Bordeaux: GALAG calls for a gathering this Tuesday against the Aeronautics, Space and Defense Exhibition

About fifty activists from the War to War collective took part in a leafleting and filtering barrier action outside the Thales site in Bordeaux. The activists distributed a leaflet to Thales employees, written by arms workers in Gironde themselves, denouncing the group’s complicity in the genocide in Palestine and the imperialist aggression in Iran, while waving banners saying “War to war!” and tagging the sidewalks with the message “Not a penny for their war.”

The leaflet, signed on behalf of the collective, directly addresses defense industry workers. It reminds that working in the arms industry is “more of a constrained choice than a free one” in a capitalist system that deprives workers of control over what they produce. The leaflet calls to “reject job blackmail,” outlining concrete steps such as reclaiming rights, self-organizing, and redirecting production to socially useful sectors like health, transportation, or energy.

This action was welcomed by some sector employees present that morning, who positively received the leaflets, with some stopping to discuss with the activists, especially with members of the CGT Ariane union. The War to War collective brings together independent activists as well as political and union organizations, including Education with Gaza, Révolution Permanente, CGT Ariane, the anti-fascist AG, etc. All these sectors are united around a common refusal of militarization and imperialist wars. The collective aims to build a popular anti-militarism rooted in struggles, by directly acting where arms industries operate.

Thales is a central cog in this. State-owned more than 25%, the company equips Rafale and Mirage aircraft, and produces radars and military surveillance systems. Its complicity in current wars is documented: Thales provides essential electronic components to Israeli arms sellers Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, without which their drones simply cannot fly.

At the beginning of the year, revelations also showed that Thales would have been involved in the development of the US biometric data management system IDENT, used notably by ICE for the identification and expulsion of migrants, while denying these collaborations.

The Bordeaux section of the collective aims to structure itself in the long term, following the national dynamic. In June 2025, over 4,000 people responded to the War to War coalition’s call against the Bourget air show, bringing together support groups for Palestine, trade unions, and political organizations. A next meeting is already scheduled with a gathering on Tuesday, April 28th at 12 pm in front of the Pin Galant in Mérignac, against the Aeronautics, Space, and Defense Fair, a recruitment fair for arms companies. To all workers in aeronautics or defense in Bordeaux, join the War to War Bordeaux collective and let’s be numerous next Tuesday to say once again: war to war.