What is Mask off Maersk?
Maersk is a logistics company that is involved in all aspects of the supply chain of death - bringing military cargo to arms companies for assembly and shipping cargo to Israel from the US, including throughout Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in the illegally occupied Gaza Strip..
In the past year, Maersk has shipped millions of pounds (lbs) of military cargo to Israel from the U.S. Our research showed that Maersk has been carrying everything from tactical vehicles to parts for armored tanks and aircraft and artillery systems to the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
Maersk fulfills part of its Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with the U.S. Department of Defense by transporting military cargo— one such vehicle supply chain that Maersk supports through shipping and logistics abilities is the Namer Armored Personnel Carrier (APC-MT883), which has been used extensively in the ongoing aggression against Gaza. Another supply chain is that of the Oshkosh Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, with Maersk helping fulfill part of the supply chain related to a $159 million foreign military sale to Israel from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Maersk does not just support the US-enabled Israeli genocide through outbound shipping of military cargo from the U.S. to Israel. Maersk ships also carry military cargo to arms manufacturers in the US in order for these weapons companies to assemble the weapons that murder our people. Research indicates that Maersk has significant links to the F35 jet program. The wings and aircraft structures of Lockheed Martin's fighter jets are shipped on Maersk liners to the U.S. where these jets are made then sent to massacre Palestinians and destroy our cities, villages and refugee camps. Maersk also facilitates exports from illegal settlements on behalf of businesses operating within them. Maersk’s active role in supporting companies that enable the establishment, preservation, and advancement of illegal settlement economies and infrastructure that are in violation of international law.
Logistics companies, with Maersk as the industry’s lead, are the invisible profiteers of weapons manufacturing, making the genocide of Palestinians a reality. Targeting Maersk directly disrupts the flow of military cargo in the supply chain of death used by Israel to genocide Palestinians and maintain its decades-old regime settler-colonialism, apartheid, and military occupation.
Check out the #MaskOffMaersk Website and @maskoffmaersk instagram for more details about the campaign, including our External Toolkit
- Click to read the following:
- Report: Evidence of Maersk Shipments to the Israeli Military
- Report: Maersk’s Role in Facilitating Exports from Illegal Israeli Settlements to the US
- Press Release: Spain Denies Entry to Two Maersk Ships
- Appeal from PGFTU on Maersk and ZIM
- Check out the #Mask off Maersk External Toolkit and Messaging Guide!
- Use our Digital Action Tools to Take Action now!
If you are interested in taking up the #MaskoffMaersk campaign in your locale, please email [email protected]
Divestment
- City Council: Organize to get your city council to vote to divest municipal funds (such as pension funds or other city-managed investments) from Maersk on the basis of its complicity in genocide and gross human rights violations.
- If an ethical investment policy is passed, you can then reference the policy to divest from specific complicit companies. If a broad policy fails to pass or is not pursued for other reasons, the city can still target specific companies or sectors for divestment.
- Institution-Level Divestment: Organize to get investment funds managed by universities, retirement systems, religious institutions, etc. to divest from Maersk.
- Human Rights Procurement and Investment Policy: If you would like your city council or union to divest from or end contracts with companies that profit from Israel’s colonial violence, and you know there are multiple companies on your list including Maersk, you could take the initial step it to mobilize support for a policy that would prevent investments and procurement contracts with companies that are complicit in grave human rights violations anywhere.
Cut the Contracts
- Organize a campaign to call for terminating contracts with Maersk, at a university or institutional level, including research collaborations. You can demand the cancellation of joint projects, grants, and supplier contracts. This can involve organizing a pledge to get students/community members to refuse to participate in partnerships with Maersk, organizing for resolutions or petitions.
Cultural Boycott
- Cultural boycotts can involve pressuring arts institutions to reject grants from Maersk, or pressuring arts events or festivals to drop Maersk as a corporate sponsor.
Trade Unions
If you’re in a trade union, consider passing a resolution that calls for an arms embargo. Check out this example from a trade union in Britain!