A Propaganda Festival at UW

And other things that happened in Seattle this week.

Photo by Runkai Zhang on Unsplash

Just a quick week in review today with top hits, in case you were blinded by the sun this week and didn’t catch these updates.

First up, late last week, the University of Washington lifted the suspensions imposed on students who occupied a University of Washington engineering building last May.

The “UW 33” refers to 33 individuals affiliated with now-banned student group SUPER UW who were arrested after occupying the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building on May 5th, 2025 to protest the university’s relationship with Boeing and its sale of planes and weapons to Israel. Boeing donated $10 million toward the construction of the campus building in 2022. The protestors caused approximately $1 million in damage, including smashed windows, broken equipment, and graffiti.

Twenty-three protesters were suspended. Criminal charges were never filed, with the King County Prosecutor’s Office claiming that UW Police did not provide sufficient evidence. The UW has admitted that the building had no internal security cameras.

TLDR: property destruction is OK in Seattle. But if you live here, you already knew that.

Also at the University of Washington, an all-day conference called “The World as Palestine” is being held today in the Husky Union Building. The event, hosted by the Middle East Center, includes panels and workshops about advocacy and activism. All the presenters fall into the extreme anti-Israel camp.

Most concerning is Majid Sharifi, a professor and the director of the International Affairs Program at Eastern Washington University in Spokane. In an interview with Propaganda & Co. (I’m not sure if this is supposed to be ironic), Sharifi discloses pro-regime viewpoints that align with the Islamic Republic’s hardline anti-Israel, anti-American position.

In the interview with host Ahmad Saadaldin — a former SJP leader who has promoted conspiracy theories — Sharifi claims “the US is a colony of Israel. It’s the tail that wags the dog.” He also expresses support for the Ayatollah, claiming his leadership is the only reason the country has not built a nuclear bomb, and says that the collapse of the regime would be the worst thing that could happen to Israel.

Less dramatic panel members include Anna Beyette, an organizer with anti-war group Resist, who has called former UW president Ana Mari Cauce’s legacy “one of corruption” and participated in an “International People’s Tribunal” on Gaza. Laila Taji with the benignly named Washington for Peace and Justice, which is actually a pro-Palestine advocacy organization, will host a workshop at the taxpayer-funded university this evening about legislative advocacy.

This event is of course protected by the First Amendment. But take note. The pro-Hamas energy that was unleashed on October 7th on campus will continue to give way to more anti-Western, pro-chaos, pro-totalitarian, violent viewpoints disguised as social responsibility.

Some good news is that the UW, which is under federal scrutiny, hired an outside firm to review and improve its code of conduct. This could at least have an effect on future rabble-rousers with a passion for red spray paint and hammers.

Lastly, on Sunday, January 25th, a rally supporting a pro-democracy, anti-regime Iranians will take place in Occidental Square at 1 pm. Tragically, the regime seems to have quashed the demonstrations in Iran, killing untold numbers during a media blackout last week. Go and support our local Iranian allies.

Shabbat shalom,

Emily

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