CHICAGO – On August 15, 2026, around 400 people packed a stuffy theater at Arnold Mireles Academy on Chicago’s Southeast Side for a town hall about the Illinois Quantum Microelectronics Park (IQMP), a data-center development that would have major repercussions on the masses and the environment they live in on the Southeast side. The project has deep connections to imperialist endeavors internationally, and the developing surveillance state within the United States. The project has direct ties to the Pax Silica campaign, through the U.S. Department of State, which serves “to make our citizens more prosperous, our nations stronger, and our supply chains more secure.” Pax Silica is a crucial component of the expanding construction of these mega data centers being built across the globe; without the necessary materials for computer chips and other manufactured parts, these facilities couldn’t be built. Pax Silica’s signatories includes 23 nations, including the U.S., “Israel,” the United Kingdom, Japan, and the Philippines. The development on the Southeast Side is being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, itself a subsidiary of the Department of War with ties to the Zionist genocide of Palestinians, and to domestic mass surveillance programs such as Total Information Awareness and LifeLog.
Having gathered under the banner of “Community Over Quantum”, the masses made their demands clear as Mayor Brandon Johnson took the stage:
“Mayor Johnson! Shut it down! Revoke the permits! Do it now!”
The mayor had been invited to speak with his constituents, and here he had his opportunity to show the people where his loyalties lay: was it with the working masses of Chicago or the imperialist warmongers who run the show? He opened,
“First of all, my values have not changed!”
Voices from among the crowd immediately fired back,
“Yes they have!”
He went on to explain how he had received new information and how the site would be remediated: the development site is located on soil that is full of heavy metals and other carcinogens from the steel plant that used to operate there, and how “innovation can’t take the place of environmental justice”. He told the crowd about the executive order he had signed which would make sure that development is happening in the interest of the community.
Again, the crowd angrily responded,
“Not enough!”
He told the masses that he had received a letter from the developers stating that they wouldn’t be moving forward with a data center, and that if they were to do so, they would be subject to his executive order. When asked where he stood, he affirmed that he stands “with the people,” and that he too is targeted by the billionaire class! The facilitator followed up by asking him,
“You said you stand with the working people of this community. Are you going to stand with the people of Chicago by calling for [IQMP’s] immediate end?”
His response, “[My] values haven’t changed, but the information has gotten stronger… [I’m going to make sure] that development that is happening isn’t happening at the expense of the people.”
The mayor’s response was met with an immediate outcry. This was unacceptable, and the masses were not to be fooled. They were unfazed by the mayor’s duplicity, slippery half-statements, and hollow commitments.
Indifferent to the uproar of anger at this response, the mayor left the room. He could not commit to working alongside the masses to stop the development of this facility, which is being constructed to enforce the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, of the ruling class. He cares not for the mothers and babies who will breathe in the poisoned air, nor for the future generations that will rely on the drinking water that Lake Michigan provides. He couldn’t even be bothered to tell the crowd his own opinions, instead regurgitating a clearly scripted response. Mayor Johnson has made clear where he stands, and it isn’t with the people.
The IQMP is not merely an environmental threat or an attack on the Southeast side of Chicago; it is a concrete manifestation of the war being waged against the oppressed and exploited masses around the globe. We must stand united against its development and any similar developments around the globe. We must reject reformist half measures and understand that these capitalist-imperialist forces can only be stopped through the construction of a New State, a state that is truly run and controlled by the proletariat and the oppressed and exploited masses.
[Image Source: @mkaplanphoto]
