By PAUL STAUFER

By most reliable metrics, the genocide in Gaza now meets the criteria of the highest stage of famine. This comes after two years of indiscriminate violence perpetrated by the Israeli government that by some estimates has led to the deaths of 20% of Gaza’s population.

Though the unfathomable suffering of the Palestinian people may feel completely out of our control, the harsh truth is that Israel would not be able to achieve the systematic destruction of Gaza without the Caterpillar D9 Bulldozer, which is manufactured right here in East Peoria.

These are the incontrovertible facts: Weapons of war are being built in our backyard which are being used to carry out the most heinous atrocities humanity can commit. Since Oct. 7, the D9 has played a vital role in Israel’s near-total destruction of Gaza’s homes and infrastructure. They’ve been documented crushing civilians to death in hospital courtyards, desecrating cemeteries, concealing evidence of war crimes, and tearing up the last remnants of arable land as the population was on the brink of famine. Gaza’s schools, mosques, and hospitals have been turned into heaps of rubble, as have roughly 70% of the homes of its two million residents. Entire cities of tens of thousands have been systematically demolished, crushed under the tracks of the Caterpillar D9.

This reality puts the residents of Peoria, especially those who work for Caterpillar, in a uniquely advantageous position to aid the people of Palestine. We have the moral responsibility to push Caterpillar to end its business dealings with Israel.

Firstly, Cat workers need to grasp the full extent of the crimes the Israelis are perpetrating with their machines and know that by building these bulldozers, they’re crossing a picket line, according to the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions. Front-line workers can make huge strides for justice by simply honoring the calls for solidarity from the PGFTU and refusing to work on machines destined to aid in the perpetration of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Cat workers: talk to your coworkers, organize with your fellow rank and file and refuse to torque another nut on machines destined for Gaza and the West Bank.

Peoria residents outside Caterpillar can also put pressure on the company. Talk to your family members who work for Caterpillar about the company’s complicity in the genocide. Stop patronizing businesses sponsored by Cat. Instead, write those businesses letters and ask them to drop their sponsorships. Call your Representatives in Congress — Darin Lahood and Eric Sorensen — and demand they push to stop weapons sales to Israel. Join local organizations fighting for Palestinian liberation.

It’s past time we put pressure on Caterpillar again to cease business dealings with the state of Israel. Strike the company, boycott, lay down on the road and halt shipments if you must, until its cooperation with the colonial Israeli ethnostate ceases, robbing Israel of a vital tool in its arsenal of ethnic cleansing.

— Paul Staufer is a writer from Metamora, who writes about work and the labor movement. Check out his Substack “How to Steal from Work”