Islander, there are more than 14 white Rhode Islanders for every one black Rhode Islander. According to the 2010 census, there are 856,000 white Rhode Islanders and only about 60,000 black Rhode Islanders.

Rhode Island has the 21st highest ratio of black-to-white drug arrests in the nation, according to the report. Nearby Vermont has the third highest ratio at 6 to 1 black-to-white drug arrests. Connecticut has the 16th highest average at just over 3 to 1. Massachusetts has the second lowest ratio in the nation at just over 1.5 to 1, second only to California, which is 1.5 to 1.

The national report indicates drugs are the most common reason for arrest made in America and that one of every nine arrests are for drug charges.

“Calling the war on drugs a complete failure that is destroying lives and communities, the report called for decriminalization of personal drug use and possession,” according to a RI ACLU press release. “Instead, the report said, there should be a stronger investment in public health, emphasizing evidence-based prevention; education around the risks of drug use and dependence; and voluntary, affordable treatment and other social services in the community.”

Brown said the new data confirms what the RI ACLU learned when it studied 10 years worth of marijuana arrests in Rhode Island that showed  2.6 to 3.6 black Rhode Islanders were arrested for every white Rhode Islander arrested between 2001 and 2010.

“We hope this report will not only encourage more positive consideration of the marijuana ‘tax and regulate’ bill, but will promote broader efforts by police departments to reconsider how they enforce these particular laws,” said Brown.

Rhode Island continues to take a wait and see approach to legalizing cannabis while Massachusetts voters will decide that question at the ballot this November.

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Jack Reed supports selling cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia


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amos house reedCongress is coming under increasing pressure to stop supplying cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, but Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed doesn’t seem to be feeling it. He said the weapons, which are made by Rhode Island-based Textron and banned by 119 nations but not the US and Saudi Arabia, “should still be provided under strict conditions,” he told RI Future.

An amendment to the House military spending bill narrowly failed last week that would have stopped the sale of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. It was supported by congressmen David Cicilline and Jim Langevin, both of whom notably declined to comment on the vote. I asked Reed about the issue when I saw him on Friday.

“I think we should still be selling those weapon systems that comply with the law,” said Reed, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees.

Providence-based Textron is the last North American producer of cluster bombs, and the only source of cluster bombs for the US military. They’ve become a hot button issue as evidence mounts that Saudi Arabia has used cluster bombs it procured from the US in civilian-populated areas of Yemen.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have each independently found evidence that Textron’s cluster bombs have malfunctioned more than 1 percent of the time in Yemen and have been used in civilian-populated areas. Both allegations would be violations of US law concerning cluster bombs.

“That is something we have to look at very closely because the threshold is 1 percent or less,” Reed said. “That’s the way they are designed, that’s the way they’re tested and that’s the way they are maintained. We have strict protocols in design and the systems need to perform to very high standards and that as a result those and only those systems are sold.”

He added, “I think you do look at all the data that is being submitted. I think we are looking at it, and we are testing it.”

Reed said the US military still has cluster bombs in its arsenal, as well. “We have them in our own inventory so we’re very conscience of trying to make sure they are tested properly,” he said.

He seemed confident in their efficacy. “The systems we provide, technically, are designed so that if a cluster does not detonate it will be deactivated. They are the only ones authorized to be sold.”

Textron’s political action committee has been a long-time financial supporter of Reed, according to campaign finance reports. In 2015, Textron donated $1,000 to Reed’s campaign war chest, and in 2013 Textron made six donations for a total of $10,000 – of which $5,000 was given on June 30. In 2010, Reed got $1,000 from Textron  , as he did in 2006 as well. In 2007 Textron gave Reed $9,000.

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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Cicilline, Langevin support bill to stop Textron-to-Saudi Arabia cluster bomb sales


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Peace activists protested outside Textron today. (Photos by Steve Ahlquist)
Peace activists protested outside Textron today. (Photos by Steve Ahlquist)

Congressmen David Cicilline and Jim Langevin both supported an amendment to the House military spending bill that would stopped the United States from transferring Textron-made cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.

“None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to transfer or authorize the transfer of any cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia,” reads the simple amendment Congressman John Conyers of Michigan.

It was narrowly defeated by 12 votes, 204 to 216. Neither of Rhode Island’s congressman could be immediately reached for comment. But Congressman Hank Johnson posted a news release about the bill and his speech before the House Armed Service Committee (Congressman Cicilline can be seen in the background).

“Earlier this year, the Saudi led-coalition dropped cluster bombs in Yemen’s that struck a rehabilitation center for the blind – which also has a school for blind children,” Johnson said. “The destruction of the school and the injuries sustained by the children were unbearably gruesome. This deliberate and reckless use of cluster munitions by Saudi Arabia highlights their complete disregard for the welfare of innocent people. This is unacceptable. We cannot ignore our duty to protect basic human rights values here and around the world. There is something fundamentally wrong with preaching human and civil rights here at home while we export death abroad. Rather, Congress must step up our efforts to keep such internationally reviled weapons out of the hands of those that would misuse them.”

2016-06-16 Textron Protest 002If passed, the bill would have further limited Rhode Island-based Textron’s market for cluster bombs. Located in downtown Providence, Textron, a defense industry conglomerate, is the last North American manufacturer of cluster bombs, which have been banned by 119 nations but not but the United States and Saudi Arabia. The US is known to have sold Saudi Arabia Textron-made cluster bombs and Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International as well as local peace activists have called upon Textron to stop making cluster bombs.

“It’s an important program for us,” Textron spokesman David Sylvestre told RI Future in February. He could not immediately be reached for comment today.

2016-06-16 Textron Protest 003Human Rights Watch in a post published today mentioned the grassroots effort in Rhode Island to convince Textron to stop making cluster bombs.

“Public pressure seems to be mounting against Textron,” wrote Mary Wareham, advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. “Outside Textron’s headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island, local activists have been demonstrating for weeks – demanding that the company cease its production of cluster munitions.”

2016-06-16 Textron Protest 001The FANG Collective and the American Friends Service Committee have led efforts to call public attention to Textron cluster bombs. Members of the groups and other peace activists participated in another protest outside Textron headquarters in downtown Providence today.

Singapore recently stopped making cluster bombs and Wareham wrote, “Textron should follow the example set by Singapore Technologies Engineering and commit to stop making these indiscriminate weapons as a way to assure the public that it is responsive to global concern at civilian suffering.”

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

2016-06-16 Textron Protest 005

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Report says US to stop selling cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia


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President Obama on a recent visit to Saudi Arabia. (Photo courtesy of the White House)

After months of sustained pressure from global humanitarian groups – as well as peace activists in Rhode Island – the United States seems poised to stop selling cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, according to an exclusive report in Foreign Policy.

“Frustrated by a growing death toll, the White House has quietly placed a hold on the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia as the Sunni ally continues its bloody war on Shiite rebels in Yemen,” the American news magazine focused on global events and foreign policy reported Friday night. “It’s the first concrete step the United States has taken to demonstrate its unease with the Saudi bombing campaign that human rights activists say has killed and injured hundreds of Yemeni civilians, many of them children.”

Textron, a global defense and aviation conglomerate headquartered in downtown Providence, makes the cluster bombs the US  provides to Saudi Arabia through a Massachusetts subsidiary called Textron Systems. The last known contract with Saudi Arabia for Textron cluster bombs was signed in 2013, according to Mark Hiznay, a senior arms researcher for Human Rights Watch. The agreement says 1,300 cluster bombs were to be delivered to Saudi Arabia by December 31, 2015.

It’s unclear if that contract has been filled, in part, because Textron doesn’t comment publicly on international defense orders. Hiznay told RI Future he didn’t know the status of the order. Textron declined to comment publicly for this story. “It’s an important program for us,” company spokesman David Sylvestre told RI Future in February.

Cluster bombs are one of the world’s most controversial weapons of war. Because they disperse “bomblets” that don’t always detonate on cue, they cause civilian casualties sometimes years after a conflict ends. Cluster bombs are banned by 119 nations and the United Nations, but not by the United States or Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both documented civilian casualties in Yemen after Saudi-led airstrikes against the war-torn Middle Eastern country.

Human Rights Watch, according to the Foreign Policy report, “has investigated at least five attacks in Yemen involving CBU-105s in four governorates since the war began. In December, the group documented an attack on the Yemeni port of Hodaida that injured a woman and two children in their homes. Two other civilians were wounded in a CBU-105 attack near Al-Amar village, according to local residents and medical staff interviewed by Human Rights Watch.”

In Rhode Island, where Textron is headquartered, peace activists led by the FANG Collective and the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group, have targeted Textron with weekly actions in front of the global conglomerate’s downtown Providence headquarters at 40 Westminster St.

“Does anybody in this country go to work to kill a total stranger? This company does that, for money. Not because they have any greivance against anybody they are doing this for money,” said Pia Ward, an organizer with the FANG Collective at the most recent protest in front of Textron. “I am going to protest until they stop making cluster bombs. I’m going to be here every week until they stop making them.”

Peace activists and politicians celebrated the news.

“The Cluster Munition Coalition applauds the decision of the US government to block the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia,” said Megan Burke, the director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines – Cluster Munitions (ICBL-CMC). “This decision follows numerous reports released by CMC members, such as Human Rights Watch, demonstrating the grave humanitarian impact of these weapons being used by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. We call on the US to take the next step to prohibit all future production, transfer and use of cluster munitions by joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions.”

Martha Yager,  of the AFSC-SENE, confirmed the weekly protests against Textron until the company stops making cluster bombs.

“I am impressed that the U.S. has interrupted the flow of these awful weapons to Saudi Arabia,” she said. “Maybe now that the U.S. government has indicated reluctance to use or have its allies use U.S. made cluster bombs, Textron will announce that it is no longer going to make them.  Until that happens, we will keep pushing on them to do the right thing.  We will be there again on Thursday from 11:30 – 12:30 to make that ask.”

Congressman Jim Langevin told RI Future, “We must always seek to minimize harm to civilians in any conflict, and I applaud the Administration for taking this step to prioritize humanitarian concerns.”

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Pia Ward’s personal connection to cluster bomb casualities


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landminePia Ward has personal reasons for protesting Textron’s cluster bombs. She grew up in Beirut, Lebanon and as a young girl collected the military ordnance strewn across the countryside.

“My dad said ‘don’t pick up anything that’s live,'” she said, showing off what she described as an expired Israeli landmine found in Beirut during the 1980s.

“But you know you’re a child and you see something and you want this for your collection,” Ward said. “Many times I picked up something like this, not knowing if it was live, not knowing if it was exploded. I could have blown off my arms. This is what is happening to children.”

This is what happened to her childhood friend Kahlil, she said, who rode over a landmine on his bicycle – an accident that took both his legs.

This is why Ward, a member of the FANG Collective, organizes weekly actions in front of Textron’s world headquarters at 40 Westminster St. in downtown Providence.

Textron is the last North American manufacturer of cluster bombs, which are outlawed by 119 nations and the United Nations but not by the United States or Saudi Arabia. The US State Department buys cluster bombs from Textron and sells them to Saudi Arabia. Textron’s cluster bombs, by way of a Saudi-led military campaign, have been found in Yemen, where dozens of civilian deaths have been attributed to cluster bombs over the past year.

Global humanitarian groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have recently called on Textron to stop making cluster bombs. Both have presented evidence that Textron’s cluster bombs malfunction more often than allowed by US trade law.

Peace activists in Providence have promised weekly actions in front of Textron’s downtown headquarters until the Rhode Island-based global conglomerate stops making cluster bombs. About 10 people attended the second weekly action on Wednesday afternoon, scheduled to coincide with Textron and other employees leaving work. Four Providence police officers stood watch as activists held signs and conversed with people walking by.

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

The real measure of cluster bomb @Textron protests is not how many people show up but how many ppl are reached. A photo posted by Bob Plain (@bobplainpics) on

#PVD lawyer John Barton stopped by the anti @textron protest. And so did my brother (in background)!!

A photo posted by Bob Plain (@bobplainpics) on

Sally Mendzela’s anti-Textron sign shows pictures of where cluster bomb profit comes from.

A photo posted by Bob Plain (@bobplainpics) on

This is a real Israeli anti-personnel mine from Beirut from the 1980s. Pia Ward brought it to @textron protest.

A photo posted by Bob Plain (@bobplainpics) on

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Anti-Textron actions to happen weekly in Providence, RI


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2016-04-21 Textron 037
Pia Ward locked to Textron’s front door. (Photo by Steve Ahlquist)

There were two public protests – one that led to three arrests – last month at 40 Westminster Street in downtown Providence, corporate headquarters for Textron. The Rhode Island-based conglomerate was identified as Saudi Arabia’s source for cluster bombs and Saudi-led forces were accused of using the highly controversial and indiscriminate weapon, that 119 nations have outlawed but not the United States or Saudi Arabia, in its bloody conflict in Yemen.

Now that Human Rights Watch has evidence Textron-made cluster bombs were used in civilian-populated areas of Yemen, which would violate US trade law on cluster bombs, local peace activists say the protests will increase.

“We will be taking action targeting Textron once a week until they stop making cluster bombs,” according to a Facebook event promoting a protest this Thursday. “This week we’ll be demonstrating across the street with signs, banners, flyers.”

The protests are being organized by Pia Ward, who was arrested for chaining her neck to a front door at Textron at an action on April 21, the second public protest at Textron last month. She is a co-founder of FANG, Fighting Against Natural Gas, the group organizing protests against the proposed Burrillville power plant.

“This is just the first of many protests that will be occurring,” she wrote on Facebook. “I plan on having events that will not neccesitate anyone’s physical presence in Providence but will enable people across the US to participate.”

Ward lived in Lebanon as a teenager and her experience there inspired her to organize against Textron making weapons known to maim innocent civilians.

“In 1982, when I was 16 years old and living in Beirut, Lebanon, I had a friend who lost both legs when he accidentally rode his bicycle over an Israeli mine He was 12 years old,” she wrote. “His family was unable to afford to get him a wheelchair much less prosthetic legs. As a result, there wasn’t much he was able to do. In the morning he was carried down to the corner store where he spent his day playing pinball and in the evening carried back home again. This happened every day, 7 days a week. When I left Lebanon 5 years later, this was still the case. Still no wheelchair, still no prosthetic legs. His life had been reduced to pinball.”

The demonstration this week is scheduled for Thursday, 11am to 1pm. A spokesman for Textron declined to comment.

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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Anti-cluster bomb activists arrested for chaining themselves to Textron building


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Peace activists chained themselves to Textron’s world headquarters in downtown Providence this morning, protesting the RI-based conglomerate’s role in supplying cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.

textron protest

Police arrested three activists who chained themselves to Textron’s front doors. Pia Ward, Mark Baumer and Lee Stewart used bike locks to chain themselves to Textron’s front entrances. They were handcuffed and placed in a van. An officer said they were being taken to the station to be processed.

piaward textron action“The climate change crisis demands that we end militarism and put those resources towards creating a better world for all, human and nonhuman alike,” said Ward in a prepared statement. “As a resident of Providence I don’t think we should accept a company like Textron who makes cluster bombs, kills civilians and profits off of death and conflict.”  said Mark Baumer. “Fighting for my humanity in a country that produces and sells cluster bombs that kill innocent people means rejecting personal complicity by taking action,” Stewart said.

Providence fire fighters unscrewed door handles to remove the activists. They had construction-grade grinders on hand in case that didn’t work. At least two police cruisers and four fire vehicles responded. The activists disrupted traffic at the intersection of Westminster and Weybossett streets for at least 30 minutes. The entrance to Textron was blocked for at least 15 minutes before police arrived.

textron actiontextron action police fire

Textron has come under what the activists called “intense scrutiny” for its role in supplying cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch exposed in February that Saudi Arabia is using cluster bombs in areas populated by civilians in Yemen. Cluster bombs, which pose a danger to civilians, are banned by 119 countries but not by the United States. The US buys cluster bombs from Textron and sells them to Saudi Arabia.

RI Future was the first to report that Rhode Island-based Textron is involved in the growing international resistance to the US role in supplying Saudi Arabia with cluster bombs.

Senators Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, and Rand Paul, of Kentucky, recently proposed new legislation that would halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia. A spokesman for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said he is evaluating the bill.

According to Providence Police Commissioner Steve Pare the activists are charged with vandalism and malicious mischief. They will be released today. The activists asked that donations to support them be made here.

This post will be updated.

Steve Ahlquist contributed to this report.

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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CODEPINK, peace groups join campaign against Textron cluster bombs


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img-petition-2Multiple peace groups are targeting Textron because the Rhode Island-based conglomerate provided cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia that were used in the conflict in Yemen, injuring civilians and contributing to a growing human rights catastrophe in the severely impoverished Middle Eastern nation.

CODEPINK, a female-organized anti-war group, the Cluster Munition Coalition, (ICBL-CMC) an international group that lobbies against cluster bombs, Pax Christi, a Catholic peace organization, the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group, and others plan to protest at Textron’s world headquarters in Providence, 40 Westminster St., on Monday at 4:30.

“The only beneficiaries of Endless War have been the huge military industrial complex,” according to a news release from the groups. Textron, according to the release, “produces many pieces of the war machine.”

After a Human Rights Watch report detailed the dangers posed by cluster bombs used by Saudi forces in Yemen, RI Future reported that local RI business Textron made and sold the cluster weapons in question. Textron is one of only four private businesses in the world that still makes cluster bombs, and the only one in North America  and recently sold cluster bombs to Turkey, Oman, United Arab Emerites, South Korea, India, Taiwan as well as Saudi Arabia.

Cluster bombs have been outlawed by 119 nations across the planet because of the indiscriminate harm they can cause to civilians during and after military conflicts. They are not banned by either the United States or Saudi Arabia.

“When these weapons are dropped, it is impossible to be sure they will not hit people’s homes or neighborhood. Each cluster munition contains many small submunitions- some of which do not explode when dropped,” said Megan Burk, director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines – Cluster Munition Coalition, who will speak at Monday’s action. “These unexploded submunitions act as landmines.”

CODEPINK recently started a petition asking Textron to end production of cluster bombs.

“We, the undersigned, call on Textron Industries and CEO Scott C. Donnelly to immediately cease all sales of munitions to Saudi Arabia,” it says. “Textron’s munitions have been part of a campaign that has caused the death of 3,000 innocent Yemeni civilians. It’s time for this to stop. Please immediately cease all weapons sales to Saudi Arabia to ensure that your products are not used to commit further atrocities.”

After protesting at Textron, the group plans to deliver a copy of the petition to Rhode Island’s congressional delegation. Most of the delegation has spoken out against the use of cluster bombs.

“Cluster munitions pose an unacceptable danger to civilians,” said Congressman David Cicilline. “I’ve advocated for restricting the use of these weapons in the past, and I’ll continue working to limit the risk they pose to civilians.”

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a co-sponsor of the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, said, “Cluster bombs can take a terrible and lasting toll on civilians, which is why I’ve cosponsored legislation to restrict their use. I hope the Senate will take action on this bill to help protect innocent civilians from these dangerous weapons of war.”

Senator Jack Reed, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, “has supported efforts to limit the sale and transfer of cluster munitions and to ensure the use of more precise technologies to protect civilians,” according to spokesman Chip Unruh.

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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What US company made the bomb that killed 97 civilians in Yemen?


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General Dynamics, doing business as Electric Boat, announced last week it is building a $2.5 billion military submarine in Rhode Island. Good news for the state’s struggling economy, as defense contractors here are a major source of jobs, income and tax revenue.

“I couldn’t be more proud to have Electric Boat in our backyard,” Governor Gina Raimondo said at the submarine’s keel-laying ceremony.

hrwusbombsJust a few days later, New York Times foreign correspondent and former Providence Journal reporter CJ Chivers wrote this about what seems to be a different General Dynamics product. “A Saudi Arabia-led military coalition used bombs supplied by the United States in an attack on a market in Yemen last month that killed at least 97 civilians, including 25 children.”

If the bomb in question was made by General Dynamics, it would mark the second time a company with significant ties to Rhode Island has made a weapon that was used by Saudi Arabia against civilians in Yemen.

General Dynamics did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An arms expert for Human Rights Watch told RI Future he could not confirm the make of the bomb. “There wasn’t enough left of the bombs to determine when or where it was produced,” said Mark Hiznay. But here’s what we know:

“Remnants” of a GBU-31 satellite-guided bomb, were found at the bombed Yemeni market, according to this Human Rights Watch report. The guided bomb unit “consists of a US-supplied MK-84 2,000-pound bomb,” says the report. General Dynamics “is the only manufacturer of steel forged MK80 Series Bomb Bodies within the National Technology and Industrial Base which conform to the U.S. Department of Defense Technical Package” according to its website.

The weapon in question could be more than 40 years old, Hiznay said. But the United States still sells new versions of the bomb to the Saudis. In November, 2015 the State Department announced it was selling 1,000 GBU-31 bombs to Saudi Arabia, among many other weapons, for $1.29 billion. Human Rights Watch workers suspect the bomb used on March 15 in Yemen was from the 1970’s.

“The US remains a significant supplier of arms to Saudi Arabia,” according to a new report from the Stop Explosives Investment Campaign. “Licensing data for 2015 has not yet been made available, but during the year, the State Department approved six major arms sales to the country, collectively worth US$20.8bn.”

“Numerous human rights and peace organisations have campaigned over the past months to establish an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia,” Frank Slijper of PAX, a Dutch peace organization that is a leading voice on foreign arms sales, told RI Future via email. “When European arms appear to be used by a country for committing war crimes, stopping the arms trade to that country is the logical answer.”

In February, cluster bombs made by Rhode Island-based Textron were implicated for injuring civilians and high failure rates when used by Saudi-led forces in Yemen. The American Friends Service Committee of Southeastern New England plans to protest outside Textron’s headquarters in Providence on April 18.

General Dynamics is based in Newport News, Virginia and the division that makes the Mk-84 bomb is located in Florida, the weapons were manufactured in Texas. But General Dynamics has operated as Electric Boat, the company’s initial name going back to the early 1900’s, at Quonset since the early 1970’s. Based, in Groton, Conn., Electric Boat employs roughly 3,000 people in Rhode Island.

Both incidents have attracted local and international scrutiny to US companies involved in what President Eisenhower called the military industrial complex, an industry that looms large in the Ocean State.

“The Defense Sector plays a major role in the Rhode Island economy because of its unique ability to undertake large and small-scale basic and applied research and development projects and to push manufacturers to develop innovative products and revamp supply chains to meet production and/or distribution demands of civilian and military projects,” according to a 2014 legislative report on the defense sector in Rhode Island.

There are 32,900 jobs in Rhode Island, 6.2 percent of all jobs in the state, that are supported by the defense industry, according to the report.

About half of the defense-supported jobs in Rhode Island (roughly 16,000) are private sector positions. There are some 6,000 jobs directly working for defense contractors. Ship building, such as Electric Boat’s submarine contract, constitute about 47.7 percent of private defense employment in Rhode Island.

“In 2013, the Private Defense Industry contributed to the creation of $462.5 million in direct income for households in Rhode Island. In addition, the direct contribution of the Private Defense Industry to the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated at $947.6 million,” the report says.

The defense industry is responsible for more than $100 million in annual taxes, the report says. The average annual salary in Rhode Island’s private sector defense industry is $72,361 while the average salary for education and health services is $37,000 and the average salary in tourism and leisure is $18,000, according to the report.

defensejobs_riMeanwhile, the fruits of economic development from the US military industrial complex, whether directly or indirectly, is causing a human rights catastrophe in Yemen that could be aiding al Qaeda in the highly impoverished African nation.

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Quaker group to protest Textron for selling cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia


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cluster bombAs Saudi Arabian airstrikes threaten to cause a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the American Friends Service Committee of Southeastern New England is planning to protest Textron outside the company’s headquarters in Providence.

“We will gather at 4:30pm with the long budget banner and signs addressing the use of Textron-made cluster bombs by Saudi Arabia in Yemen and a call for our taxes to be invested in addressing human needs not militarization,” according to a notice from AFSC-SENE, a Quaker organization that advocates for peace and justice.

The action – scheduled for April 18 at 4:30 outside of the Textron building, 40 Westminster St. – comes on the heels of RI Future exposing Rhode Island-based Textron’s role in Saudi Arabian military actions in Yemen, which is increasingly becoming a flashpoint for global human rights activists.

In February, Human Rights Watch criticized Saudi Arabia for its use of cluster munitions against Yemen. The report details civilian injuries and calls out the Textron-made bomb for malfunctioning more than 1 percent of the time – a violation of US trade policy. Last week, the World Health Organization said 6,200 people have died since the conflict began in March of last year and more than 30,000 were injured. The United Nations said this week more than 900 children have been killed since the conflict began, more than seven times more than the previous year.

A New York Times report yesterday said the Saudi led airstrikes threaten to cause a “humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries” and listed cluster bombs as a contributing factor. “In addition to airstrikes, civilians must contend with hazards posed by unexploded bombs and cluster munitions dropped by the Saudi coalition.”

There are 118 nations that officially condemn the use of cluster bombs. The United States and Saudi Arabia are not among them.

The April 18 protest will include delivering letters to senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both of whom expressed to RI Future a desire to better address the use of cluster bombs. Whitehouse is a co-sponsor of the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, which would add regulations to the use and sale of cluster bombs. The US already imposes some restrictions on the use and sale of cluster bombs. Textron is the only American company that makes cluster bombs, though there is at least one other company that makes a component of Textron’s cluster bomb.

“Shortly after we gather we will send someone to Senator Whitehouse’s and Senator Reed’s offices with a letter asking them to at the very least support the People’s Budget and to vote against a budget that spends war on militarism than all other things put together,” said the AFSC-SENE announcement. “We will also have a letter calling on Textron to stop the manufacture of these weapons.”

Read RI Future’s full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here:

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Textron sold cluster bombs to 7 foreign governments


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cluster bomb reportRhode Island-based Textron sold cluster bombs to seven foreign nations since 2004, according to a report from PAX, a peace group that is part of a global initiative to end the production and use of these increasingly controversial air-to-armored vehicle weapon of war.

Textron’s cluster bomb, the only such weapon still made in North America, was recently featured in a Human Rights Watch report condemning the use. The report says Textron’s product malfunction more than 1 percent of the time, which would be a violation of US export law pertaining to the sale of cluster munitions to foreign governments. The HRW report tells of civilian injuries from errant cluster bomb projectiles during Saudi-led military raids on Yemen. Saudi Arabia purchased the cluster bombs from Textron, via the US military.

The 2014 Worldwide Investment in Cluster Munitions report says the longtime Rhode Island conglomerate has sold cluster bombs to: Turkey, Oman, United Arab Emerites, South Korea, India, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia.

About half of the cluster bombs Textron produces are sold to foreign governments, Textron spokesman David Sylvestre told RI Future. The report, citing the company’s 2013 factbook, says Textron has sold more than 7,400 of the cluster bombs to the US Air force and foreign governments. “It’s an important program for us,” Sylvestre said.

It’s an important program of a different kind for PAX and the Cluster Munitions Project. “Textron is included on the red flag list because there is sufficient evidence that the company has produced the SFW after May 2008,” says the report. “The company has not stated publicly that it will end its involvement in the coming 12 months.”

The 200 page report devoted to private sector cluster bomb industry has one-page a section about Textron under the chapter “Hall of Shame: Financial Involvement and Investments.” Textron is on the “red flag” list – the seven companies most responsible for the continued production of cluster bombs. There are only two American companies on the red flag list: Textron and ATK, which was included because it makes a component of the Textron cluster bomb. Like Textron, ATK has a diverse portfolio. It makes military grade defense weapons, firearms for civilians, ammunition, stand up paddle boards, Bolle sunglasses and Camelbak water bottles. Textron also makes Cessna airplanes Bell helicopters, golf carts, gas tanks and power tools.

Textron is a longtime Rhode Island-based company with about 300 employees in the Ocean State and more than 34,000 across the globe.

Sylvestre told RI Future military products, made by subsidiary Textron Systems, represents about 11 percent of Textron’s total revenues. DefenseNews lists Textron as the 17th largest military contractor in the world, with $4.179 billion in defense revenue in 2014. It says 34 percent of the company’s revenue comes from military contracts.

Three of four members of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation has responded for comment about America’s continued role in cluster bomb use and production. Much of Europe, Canada and 118 total nations have already banned the use of cluster bombs. The United States has not but has committed to curtailing their use and danger.

“Cluster munitions pose an unacceptable danger to civilians,” said Congressman David Cicilline. “I’ve advocated for restricting the use of these weapons in the past, and I’ll continue working to limit the risk they pose to civilians.”

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a co-sponsor of the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, said, “Cluster bombs can take a terrible and lasting toll on civilians, which is why I’ve cosponsored legislation to restrict their use. I hope the Senate will take action on this bill to help protect innocent civilians from these dangerous weapons of war.”

Senator Jack Reed, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, “has supported efforts to limit the sale and transfer of cluster munitions and to ensure the use of more precise technologies to protect civilians,” according to spokesman Chip Unruh.

Read our full coverage of Textron’s cluster bombs here: