Did you know that the Portland State University School of Business partners with Boeing, the second-largest weapons manufacturer in the world, for a “supply chain” internship program? Sign our letter to the Dean of Portland State University demanding that they sever ties with Boeing!

Dean Cliff Allen,

We are writing to you with deep concern about the Portland State University School of Business partnership with Boeing through its supply chain internship program.

A large portion of Boeing’s profits come from producing deadly weapons of war. Even though it is not the company itself that pushes the button, it is the company that builds the missiles, bombs and vehicles that do the job of the militaries giving the orders. The company’s bottom line relies on the necessity for war, and a company like that is not one that can be relied on to work for peace.

Boeing is responsible for making the Apache helicopter and B-52 bomber, the missiles and bombs of which have been documented to kill countless civilians through poorly-calculated strike orders by it's users. In some cases, repressive states have deliberately used Boeing’s war machinery to target activists and other civilians under the poorly-defined label of ‘anti-terrorism.” The recently passed Anti-Terror law in the Philippines has already led to heightened repression of activists, including the arrest of youth activists. Now, more than ever, it’s vital that as a community we take a stand against the corporations profiting off these atrocities against human rights while washing their hands of the violence, and we must hold them and ourselves accountable by severing ties with them. Continuing an internship with a company who contracts with the US military, the world’s largest polluter emitting more greenhouse gases than many industrialized nations, makes PSU active agents in the atrocities committed against people around the world and the environment.

As environmental justice, human rights, anti-militarism and migrant organizations at Portland State University and the greater Portland community, we are asking that the Portland State University School of Business cut ties with Boeing. By providing a constant stream of interns to oversee the manufacturing of high-tech weapons of war, PSU is complicit in the political repression, violence, and ecological devastation created by the US Military. As a university of higher education, PSU has a responsibility to hold themselves and Boeing accountable by severing ties with Boeing and seeking dignified learning opportunities for its students in partnership with business and organizations that do not profit from ecological destruction and wars overseas.

Signed,

Anakbayan Portland
Sunrise Movement Beaverton
Portland Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines
International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines - Portland Chapter
International Migrants Alliance - Portland Chapter
Extinction Rebellion Portland
CODEPINK