Anti-war groups protest Palantir, Anduril executives in Detroit for tech conference

Local groups joined forces Wednesday to oppose a summit featuring defense and surveillance tech leaders, Ford CEO Jim Farley and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Protestors gathered at the intersection of Grand River and Library Street Wednesday afternoon.

A number of local justice groups joined together outside the Reindustrialize Summit Wednesday, which is convening executives and employees of some of the leading tech, military and finance companies.

“Many of the speakers and attendees represent companies that are currently profiting off the genocide in Gaza, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s attacks on pro-Palestine protesters and immigrant workers,” said Jo Pico, of the Detroit Anti-War Committee.

Pico said in an interview that Engineers Against Apartheid found out about this Reindustrialize Summit and reached out to organize a demonstration.

“Since their whole thing is that they’re engineers who want to make tech for ethical projects instead of things like Israel’s genocide on Palestine and to deport people in the U.S.,” Pico said. “They informed us and a bunch of other groups and we decided we wanted to make it very loud and clear that Detroit does not welcome these companies here and we do not want their investments here in this city.”

Speakers inside Dan Gilbert’s new Hudson’s building where the conference is taking place include Palmer Luckey, the founder of defense contractor Anduril, Shym Sankar, CTO of software company Palantir, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, CEO of Ford Motor Company Jim Farley and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Palantir’s co-founder and current chairman Peter Thiel, wasn’t at the event, but his name was among the chants deployed in unison by protestors.

Thiel, the founder of Paypal and a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, made headlines last week when he hesitated to answer whether or not the human race should survive in an interview with the New York Times.

The coalition of justice groups included Detroit Will Breathe, Engineers Against Apartheid, the Detroit Anti-War Committee, among others. Leaders who spoke into a megaphone said defense contractor Anduril Industries and Palantir Industries are profiting off the ongoing deaths of children and innocent people in Gaza.

Since Oct. 7, Israeli attacks have killed more than 58,000 people in the region, according to local reports.

Away from the demonstration, attendees walked by, taking pictures and video. Some laughed, while others left the new building at 1250 Library St. ignored the crowd.

Onlookers take photos of the crowd across the street where protestors gathered outside the Gucci store. Photo: Samuel Robinson

“For most people at these companies, it’s just indifference,” says Will, one of the founders of Engineers against Apartheid who asked to be mentioned by first name out of fear of retribution from his employer, which he said is one of the Big Three automakers. "There’s this culture of, ‘put your head down, don’t worry about it. We glorify our work, but most of us aren’t willing to engage with the consequences of it.”