Does your code kill Palestinians?
A letter from Hasan Ibraheem, a former Google software engineer, to current workers at Google, Amazon and Microsoft: https://hasanibraheem.substack.com/p/does-my-code-kill
Does your code kill Palestinians?
A letter from Hasan Ibraheem, a former Google software engineer, to current workers at Google, Amazon and Microsoft: https://hasanibraheem.substack.com/p/does-my-code-kill
Where lies complicity? Ibraheem:
"You can try and convince yourself, like I did for some time, that the piece of code you’re writing is so far removed from the contract that you aren’t actually doing any harm. (...) But what would you say about a janitor who sweeps the floors of a bomb factory? What about the person who cleans the bathrooms at Lockheed Martin? Would you not say any job at a weapons manufacturer is supporting it?"
Soooo what can you do once you've decided that you're going to do all you can to stop genocide in Palestine? Ibraheem suggests:
1) Organize
"You must join the other workers who are raising their voices against their employer for their support of this genocide."
Is organizing pointless? Not so, if you do it strategically, Ibraheem seems to suggest
"... when the cost of dealing with genocide exceeds the profit they make, will these companies stop."
Or, in other words:
Choose organizing tactics that exert actual pressure
Make sure that the cost of not giving in to your demands is larger than the cost of simply giving in to your demands
By the way if you're interested in getting started with workplace organizing in tech, the tech workers coalition has a basic guide to get you going: https://techwerkers.nl/en/resources/organize/
Another thing you can do if you work at Google, Amazon, or Microsoft is:
2) Quit or get fired
Ibraheem says it's actually better to get fired, because you can make a stink before they let you go
"If you can organize with others to make enough noise about the company’s support of genocide that you force them to fire you, it will draw attention."
Call to all workers at Google, Amazon and Microsoft! Are you tired of producing code weaponry to kill Palestinian people? If so, join:
No Tech for Apartheid: https://www.notechforapartheid.com/ (for googlers & amazonians)
No Azure for Apartheid: https://noazureforapartheid.com/ (if you're at microsoft)