Student occupation blasts Boeing’s war building

Israel is calling up more reserves and sending more troops into Gaza with the goal of annihilating the people. Committing ethnic cleansing in Gaza was publicly proposed by President Donald Trump earlier this year.  

In response to a call by the Palestinians to increase resistance, students at the University of Washington (UW) were spurred to make action plans. Students and community members escalated the struggle by occupying a building just opened with a $10 million gift from war contractor Boeing. On May 5 they took over the building overnight and waged a furious struggle to block cops from three different agencies.  

The students used many tactics to keep the cops at bay, including blocking police cars and overturning and burning trash dumpsters in front of the building, which kept the cops away for over an hour. After the cops finally broke in they arrested and beat 33 occupiers. The students were cheered by supporters outside as they were loaded into police cars.

They renamed the newly-opened building the Sha’ban al-Dalou Building after a martyred Palestinian student who was burned alive when Israeli forces bombed the Al-Aqsa Hospital on Oct. 14, 2024. This building, the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building, has as its purpose “establishing an AI [artificial intelligence] educational institute for developing military technology and securing Boeing in the engineering curriculum, which functions as a pipeline channeling UW engineering students into Boeing internships and contracts,” say direct action activists. (crimethinc.com)  The building is just one of many Boeing projects at the UW.  Boeing has given the school at least $100 million over the years.

Boeing makes weapons for slaughter

Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return (SUPER) and other campus groups have been organizing against Boeing for over a year. Boeing’s weapons that have been used against the people of Gaza include the Hellfire Missile, F-15 bomber, Apache helicopter and many bombs. This company manufactured more

missiles and munitions for Israel than any other company between 2021 and 2023.  Boeing has funneled engineering students in droves to work for Boeing for over 100 years, often for military production.  

Boeing received backing by Wall Street when it forced 30,000 workers to go on strike for 55 days in 2024. The strike led to a victory for the workers, allowing them to catch up on the wages and benefits that Boeing had denied them for years.  

SUPER held a support rally on May 7 for the courageous students in front of the administration building. The occupiers had all been charged with misdemeanors and released on $1,000 bond, with 21 of those arrested suspended from the university; students with campus jobs were fired. The rally demanded that the charges and suspensions be dropped.  

The UW administration announced that the Sha’ban al-Dalou building will be closed until the end of the school year in mid-June.

The Trump administration denounced the building occupation in a scathing press release and said it will launch “a review of recent incidents of antisemitic violence.” (crimethinc.com) 

Yet it is the Trump government which is complicit in waging genocide against the people of Palestine. At least 53,000 Palestinians — and probably many times that — have been slaughtered, many buried under the rubble caused by Boeing bombs.

Long live the student Intifada!