"Genocide, made in Burneside"

We are here today to mark the deaths of over 50,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military in their bombardment of Gaza, and to mark the blood on the hands of James Cropper PLC, which produces parts for F35 fighter jets used by the Israeli army.

Many people who live in this village and this district do not know, or have been horrified to learn, that this factory is not just a paper mill; that inside these doors, parts are made for war planes currently being used in a genocide.

The F35 is a military aircraft being produced primarily for the US military by American weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin, but Israel already has dozens of these aircraft in active service, including in the bombardment of Gaza, with dozens more still to be shipped out to Israel. In late 2023, as the deaths mounted in Gaza, the Campaign Against the Arms Trade produced a list of all UK based companies involved in the supply of parts for F35s, encouraging local communities to oppose those profiting from the genocide in their areas.

And on that list, alongside the major UK arms manufacturer BAE systems, was James Cropper PLC. So this factory is known as a paper mill, but since the 1990s it has been producing what it calls ‘advanced materials’ for military aircraft, boasting that these materials ‘can’t be produced anywhere else.’ The advanced stealth technology of the F35, which makes it so deadly in its attacks on civilians, is achieved partly with the ‘radar absorbent materials’ that Croppers produce at this factory. So this factory right here is not just a paper mill, but is heavily involved in the arms industry, and now also implicated in a genocide in Palestine.

Since learning about these connections, campaigners have been raising public awareness across our district. Hundreds of people have signed a petition, calling on Croppers to cease their involvement in F35 production while it cannot be guaranteed that these planes are not being used to commit crimes against humanity. Burneside village has been leafleted, campaigners have talked to workers at the factory gates and handed out information sheets, campaign meetings have been held in Kendal, and protests have been organised at the factory, Croppers AGM, and at paper heritage days celebrating Croppers history of paper production. Despite this, Croppers have continued to defend their involvement in the arms trade.

The more we have talked to people in the local community, the more we have uncovered the current of anger and outrage that a local ‘paper mill,’ which also boasts about being the primary supplier of paper for Remembrance Day poppies, can also be involved in supplying parts for war planes being used to kill children in Palestine. If ‘lest we forget’ means anything, it is as a warning to everyone that we all must do everything we can to prevent the atrocities of war being committed against anyone, anywhere.

As we lie here today, remembering the dead in Gaza, we draw attention to the connection between the terrible scenes of devastation we see every day coming out of Palestine, and the complex supply chains of an arms industry which has integrated itself into our lives and communities more than we realise. We know that the people killed in Gaza are just like any one of us, and could be our friends, our partners, our kids.

We do not want war. We do not want to be part of a bloodshed. We do not believe that anyone’s job or livelihood should rely on war. Each extra pound that is given to the arms industry is a pound that is not spent on hospitals, and schools and homes for people here; at the same time that the weapons are used to destroy hospitals and schools and homes for people elsewhere, but especially, right now, in Palestine.

We refuse to look away. We refuse to turn a blind eye at what is happening on our doorsteps. Lest we forget, never again, to anyone. Not in Burneside, not in Palestine, not anywhere.