On September 11, 2024, the Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard (DBNY) campaign was launched with a clear demand: evict Israel-linked military contractors Easy Aerial and Crye Precision from the Brooklyn Navy Yard (BNY). Situated in what was once a U.S. naval shipbuilding facility, BNY is now a city-owned industrial complex that conceals war profiteering behind a progressive façade of “sustainability” and “innovation.” The campaign aims not only to shut down these specific companies but to demilitarize the Yard as a whole by instituting a policy that bans military contractors from operating in the neighborhood.
Easy Aerial, founded by a former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier, manufactures surveillance and combat drones used by the Israeli military and collaborates with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer. These drones have also been deployed domestically by the Department of Homeland Security, including ICE and Border Patrol, and the company has actively lobbied the NYPD to incorporate drones into urban surveillance programs.
Crye Precision produces tactical gear and military uniforms for armed forces and police departments in over 50 countries, including for the NYPD and U.S. special forces. The company has secured nearly $100 million in U.S. defense contracts and maintains partnerships with Israeli military contractors.
A lead organizer of DBNY spoke with The Worker about the campaign’s first year—its lessons, victories, and what comes next.
DBNY’s strength, the organizer emphasized, lies in grassroots direct action and sustained community involvement. The campaign has advanced in three escalating phases over the past year, each marked by creative and confrontational tactics that disrupted business as usual and built a growing base of support.
“We promote diversity of tactics—wheatpasting [gluing posters] in the neighborhood and around executives’ houses, blockading entrances, and noise demos and other disruptions—they never respond to you until you disrupt them,” the organizer noted. “The key is giving everyone something to do, even signing a petition, which can open the door for future involvement.” She added, “Our consistent escalation continues to hit their profits—and that’s how we’ll win our demands.”
In its first phase, DBNY held noise demonstrations outside BNY Development Corporation (BNYDC) board meetings, eventually forcing them to relocate.
Phase two escalated with more direct actions and the introduction of picketing as BNY workers began joining the noise demos. Police responded with barricades, only to have them thrown aside by demonstrators. “Some started to picket and others threw all the barricades out of the way. The cops and community affairs officers came out looking surprised and reacted violently. After the confrontation, they backed off and never returned. This was a victory—the barricades were gone and never came back again.”
The campaign has also succeeded in creating pressure on BNY leadership. “Following our encounter with the NYPD, we sent a letter about the violations of freedom of speech and assembly. A few board members replied to say they’re not board members anymore. Later we found out a bunch of them had resigned.” Among these resignations were the Senior Vice President of External Affairs and the Chief Real Estate Officer.
Student solidarity has also played a role. At a Pratt Institute event featuring BNY CEO Lindsay Greene, DBNY worked with students to disrupt her speaking. It was so successful that Greene fled the event, but organizers intercepted her on the street. “We heckled her with prepared talking points—this led to the board finally meeting with us. During the meeting, they accused us of antisemitism for targeting Easy Aerial, an Israeli-linked company.”
From the beginning, DBNY has rejected relying on electoral politics as a viable strategy. “No one has attended city council meetings yet—people did reach out to Zohran Mamdani, but he never responded,” the organizer shared. “I think people should protest him. I don’t have any hopes in Mamdani—he’s just another version of Eric Adams.”
DBNY’s vision goes beyond evicting Easy Aerial and Crye Precision. “We believe an end to the genocide isn’t enough.” She emphasized that DBNY’s anti-imperialist stance sees local struggle as inseparable from global liberation movements. When asked what inspires her, the organizer replied, “Look at the Palestinian resistance.”
Pro-Palestine activists in the US carry out their internationalist duty by combining solidarity with the Palestinian resistance with the struggle against U.S. imperialism at home. Campaigns like DBNY act as an auxiliary to the Palestinian resistance by weakening the infrastructure of U.S. and Israeli militarism from the inside.
For DBNY, the campaign to demilitarize the Navy Yard is just one front in a larger, global struggle. “Once we shut down Easy Aerial and Crye Precision, our next goal is to build an organization or coalition that brings more groups together,” said the organizer. “This movement has to continue beyond just one campaign.” To them, that means reaching out to organizers in other cities where weapons manufacturers operate, collaborating with workers, and building a national network of anti-imperialist organizing.
Photo Credit: The Worker
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