It’s early morning, and Zelda Montes walks briskly through the crisp New York air as they head to Google’s headquarters on Manhattan’s 9th Avenue. Montes, who self-identifies as they, fumbles with their ID card at the entrance, blending in with the steady stream of Googlers swiping through the security barriers as if it were just another day at the office.
Armed with an oversized tote bag, Montes pulls back their purple hair and heads to the 13th-floor canteen to order their usual: a dirty chai and an egg, avocado, and cheese sandwich with a bowl of raspberries.
Their hands tremble slightly as they grip the coffee cup.
Locking eyes with two others, they get the signal that the coast is clear, head down to the entrance, and sit. The three Googlers unfurl their banners and begin chanting to demand that Google do one thing: Drop Project Nimbus.
But this will be the last time they sit inside Google’s New York office as Googlers, as Google itself refers to its own employees. “Getting fired felt like a possibility but never a reality,” remarked Montes, one of 50 employees fired by Google for staging a 10-hour sit-in at one of its American offices in April.
For the last three years, Montes has been one of several activists calling for Google to drop Project Nimbus, a partnership Google and Amazon have with the Israeli government reportedly worth $1.2bn.
At one point in the pandemic I worked for a sizeable tech company that was similar. They sent out an Zionism apologist email about how much the company supports Israel. STFU! We are the company, you wouldn’t have shit if we didn’t come to work. I know my colleagues well enough to know they are mostly NOT Neocons and Zionists. I was pretty pissed that they would say something political because it throws me into the position of having to address it because the “we” they used in the email makes it sound like I’m involved. I just work here. I don’t want any part of your corporate politics and I want you to know that when we seize the means of production (and your ill-begotton fruits of others labor) we’re gonna donate your yachts and bank accounts to help victims of Zionism and Imperialism.
Good lord, go outside and touch grass.
Is it the wording or the position ? Because I could imagine feeling equally enraged by this.
Mostly the wording, The only buzzword he left out was proletariat.
Every few months a news story: “Google workers in revolt over XYZ”. Then nothing changes. Not really a worker’s revolt then.
look into how a majority of their workers are H1B workers and why they cant speak up politically.
Yeah it’s sad. I mean it’s good, in a way that more people are aware of Nimbus now, but at the same time: nothing changes and some good people get fired over it, discouraging others to act in good faith for what they stand for.
I didn’t know about Nimbus. I remember having read something about Google+Israel in the past, but didn’t realize they were on board now.
All in all, fuck Google, again.
Would it be more effective to sabotage your own work in such a place?
That could get you in worse trouble than just getting fired.
Everyone makes mistakes. I know what my mistakes look like in general, and have the self awareness for plausible deniability. I’m not all that bright, so I assume someone in this position is more skilled and capable than I.
Depends on how many people are willing to take a stand simultaneously and how replaceable they are.
Similar to a union strike if enough people stop working the employer has no option but to cave in to the demands.
But the initial wave is usually the one meeting the most resistance when most people in a group aren’t even open to an idea. It takes brave people who are willing to take the initial stand when it’s still uncomfortable to do so.
Didn’t this happen months ago? They did a sit-in to whistleblow against Google supporting genocide, and got fired and arrested as soon as HR could process the afortmentioned firing
This guy didn’t think he’d be fired for doing this. How daft can you be?
They said it felt like a possibility. I don’t believe that implies they thought they wouldn’t be fired. We can think something is a possibility and prepare for it and still be shocked when it actually happens.
removed by mod
this sounds controversial but is actually the right thing to do, except the mass shooting part, reserve that for the c-suite, not the every day wage slaver
sometimes i imagine a world in which organized autonomous activists take out these capitalists and it really feels within reach
Depends if they are ideologically driven or just replaceable puppets. Most are of the second kind.
Israel would love to have some martyrs offered for their cause to whine about.
I recall an article about an Amazon employee going mad about his working conditions and shooting other workers in the warehouse. Don’t think he directed his anger correctly.
Anyone in tech who knowingly works for Google supports these things in the same way that anyone that works in tech who knowingly works for Meta support genocide and the erosion of the democratic process. I give the caveat “in tech” because there are some roles like content moderation or executive assistant where you really don’t have the luxury of a huge market working almost anywhere else that doesn’t support genocide and I don’t fault those faults for taking a job that has better benefits. My engineering peers? I judge them for it.
