Finance
‘Googlers against genocide’ lead sit-ins, protests coast-to-coast at tech giant’s offices
Google workers led sit-ins at headquarters from coast-to-coast, protesting the tech giant’s contract with the Israeli military and the company’s alleged complicity in the Israel-Hamas war.
Tech workers at both Amazon and Google have long-protested Project Nimbus, which is Google and Amazon’s $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government and military.
The tech workers, who organized the group “No Tech for Apartheid,” said that the Israeli miliary will use Google technology for “genocidal means.”
“It’s clear that the Israeli military will use any technology available to them for genocidal means,” the group said in a recent statement. “Google workers do not want their labor to power Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.”
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Demonstrators conceded that there was no proof that Project Nimbus was being used against the civilian population in Gaza.
“Technology should be used to bring people together, not enable apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and settler-colonialism,” the protesters said.
Tech workers staged sit-ins at Google headquarters in Seattle, Washington, Sunnyvale, California and New York City on Tuesday.
Google employees also demanded the company stop “the harassment, intimidation, bullying, silencing, and censorship of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim Googlers.”
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They also demanded that Google address “health and safety issues” in the workplace, which arose from the “mental health consequences of working at a company that is using their labor to enable a genocide.”
In Sunnyvale, California, approximately three dozen employees gathered, FOX 2 reported.
Demonstrators occupied the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian to read their list of demands.
Protesters were seen carrying signs reading, “No tech for militarism.”
Emaan Hasseem, a Google employee who was participating in the sit-in, said that the employees were fighting for protection of “Arab, Palestinian and Muslim” workers.
“We demand an end to the contract Project Nimbus,” Hasseem told FOX 2. “We demand Google execs drop Project Nimbus now. And we also demand that Google protects their Arab, Palestinian and Muslim workers who have been speaking out against Project Nimbus who have been facing harassment, suppression, retaliation, at work.”
WATCH:
Video from FOX 13 showed dozens of protesters rallying at Lake Union Park in Seattle on Tuesday.
The group was waving signs as leaders called for an end of the war with mega-phones.
FOX Business reached out to Google for comment.
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