Defend the UW33: Escalate the Student Intifada!

As Israel’s U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza approaches 2 years—marked by the starvation of 2.3 million Palestinians, the bombing of hospitals and universities, and the martyrdom of over 45,000 people, including 15,000 children it is imperative that all aspects and sectors of the global Palestine movement are prepared to sacrifice our freedom, education and wealth to fight against the United States led imperialist order which is waging a genocide against our people in Gaza. We stand unwaveringly with the brave 33 students and community members at the University of Washington Seattle facing suspension for their Sha’ban Al-Dalou building occupation demanding UW end its ties with Boeing, the third largest arms provider to the Zionist occupation forces. This action against a recently opened Boeing-funded war profiteer den was taken after the UW’s corporate board of regents rejected any avenue for even discussing cutting ties with Boeing in the face of mass opposition. Inspired by the calls of the student movement in Gaza to wage the student intifada, the direct action of UW students and community members exposes the hypocrisy of institutions like the UW, which profit from settler-colonial violence while punishing dissent. For 77 years, since the Nakba of 1948, Palestinians have endured systemic erasure, land theft, and imperialist violence, all enabled by U.S. political and corporate complicity. The encampment at UW Seattle is a defiant act of solidarity with Gaza’s martyrs and a rejection of the colonial logic that has fueled this century of oppression .  
    The University of Washington’s claim to have “no investments in Boeing” is a calculated lie. UW sustains Boeing’s role as a pillar of the U.S.-Zionist war machine through research partnerships, corporate grants, and alumni pipelines. Boeing’s F-15 jets and Hellfire missiles, developed with UW’s complicity, obliterate homes in Gaza and reduce universities to rubble. As revealed in an op-ed by Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return (SUPER UW), UW’s collaboration with Boeing includes a $10 million donation to the occupied Interdisciplinary Engineering Building and joint research programs designed to address Boeing’s “top-priority challenges” . The May 5th encampment tore open this hypocrisy: UW prioritizes profit over Palestinian lives and supports brutalizing students over ending genocide.  

 From the UW33 to the CUNY8: Escalate the Student Intifada

    The emergency suspensions of the UW33 are part of a global crackdown on Palestine solidarity. At CUNY, eight students and community members face felony charges for their principled involvment in the Gaza encampment. This repression mirrors Israel’s tactics in Gaza: collective punishment, censorship, and the criminalization of resistance. While UW collaborates with Seattle PD to dismantle protests, it remains complicit as ICE targets migrant workers as well as Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students, revoking visas and threatening deportation under racist “national security” pretexts . The Trump administration’s escalating attacks on academic freedom—including slashing federal research funding and threatening universities that defend Palestinian rights—reveal a coordinated strategy to stifle dissent. The UW administration’s attacks extend further. While slashing College of Arts and Sciences jobs, it allows far-right groups like Turning Point USA to host Zionist and racist events unchallenged. The administration’s collusion with law enforcement echoes the NYPD’s violent raids on CUNY and Columbia protests, where students were zip-tied and brutalized . Meanwhile, UW’s silence on ICE’s revocation of visas for nine students and graduates—without explanation or due process—exposes its abandonment of vulnerable communities. These actions are not isolated; they reflect a broader agenda to shield Boeing, Zionism, and empire from accountability while normalizing state violence against dissident voices.  
    The same universities that trained Zionist colonizers in 1948 now arm their war machine—the movement against these institutions must continue to escalate in spite of the repression, suspensions, and arrests. The UW33 are not alone. From the CUNY8 to the students of Amsterdam, Brussels, and Madrid our struggle is a frontline against imperialism. As the zionist entity and its partners escalate their crimes against Palestine (with the collusion of the traitorous Palestinian Authority), Lebanon. Syria and Yemen, we reiterate the calls for students and workers worldwide to expand encampments, blockade war profiteer facilities, and begin targeting the embassies of the Zionists and the traitorous Palestinian Authority under the banner of the Global Student Intifada. We demand the University of Washington to:

1. Reinstate the UW33 immediately and reject any and all prosecution for pro Palestine organizing.
2. Sever all ties with Boeing and divest from corporations profiting from colonialism and genocide.  
3. Protect international students and migrant workers from ICE raids and visa terminations.