Tallahassee, FL – Tuesday, November 19, Student Activists at Florida State University came together to condemn the institution’s complicity in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Student demonstrators laid themselves along the graveled concrete, just outside one of the campus’s most busy academic buildings and refused to move – symbolizing the 40,000 plus Palestinians killed since October 7, 2023.

The demonstration was organized by the Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in coalition with other community advocacy groups. The turnout was about 30 people, with an even greater number of law enforcement watching from afar.

Throughout the demonstration, student activists held up signs detailing the lives of Palestinian children whose stories had been cut short, while others stood up and spoke against the university’s cooperation with war profiteers.

As soon as the student activists began to lead the crowd in chant, campus police quickly intervened, ordering the demonstration to “quiet down,” lest the FSU students studying inside “be made aware of their university’s complicity in genocide,” as one of the activists powerfully put it.

Eventually it rained. Despite the unfortunate weather, the student activists picked up their things and got together for a final march, solemnly chanting affirmations of Palestinian liberation.

Florida State University (FSU) and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) have a joint engineering school, with long-held ties to weapons manufacturers Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and the Boeing corporation, among others. These corporations sponsor internships, make massive donations to the universities, and often appear as guest speakers on campus in engineering classrooms in the hopes that new talent will funnel into the weapons manufacturing industry. These corporations actively produce and sell the weapons given to Israel, which are then used to carry out the televised genocide.

FSU sophomore JJ Glueck has been organizing with the Tallahassee SDS for the better part of a year now and was beyond enthusiastic to talk about FSU’s involvement with the genocide, and her own, deeply passionate reasons for activism.

Glueck stated, “If you, as a person in Palestine who has experienced genocide, can continue to resist and speak, the least I can do is speak up for them in my own country, playground, and backyard and try my absolute best to demand FSU divest from Israel.

Glueck’s advocacy, and “radicalization,” as she puts it, is anything but new, with roots tracing far back to her youth. Glueck was in elementary school during the Ferguson unrest - a series of large-scale protests against police violence and militarization, sparked by the killing of African American Michael Brown in Saint Louis, Missouri. She witnessed the protests firsthand from her car window.

This experience had certainly taken root in her; by the time she had moved to Florida and the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 had begun, she was out there with the rest of them – organizing and doing the work.

“I saw what police officers did to protesters. I saw it when I was young in Saint Louis, and I saw it again in Florida – I saw what police did to Black people. That was my radicalizing experience.” Glueck’s passion for advocacy didn’t end at racial injustice in America, however. The similarities between the struggles of African Americans in the U.S. and Palestinians in the Middle East were a turning point for Glueck.

“I think back to what I remember of the Ferguson [unrest], I remember seeing that from a car, but also seeing it on the news, and seeing the way the police responded to those protests; seeing the way the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] responds to the people of Palestine, if you take out the headlines, it’s the same god damn thing. It’s so eerily similar, and they’re shooting people in the streets, massive amounts of people, our police don’t look that different - it should terrify all Americans,” stated Glueck.

Repression at FSU

During the wave of pro-Palestinian student encampments across the country, FSU students held their own, only for campus police to relocate the protesters several times, ultimately turning on sprinklers to disburse demonstrators.

Tallahassee’s SDS was then interrupted again by campus police. During SDS’s general body meeting set to discuss tactics on keeping protests safe, campus police arrived and ordered them to relocate from the Landis Green, despite it being designated as a “free speech zone.”

Police presence escalated further after Ron Desantis signed a bill into law banning DEI initiatives in public Florida colleges. SDS held a protest in opposition to the law, only for police to watch from afar in a militarized armored vehicle, as what Glueck described to be an intimidation tactic.

Then, Tallahassee’s SDS was de-listed as a registered student organization after protesting at the university’s board of trustees meeting. The university alleged that the students failed to leave after being asked by police, despite video evidence of the contrary. Tallahassee’s SDS released a statement condemning the university’s decision, alleging that FSU has “shown their fear of the student movement by wielding campus police in cowardice.”

At the time of writing, members of Tallahassee’s SDS are currently undergoing mandatory disciplinary hearings at the hands of the FSU administration. Considering the University of South Florida’s willingness to expel student protesters, these disciplinary hearings aren’t to be ignored, and could have grave, disproportionate consequences for the students activists involved.

Students across Florida have shown their teeth, and university administrations have done the same. If the suppression of FSU students is anything to go off of, life as a politically conscious Florida college student may just get worse – somehow. Only continued activism and organizing can prevent this and build the student movement into an even more powerful vehicle for striking blows against this rotten system.

#TallahasseeFL #Tally #TallySDS #SDS #FAMU #FSU #Desantis #NorthropGrumman #LockheedMartin #Boeing #FreePalestine

Seattle, WA – At 8 p.m., September 22, at the Boeing 2-122 building, striking machinists held down the round-the-clock picket line.

“We’re asking for more than they’re offering,” said Shane Vanpelt, a Boeing machinist and IAM member. He said that Boeing is “gonna lay everyone off, well, you’re going to have layoffs anyways. We know this because we know Boeing’s history, and if nothing else, they’re predictable. They’re going to lay people off regardless, but that’s not up to us. What’s up to us is trying to get the best deal possible for everyone, so we’ve got no choice but to strike.”

In 2008, amidst an economic recession, 27,000 Boeing machinists went on strike for 57 days over outsourcing, job security, pay and benefits among other issues. After reaching a tentative agreement with the company, they were able to win several concessions, notably protection against outsourcing. In the first quarter of the next year, the company laid off at least 10,000 workers, or approximately 6% of the workforce.

“It’s us against Boeing,” said Vanpelt. “They’ve shown their true colors. That’s why we’re here. 96% is solid. We’re being painted out as the bad guy, I’m feeding my kids, we’re all out here trying to feed our kids.”

The strike authorization vote passed by an overwhelming 96% approval rate. Vanpelt stated, “It’s a very high bar that’s set for us to go on strike. That should speak volumes. We were so disappointed when we got this contract. We wanted something we would accept.”

When asked what people could do to support Boeing machinists on strike, Vanpelt said, “Public support, guys want people at the pickets supporting. We need more.”

#SeattleWA #Labor #IAM #Boeing #Strike #Feature

Boeing is one of the largest manufacturers in the U.S. and has close to 10,000 suppliers across all 50 states. They are also the largest exporter in the U.S. The ongoing strike has nearly halted the manufacturing of Boeing planes and is expected to have significant ramifications for the entire U.S. economy due to the size of the company.

The latest contract offer by management would have given at least 25% in pay increases to the majority of IAM members at Boeing. However, the union says that they have seen 20 years of mismanagement and concessions leading up to this moment. They say they have seen layoffs as a result of union work being shifted to the company’s only nonunion plant, and that concessions from past contracts over the last 20 years mean that this offer just wasn’t enough to for the IAM members to accept.

Fitch, a credit rating agency, said that Boeing “has limited headroom for a strike,” and that “an extended strike could have a meaningful operational and financial impact, increasing the risk of a downgrade.” The downgrade they are talking about would be moving Boeing’s credit to a category referred to as “junk” status.

Some of the key issues which the IAM members are fighting for include more job security, increases to time off and higher wages to make up for rising costs after recent spikes in inflation. The union members lost their pensions in a recent contract and say that wages have been stagnant for the last ten years.

The last time Boeing workers went on strike was in 2008, when they stayed out for eight weeks. In the last year, UAW workers went on strike at all three major auto manufacturers, winning huge gains. Shortly before the auto strikes, workers at UPS nationwide prepared to go on strike at UPS and won major increases as a result of their credible strike threat. More than a million union workers won pay increases of more than ten percent in 2022 and 2023.

With the strike at Boeing, the trend of building strikes and fighting for higher wages and benefits has extended to another major U.S. industry. Time will tell when and how the Boeing strike will conclude and in what industry the wave of major strikes will turn towards next.

#SeattleWA #WA #Labor #Strike #IAM #Boeing

New Orleans, LA – On Monday, July 15, protesters crashed Boeing’s anniversary celebration to demand that the aviation corporation stop arming Israel. That evening, Boeing celebrated its 108th year at the National WWII Museum’s “US Freedom Pavilion: Boeing Center.” Activists rallied outside and expressed disgust with the corporation.

“Boeing is not a plane company. It’s one of the largest and most egregious perpetrators of international violence, proudly supporting U.S. imperialism across the globe,” said Fionn Hunter-Green of New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports (NOSHIP).

Boeing has supplied the Israeli Air Force (IAF) for 75 years. It has sold various Apache helicopters, the B-17 “Flying Fortress,” and other military aircraft. Today, the IAF employs all versions of the company’s F-15 Eagle. These planes drop bombs over Gaza.

Protesters chanted “Booo Boeing!” and “Hey, Boeing, what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?”

Speakers saluted the march on the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and encouraged the crowd to turn out for the Democratic one, beginning August 19 in Chicago.

“Right now, protesting the Democrats is more important than voting. Protesting makes it clear that the Democrats are the enemy, the system cannot be reformed, and that change comes from the people in the streets,” said Maya Sanchez of Students for a Democratic Society.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Boeing #NOSHIP

Gresham, OR – On April 9, PDX for Palestine staged a demonstration, effectively blocking access to Boeing, a major weapons manufacturer. They voiced their demand for an immediate end to U.S. aid to Israel.

“Boeing has directly contributed to the death of Palestinians and the destruction of Palestine by supplying bombs since and long before October 7,” stated Kacey DeSantis, a member of PDX for Palestine.

Demonstrators stated their refusal to allow Boeing to continue operations uninterrupted while supplying a genocidal state with weapons. The crowd chanted, “Boeing, Lockheed, Honeywell, take your greed and go to hell!”

Cars lined up as employees tried to go to work and ultimately were forced to turn around. Police showed up ten minutes into the action and tried to intimidate demonstrators into leaving, but the crowd held strong until tow trucks were brought in, at which point the group was able to successfully exit without any arrests or injuries.

Mantak Singh, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, said, “If anything, today shows that Boeing was humiliated. Even with an army of riot police and tow trucks we left on our terms and we’re just everyday folks. If this is what we did for our first action, just imagine what we can do in our future.”

In their closing remarks, a member of PDX for Palestine vowed to continue the struggle for Palestinian liberation and an end to all U.S. aid to Israel.

#GreshamOR #PortlandOR #OR #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #FRSO #Boeing #Feature

The workers build F-15 and F-18 aircraft as well as other military equipment like drones and missiles. A strike at the Boeing plants is expected to significantly effect Boeing and also supply chains to the U.S. military.

The union is demanding pay increases to keep up with rapidly rising costs, and to keep retirement plans in effect, as well as to get rid of a two-tier system for Boeing workers which is currently in place. They say that over the last seven years, workers at the bottom of the pay scale received only 6% in pay increases, and workers at the top of the scale have seen no raise at all despite skyrocketing inflation and cost of living.

IAM released a statement that said in part, “It is the bravest decision a union member can ever make to go on strike, putting their family and loved ones at risk. We do not make this decision lightly or in haste, but do so in order to stand up for working people around the globe and fight for the contract we deserve.”

Unless a deal is reached in the next three days, IAM members at Boeing will be on strike.

#StLouisMO #StLouis #Boeing #InternationalAssociationOfMachinistsAndAerospaceWorkersIAM

A group of 176 Flight Line Inspectors and Technicians voted nearly 2-to-1 in May 2018 to join the IAM. Violating federal law, Boeing has refused to bargain with the IAM and resorted to harassing and unjustly terminating six union supporters on the Flight Line during the 2018 holiday season. The IAM filed unfair labor practice charges against Boeing alleging illegal retaliation for their open support for the union and Boeing’s refusal to bargain.

The regional director found five of six termination cases constituted unlawful discrimination against union supporters, including all three of Boeing’s alleged “bird-strike” cases, in which the company selectively and without precedent used safety inspection rules to unjustly terminate IAM members. This is the critical first step in an NLRB process that should lead to the return to work of these unjustly terminated workers.

Boeing is challenging the May 2018 NLRB election results despite the regional director’s ruling that the collective bargaining group of 176 Flight Line workers meets the requirements of an appropriate unit under the National Labor Relations Act.

Elected officials from across the country have joined the IAM in calling on Boeing to negotiate with its Flight Line workers and raised questions about Boeing’s repeated practice of fabricating safety violations to retaliate against union supporters at its South Carolina plant.

#WashingtonDC #PeoplesStruggles #NLRB #Boeing #InternationalAssociationOfMachinistsAndAerospaceWorkersIAM

Chicago, IL – At a Feb. 29 press conference held in front of the Boeing Company Headquarters, Kait McIntyre, former Boeing board candidate and member of the Anti War Committee (Chicago) spoke on the decision of the Securities and Exchange Commission forcing Boeing to allow a shareholder vote on a resolution that would force the corporation to detail its arms sales to Israel. Gwen Farey of 8th Day Center and the Midwest Coalition of Responsible Investment also spoke at the event.

Here are McIntyre’s remarks:

“I want to thank everyone for coming and everyone who participated in the collaboration that produced this shareholder proposal. Upon receiving this proposal, Boeing initially said the proposal could not be included because too few shareholders care about weapons sales to Israel. However, we found this inconsistent with the fact that in 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, millions of people across the globe protested against Israel’s assault on Gaza and the occupation of Palestine. This included a demonstration in Chicago that had over 10,000 people.

“We find Boeing’s view inconsistent with the fact that over seven universities in the U.S. have passed divestment resolutions including Boeing, due to Boeing’s weapons sales to Israel, including most recently the University of Illinois-Chicago. Sodastream, a company targeted by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement for operating a factory in illegal settlements in the West Bank, experienced a significant tumble in their share price in 2015 due to having to move to a new plant. We feel shareholders have the right to know that this kind of pressure and its consequences on stock value may impact Boeing if it continues to sell arms to Israel that aid its unpopular and brutal occupation.

“Amnesty International published a report on Israel’s war crimes during Operation Protective Edge that included use of bombs consistent with the MK-84. Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) kits are what make the MK-84 a guided weapon. On July 23 2014, 24 doctors and scientists published an open letter in a renown medical journal stating, ‘In the aggression of Gaza by Israel…we witnessed targeted weaponry used indiscriminately and on children and we constantly see that so called intelligent weapons fail to be precise, unless they are deliberately used to destroy innocent lives.’ This can only reflect poorly on Boeing – either their product does not work effectively or they are selling their product to war criminals. Yet, in spite of this, in May 2015, Boeing agreed to a contract to provide more JDAMs to Israel.

“However, our proposal wasn’t demanding an end to weapons sales to Israel, although I feel that, morally, Israel’s slaughter of thousands of Palestinians in a 50 day period, including over 500 children and over 250 women, warrants this demand. Our proposal was merely asking for transparency regarding Boeing’s weapons sales to Israel to allow other shareholders to evaluate and decide for themselves. But Boeing refused to allow even this small amount of democracy. Boeing felt justified in deciding unilaterally what shareholders do and do not care about and even went as far as excluding our proposal because it did not fit within their vision.

“It was only when they were forced to by the Securities and Exchange Commission that they included the proposal. We plan on making the most of this opportunity to not only educate shareholders but educate the community as well. We will unite those opposed to the occupation and opposed to those who profit from it and deliver a strong message at the shareholders’ meeting this spring despite Boeing's desire to silence us and to keep shareholders in the dark about the doings of the company they bought stock in.”

#ChicagIl #ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #PeoplesStruggles #Boeing