The empire is the enemy. From the belly of the beast, we choose to resist it.

An interview with Sophie Ross of the Merrimack 4​​​​​​​

“I think people understand their duty. I think they’re just not carrying it out.”

On November 20th, 2023 four Palestine protesters set out the disrupt production at the Elbit Systems factor in Merrimack New Hampshire as a means of resisting the genocide from within the belly of the beast. Sophie Ross, along with Paige Belanger, Bridget Shergalis, and Calla Walsh managed to shut down production for the day by simultaneously blocking a road, causing property damage, and occupying the roof. 

Sophie and the other protesters faced down serious repression from the state for this courageous act of resistance. They were initially charged with 5 felonies and 1 misdemeanor. By defending their actions politically, and standing strong together, all four protesters forced the state’s hand and ultimately pled to just two misdemeanors, resulting in 60 day jail time — a huge victory for the fight against repression for Palestine protesters, given the initial charges they were facing. 

On November 11th, three days before she was set to begin her jail time, Behind Enemy Lines sat down with Sophie Ross for an interview. Below are excerpts from our conversation*. 

*Minor edits and organizational changes made for clarity

What do you want us to know about yourself?

My name is Sophie. I’m one of the Merrimack four. I was not involved in activism or political stuff before October [2023]. I knew about Palestine before that, I’d gone to protests before and stuff like that, but I hadn’t been involved more heavily. I remember back in 2021 when they were demolishing homes in Sheikh Jarrah, I was keeping up with that very, very much. And I had done the whole, call your congressman shit, and it obviously didn’t do anything. 

So the first time I really got involved in anything was the protest at Elbit in Cambridge last October [2023]. A couple of us got assault and battery, but most of us got just a disorderly conduct and I got a vandalism charge, but it got dropped. I just have a disorderly conduct left on that, which my lawyer is trying to turn into a parking ticket. We’ll see what happens with that. And then the next time I was involved in an action was the November 20 action at the Merrimack Elbit facility. Elbit is the facility that makes the majority, I think 85% of the weapons that the Zionist entity uses. And so that is a logical target. 

You hadn’t really been involved in activism protests before October 7 and now within a couple months you’re a part of this action and facing heavy charges. What was it about  October 7, the beginning of genocide, that really moved you to want to be part of something?

Having a genocide live streamed to you, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat. It was like, I couldn’t not do anything. These resistance fighters are there and they’re fighting and they’re dying for these people. They’re going to war and they’re being murdered. And what, I’m just gonna fucking sit at home? You kidding me? They don’t even have access to these facilities that make these weapons, I do, and so it’s my responsibility to do that. I felt kind of lucky in a way, because we’re here in the in the belly of the beast. We have almost more access than anybody else to the the inner workings, the machinery in a literal and a metaphorical sense. I also kept thinking about that Huey P. Newton quote where he’s like, a revolutionary man must transcend himself or else he is not a revolutionary man. He must do more than he knows that he can do. And I just I thought about that and how I have to do more than what I know I can do. And it turns out, what you can do is actually more than what you think. 

Why did you set out to do this action — compared to engage with the routine protests? 

I put a lot of thought into the choices that I made. It wasn’t just throwing myself blindly or anything. It was very clear to me that, there are things with material benefits and there are things that don’t have material benefits. I think people understand that weapons get made in this building, then the weapons go to Palestine, and you have to stop the weapons. I was hoping it was going to be the beginning of more people, unrelated people, would target the Elbit in their area. So tragically, I feel like that didn’t happen on a very wide scale. I know that there was some this group called healthcare workers for Palestine from Maine or something, and they blockaded the same Elbit that we did. 

How would you describe the state of resistance here (in the US) today? 

We haven’t built a ground for people to do these more militant actions. The two things that need to happen  is that there needs to be escalation and there needs to be support for that escalation. There needs to be logistical support, literal support. There also needs to be rhetorical support, and that needs to come from the mass movement. That needs to come from the mass events, like protests — and they’re not doing that. They’re walking in circles week after week, and then being surprised that less and less people are coming because they see that it’s futile without the other leg of it. I feel hopeful still. I don’t think that you can be a communist and not be hopeful. I think you have to be hopeful.

I listened to this podcast by this former BLA [Black Liberation Army] member and he said, the reason so many of us were in prison and not dead is due to mass support from the outside and made it politically unfeasible for them to do that. We’re not in the same position, we obviously are not facing the same kind of charges as that, but there’s not a mass movement to make it politically unfeasible for other people who are charged with much more serious charges. I’m thinking about Casey Goonan and Jack Mazurek primarily, where is the mass movement to support these people? Where is the counter repression to support these people when and if they get arrested or get attacked by the state? So I think that’s a really important element. That’s probably the most important element.

It makes me think about Yemen. When they have those million man marches in Yemen and they really understand the concept of this multiple fronts, unity of multiple fronts, and we are running scared when one of our friends gets attacked. It’s not even gonna save us, the running scared and shit. It’ll save you in the moment, maybe, but down the line you’re just gonna be next. 

You did this bold action, knowing that it was unsafe, knowing that there were consequences down the road. What’s your analysis of this idea of safety and how that’s holding people back?

I mean being arrested is obviously a huge pain in the ass and the whole legal – it’s been a fucking year. You’re kidding me? It’s obviously a pain in the ass and a waste of your time and energy. It’s what it’s designed to do, waste your time and energy. But that’s not a reason not to do it. You should.

If you are scrambling for safety, you might find it in the moment. You might find it temporarily. But the only reason, the only way you’ll ever find it permanently is, if you permanently link your interests to the bourgeois in America. So I don’t know, you can do that now, but I don’t know what the fuck you think is gonna happen 50 years down the line, 10 years down the line, five years down the line. 

I think people understand their duty. I think they’re just not carrying it out. Part of the problem is the fact that there isn’t that support. So they maybe see it as like an isolated action that they take, instead of a part of a larger militant movement, which, to a degree, is true, but the only way to build that larger military movement, in part, is to take these escalated actions and for people to keep taking up the torch on that. 

What you hope for the future in terms of organizing?

We need these strong parties, these strong organizations that are linked to the masses. I think we need to look to Palestine, I think we need to look to how they were able to organize under such intense repression. Gaza is one of the most highly surveilled places on Earth and right now, they’re waging this incredibly successful war of attrition against one of the most powerful states in the world, backed by the US and powerful militaries, and they’re doing it under today’s conditions. I think that we need to look to them. 

I’m reading – and I’m so mad because I’m not going to finish it before I go to jail – but I’m reading the [Yahya] Sinwar book, The Thorn in the Carnation, and it’s just brilliant. And it really is making me just think about why Palestine is such a linchpin. And why Gaza is a linchpin, and it’s because the contradictions are so heightened. And so to find that where we are, we also need to look for where the contradictions are the most heightened. And I think that that is in prisons, and I think that that is in these movements that are getting repressed the most heavily. So like Samidoun is getting hit with anti terror shit. Once they call you a terrorist, you know you’re doing something, right?

Bassel al-Araj quotes that in his eight rules of war, which is just a real treasure trove, but at the end he says: You know, anyone who’s Palestinian, if you consider yourself a Palestinian, even if you’re with the Palestinian cause, you have to think of yourself as being on the front lines. And so you have a duty as someone on the front lines, and you can’t fail, and that you have to complete your duty. So that’s what I am thinking about a lot, that quote.

What words of wisdom or advice do you have to share? 

One thing that is the most important is to remember that so much of oppression is psychological warfare, and so much of legal oppression too is psychological warfare. So it’s not just about the bureaucracy of it and the time waste, but it’s also about getting handed very heavy charges and having to reckon with the fact psychologically of facing decades in prison. And that is kind of a lot of the power that they have, is getting you to fear that, and trying to use that fear to get you to take some kind of deal, like a collaborative deal that works against your co-defendants. And I think that you can see that, we were handed these really heavy charges, and we’re coming out the other side with we’re pleading to two misdemeanors, which is just so much better than what we started with. And so I think that you can see that if you remain strong in a psychological sense, and understand that your strength comes from being part of movement and it doesn’t come from yourself as an individual. It comes primarily from the movement as a whole. The fact that none of us collaborated is a huge part of why we ended up with a lighter sentence, and not just a lighter sentence, but a hugely lighter sentence.

Tell us about what is next  — you report to jail in a few days? 

So my sentencing date is November 14, and they that is the same thing as the jail report date. They frown on turning yourself in. So when you get sentenced, you go in the same day. So we’re doing 60 days, but I have, we all have a day or two from when we got arrested, before we got bailed out, and then so that gets accounted for and then you get 12 and a half days of good time credit for every 30 days. So with with good luck, it’ll be more like 35ish, something like that.

How can we support you? And are there other cases like yours we should follow? 

Casey Goonan and Jack Mazurek are the cases that I’m I’ve been following. I’ve been following their case and Casey is definitely taking letters and you can send them books. 

Sophie also plugged the resistance telegram which can be found here: t.me/PalestineResist
Casey Goonan Support Committee
Free Jack Mazurek


Supporting the Merrimack 4
Sophie, along with the other protesters have reported to Hillsborough County house of corrections, Valley street jail. Find the details to send them a letter or a book below. 

Calla Walsh #67970​, 445 Willow St, Manchester, NH 03103. 

Paige Belanger #68132​, 445 Willow St, Manchester, NH 03103. 

Sophie Ross #67969, 445 Willow St, Manchester NH 03103 

Bridget Shergalis #67968, 445 Willow St, Manchester NH 03103