Seattle, WA: Report Back from “Shutdown Boeing”

Report back on recent action in solidarity with occupied Palestine in so-called Seattle. Originally posted to Puget Sound Anarchists.

As the genocide in Gaza continues, it becomes clearer that the best show of solidarity those of us far away can give, is through targeting corporations that support Israel. One of those targets is Boeing. A weapons manufacturer that makes airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles, some of which are being used against Palestinians right now.

Feminists for Jina Seattle, an Iranian feminist collective, and Pacific Northwest Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria AKA Rojava Solidarity (AANES) put out the call to “shut down Boeing” on Friday December 8th.

A small crew of us went to Seattle to attend the action. We had little information other than the flyer that had circulated, but left feeling refreshed and inspired. We collaborated to share our experience.

Around a hundred people came out to the action. Walking up, we saw cops circling the neighborhood and initially the numbers seemed small. At the start people gathered to listen to the organizers’ tell their stories, they expressed strong connections and solidarity between Palestine, Iran, and Rojava. Then we broke off to block the facility entrances and felt energy begin to spark in the crowd.

Many actions recently, such as Port of Tacoma, have felt controlled by bigger orgs, or full of miscommunication. However it felt that we had picked up directly on what hasn’t been working and applied those lessons here. The action started off right through transparency of intentions: to block the workers from coming through by taking as many entrances as possible. Throughout the day, decisions were made collaboratively, information was widely shared, and megaphones were passed around to the crowd instead of being limited to organizers. There was also notably an actual respect of diversity of tactics, meaning no peace policing when some people took to tagging phrases such as “Boeing Bombs Babies” or “Free Palestine” on Boeing’s property. The group decided together how to best utilize our resources and block as many entrances as possible.

Although numbers were relatively low, people were energized. Honestly, it helped that it felt good to be there. The sun was shining and people were blasting music; someone asked for a boost and hopped onto a structure to hold a sign; people were getting rowdy while chanting and telling workers to “quit their jobs.” There was also no cop presence at the delivery center. This may have to do with Boeing’s own security detail being there.

Four of the exits ended up being blocked, so Boeing was not shut down. It’s hard to gauge the effect of the action and whether we disrupted work going on the inside, but a call was made to share with more people so “we can shut it down more militantly in the future.” The transparency about what was possible in the moment while dreaming bigger is what made this action a positive experience. Small actions like this can be replicated fairly easily, it just takes people to come together and hold it down.