Transnational weapons corporations, like Boeing, are corporations with global operations overseeing and gaining profits from the industrial mass production of high-tech weapons of war. They contribute to the conditions which render 26 million people refugees — displaced by war and militarization in their home countries — and almost 55 million people internally displaced. They are employed by imperialist and neocolonial states alike to assert and defend their violent rule, and as largely US-based companies, use their domestic influence over local governments and educational institutions.
As the world’s third largest war profiteer, Boeing manufactures combat planes, helicopters, bombs, missiles, and drones for the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other countries that commit human rights violations worldwide. Boeing technologies enable violence against and murder of civilians in the Philippines, Yemen, Somalia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and many other places. One out of every four Boeing employees works in the Defense, Space, and Security department, responsible for manufacturing weapons and combat aircrafts.
Boeing also has a massive economic, cultural, and educational presence at the University of Washington. Boeing’s finances and reputation are in part laundered by the prestigious UW, and the university conducts research and trains students in order to optimize Boeing’s operations. All of this is done through research programs, targeted internships, donations and investments, and other partnerships which serve the interests of war profiteers rather than students. Separating Boeing from this local power base by cutting institutional ties will impact its ability to conduct its global operation of war.
As a group of students, workers, and community members, we oppose the use of our education and our city to strengthen the military industrial complex and harm oppressed peoples worldwide. UW has a responsibility to immediately end its relationship with a company profiting from war, occupation, and ethic cleansing. Help us amplify and give strength to these resolutions by adding your/your organization’s name below!
As a step toward divesting from the war industry, we demand:
1. UW: Cut ties with war profiteers, cut ties with Boeing!
2. Return Boeing’s $10 million investment in the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building. Find alternative funding sources that ensure the programs and materials of the IEB are in service of the needs of students and our communities, not war profiteers.
3. Ban Boeing from UW recruitment spaces, including but not limited to career fairs, advisory facilities, and Handshake. The UW should not funnel students into companies that double as arms manufacturers.
4. Identify and replace all Boeing-funded scholarships, fellowships, research, investments, and department partnerships with pro-people academic opportunities funded by UW’s $5 billion endowment. Weapons dealers should not determine who gets to go to school and how they study.
