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CREATED:20220902T214500Z
DESCRIPTION:9/8/22 NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION\nNO TECH FOR 
 APARTHEID\nhttps://www.notechforapartheid.com/#dayofaction\n\nAs the 
 Israeli military bombed homes,  clinics, and schools in Gaza and threatened 
 to push Palestinian families from their homes in Jerusalem May 2021, Amazon 
 Web Services and Google Cloud executives signed a $1.22 billion contract to 
 provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military. By doing 
 business with Israeli apartheid, Amazon and Google will make it easier for 
 the Israeli government to surveil Palestinians and force them off their 
 land.\n\nWe’re heeding the call from over 1000 Google and Amazon workers 
 to rise up against the contract, known as Project Nimbus.  Technology 
 should be used to bring people together, not enable apartheid, ethnic 
 cleansing, and settler-colonialism.\n\nFollowing in the footsteps of those 
 who fought to divest from apartheid South Africa and won, it’s our 
 responsibility to rise up in support of Palestinian freedom. The Amazon and 
 Google execs who signed this contract can still choose to be on the right 
 side of history.\n\nHere’s where you come in: Add your name below to 
 demand that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky, 
 Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian end all ties 
 with Israeli apartheid and cut the Project Nimbus contract. \n\nRise up 
 with us to say: No Tech For Apartheid.\n\n\nBackground\nStatistics\nStories 
 from Palestine\nStudent Pledge\nDay of Action\nGOOGLE AND AMAZON\nPOWER 
 STATE VIOLENCE\n\nAmazon and Google’s collaboration with Israeli 
 apartheid is part of a larger pattern of Big Tech fueling state violence 
 across the globe. Tech companies like Amazon and Google are the new war 
 profiteers and have dismal human rights records. Amazon helps power ICE’s 
 deportation-detention machine, and partners with over 2,000 U.S. police 
 departments to surveil and criminalize Black and brown communities through 
 its doorbell camera Ring. Meanwhile, Google sold artificial intelligence to 
 the Department of Defense to make its drone strikes deadlier and, despite 
 ending this contract after public and worker pressure, Google still holds 
 ties with the Pentagon.\n\nBoth companies claim to uphold human rights 
 commitments. Amazon released Global Human Rights Principles, promising to 
 “embed respect for human rights throughout our business.” Similarly, 
 Google states that companies "can make money without doing evil.” Instead 
 of living those values, Google and Amazon are putting profit ahead of 
 people by powering the Israeli government’s violence against 
 Palestinians.\n\nTechnology can bring people together—but when these 
 tools are used to harm communities, they make the world less safe for us 
 all. That’s why workers at Google and Amazon are urging their employers 
 to walk their talk on human rights.\n\nOur communities have risen up 
 against Big Tech before—and won. In 2020, Microsoft pulled all funding 
 from Israeli facial recognition firm AnyVision after sustained pushback 
 from ordinary people. This year, people across the globe campaigned as a 
 unified #FacebookWeNeedToTalk coalition, calling on Facebook to ensure its 
 policies don’t censor Palestinians and Palestinian human rights 
 advocates. Together, we can build a better world where all people, 
 including Palestinians, live with safety and freedom.\n\nGOOGLE AND 
 AMAZON\nENABLE ISRAELI APARTHEID\nThe harmful impact of Israeli apartheid 
 on Palestinians is well documented. Recently, mainstream organizations like 
 Human Rights Watch and Israel-based B’Tselem released reports echoing 
 what Palestinians have said for generations: the Israeli government is 
 running an apartheid regime.\n\nGoogle and Amazon are doing business with 
 apartheid. Palestinians are already harmed by Israeli military surveillance 
 and repression. By expanding public cloud computing capacity and providing 
 their state of the art technology to the Israeli government and military, 
 Amazon and Google are helping to make Israeli apartheid more efficient, 
 more violent, and even deadlier for Palestinians. \n\nTechnology should be 
 used to bring people together, not facilitate and entrench violence, 
 occupation, and land grabs. Google and Amazon’s cloud services may be 
 used to enable Israel's expansion of illegal settlements by supporting data 
 collection for the Israel Land Authority (ILA), part of the Israeli 
 government. The ILA uses discriminatory policies to expand segregated 
 Jewish settlements while trapping Palestinians in densely populated areas 
 and limiting the growth of Palestinian communities.\n\nBy collaborating 
 with the Israeli government and military, Amazon and Google are complicit 
 in enabling abuses such as:\n\n72,000\nPalestinians in Gaza forced to flee 
 their homes during Israel’s May 2021 assault\n600\nCheckpoints and 
 roadblocks controlled by the Israeli military that restrict Palestinians 
 from traveling to school and work and separating them from their 
 families\n80\nPercentage of Palestinians in Gaza who rely on humanitarian 
 aid to survive due to the Israeli government’s illegal 12-year 
 blockade\n535\nPalestinian homes and structures in the West Bank demolished 
 in 2020 to make space for illegal settlements\n20\nGazan families where 
 every single member was killed during Israel’s May 2021 bombing 
 campaign\n4,400\nPalestinian political prisoners incarcerated in Israeli 
 prisons\nPALESTINIANS DESCRIBE LIFE UNDER OCCUPATION & 
 APARTHEID:\n\nTechnology has the power to either expand freedoms or limit 
 them. They promised expansions and global inclusion, but for Palestinians 
 this has been a hollow promise, driven by politics. For example: Are you an 
 Israeli living in the illegal settlements of the West Bank? This item on 
 your Amazon wish list is on sale with a big reduction in pricing if you 
 chose Palestine as your location. Don’t even bother trying this if 
 you’re Palestinian - your package will never be delivered.\n\nMeanwhile, 
 Palestine is stuck with 3G networks (and Gaza is still on 2G), while the 
 world, including Israel, is anticipating the possibilities of 5G. This 
 leaves Palestinians with an underdeveloped and expensive connection, in 
 direct contrast with the other side of the political fence. Silicon 
 Valley’s tech giants show deliberate and systematic censorship of the 
 Palestinian narrative, which borders on a denial of our very existence. 
 These companies support a living apartheid.\n\n– AHMAD ABU SHAMMALH, 
 COMPUTER SCIENTIST, GAZA\n\nI am a computer geek and to me, software and 
 the latest gadgets are my whole world. But none of Google’s paid services 
 are available in Palestine. So, if you are using Google Drive and want to 
 purchase extra storage, you cannot do that in Palestine. If you own an 
 Android device, you will not be able to purchase apps. But, Israelis, who 
 live on the same piece of land, have the convenience of accessing all 
 Google services.\n\nGoogle signed a $1 billion contract with the Israeli 
 government to provide its apartheid regime with cloud services for the 
 Israeli military. This is the very same system that operates and controls 
 the gates, cameras and barriers [at checkpoints] that add to 
 Palestinians’ daily suffering. Not only has Google discriminated against 
 my country, but it has also gone a step further by partnering with the 
 militarised Israeli state.\n\n– AKRAM ABUNAHLA, GRADUATE STUDENT IN 
 LINGUISTICS, GAZA\n\nIn December 2019, Facebook deleted my account. 
 Supposedly, my perspective, interests, and lived experiences violate their 
 community standards, and I lost precious old memories that connected me 
 with acquaintances and friends. What’s worse, according to the Commission 
 of Detainees Affair, in 2018 Israeli forces arrested more than 350 
 Palestinians because of their posts on social media platforms. \n\nThe 
 severe restrictions on Palestinian content on social media platforms come 
 from the economic contracts between Israel and international corporations. 
 Israel continues its apartheid system toward the Palestinians even in the 
 virtual world. These high-tech mediums provided by international 
 corporations enable Israel to violate and access sensitive information 
 about Palestinians. Google and Amazonhave agreed to provide cloud services 
 to Israel which contribute to the strengthening of Israeli digital control 
 of cyberspace. But Israel can only continue to grab Palestinian land, break 
 international laws, and violate Palestinian human rights if it is not held 
 accountable by the international community.\n\nRead more\n\n\n\n– ISRAA 
 MUSAFFER, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, RAMALLAH, WEST BANK\n\nI can only 
 experience Palestine in the news, in pictures and videos, and through 
 texting my friends in Gaza. It’s a painful experience, to watch your 
 people’s oppression daily, unable to do anything. I spent most of May by 
 the phone making sure my friend was still alive during the Gaza 
 bombardments. What happened to Palestine is a perfect example of how 
 technology can take a dystopian turn in the oppressor’s hands. And now 
 Google and Amazon signed a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli 
 government, which will enable it to maintain and strengthen its apartheid 
 and occupation.\nRead more\n\n\n\n– JAN AMIN, BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 
 STUDENT, LIVING IN LEBANON\n\nTravelling has always been a luxury for my 
 generation, a fantasy we can only imagine and dream about. Instead, we are 
 forced to communicate with our own people through digital screens only, no 
 actual eye contact, no real gatherings, just virtual ones. I have an aunt 
 who lives in Egypt, and I barely remember what she looks like. When my 
 grandma passed away, my aunt couldn’t even say goodbye to her mother. As 
 Gazans, we are not able to travel and move freely.\nRead more\n\n\n\n– 
 BARAA’H QANDEEL, GRADUATE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, GAZA\n\nTAKE ACTION 
 NOW\n\nJOIN THE DAY OF ACTION:3 WAYS YOU CAN PARTICIPATE!\nFor over a year, 
 Amazon and Google workers and a coalition of 40+ grassroots organizations 
 have been organizing to end both companies’ contracts with the Israeli 
 military and apartheid government. The message is clear: tech workers do 
 not want to build technology used to surveil, oppress, or commit other 
 forms of violence against Palestinians. \n\nOn September 8th, 2022, Amazon 
 and Google tech workers will lead direct actions in front of their offices 
 in Seattle, San Francisco, and New York City to escalate the pressure and 
 demand #NoTechForApartheid!\n\nJoin tech workers and activists fighting for 
 Palestinian freedom!\n\nAttend worker-led direct actions in New York, San 
 Francisco, and Seattle:\n\nJoin Amazon and Google tech workers at their 
 offices to demand #NoTechForApartheid!\n\n\nNew York\nSan 
 Francisco\nSeattle\nTake Digital Action:\n\nClick here to email Amazon and 
 Google execs & demand they stop doing business with Israeli apartheid and 
 cut the Project Nimbus contract.\n\nTAKE ACTION\nShare Across the Internet 
 (#NoTechForApartheid):\n\nBoost the campaign in your networks and tell your 
 folks to take action at notechforapartheid.com.\n\nTWEET\nFACEBOOK\nIN 
 SOLIDARITY: ACTION TAKERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY\n\n\n\n\nJOIN THE 
 MOVEMENT\nENDORSED BY\nThis is a project of:\n\n \n\nFor press inquiries, 
 please contact us at:\nnotech4apartheid@protonmail.com\n\nHeader photo 
 credits: Ammar Awad/Reuters, Menahem Kahana/AFP, Josh Hough, Kashfi 
 Halford, Majd Gaith.\n\nThe name of our campaign was inspired by our 
 friends at Mijente's #NoTechForICE work; the #NoTechForApartheid campaign 
 strives to connect the experiences of Black, brown, immigrant communities 
 in the U.S. to Palestinian people living under apartheid and how 
 tech-fueled state violence impacts them. Click here to learn more about 
 #NoTechForICE.\n\n9/8/22 NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION\nNO TECH FOR 
 APARTHEID\nhttps://www.notechforapartheid.com/#dayofaction\n\nAs the 
 Israeli military bombed homes,  clinics, and schools in Gaza and threatened 
 to push Palestinian families from their homes in Jerusalem May 2021, Amazon 
 Web Services and Google Cloud executives signed a $1.22 billion contract to 
 provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military. By doing 
 business with Israeli apartheid, Amazon and Google will make it easier for 
 the Israeli government to surveil Palestinians and force them off their 
 land.\n\nWe’re heeding the call from over 1000 Google and Amazon workers 
 to rise up against the contract, known as Project Nimbus.  Technology 
 should be used to bring people together, not enable apartheid, ethnic 
 cleansing, and settler-colonialism.\n\nFollowing in the footsteps of those 
 who fought to divest from apartheid South Africa and won, it’s our 
 responsibility to rise up in support of Palestinian freedom. The Amazon and 
 Google execs who signed this contract can still choose to be on the right 
 side of history.\n\nHere’s where you come in: Add your name below to 
 demand that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky, 
 Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian end all ties 
 with Israeli apartheid and cut the Project Nimbus contract. \n\nRise up 
 with us to say: No Tech For Apartheid.\n\n\nBackground\nStatistics\nStories 
 from Palestine\nStudent Pledge\nDay of Action\nGOOGLE AND AMAZON\nPOWER 
 STATE VIOLENCE\n\nAmazon and Google’s collaboration with Israeli 
 apartheid is part of a larger pattern of Big Tech fueling state violence 
 across the globe. Tech companies like Amazon and Google are the new war 
 profiteers and have dismal human rights records. Amazon helps power ICE’s 
 deportation-detention machine, and partners with over 2,000 U.S. police 
 departments to surveil and criminalize Black and brown communities through 
 its doorbell camera Ring. Meanwhile, Google sold artificial intelligence to 
 the Department of Defense to make its drone strikes deadlier and, despite 
 ending this contract after public and worker pressure, Google still holds 
 ties with the Pentagon.\n\nBoth companies claim to uphold human rights 
 commitments. Amazon released Global Human Rights Principles, promising to 
 “embed respect for human rights throughout our business.” Similarly, 
 Google states that companies "can make money without doing evil.” Instead 
 of living those values, Google and Amazon are putting profit ahead of 
 people by powering the Israeli government’s violence against 
 Palestinians.\n\nTechnology can bring people together—but when these 
 tools are used to harm communities, they make the world less safe for us 
 all. That’s why workers at Google and Amazon are urging their employers 
 to walk their talk on human rights.\n\nOur communities have risen up 
 against Big Tech before—and won. In 2020, Microsoft pulled all funding 
 from Israeli facial recognition firm AnyVision after sustained pushback 
 from ordinary people. This year, people across the globe campaigned as a 
 unified #FacebookWeNeedToTalk coalition, calling on Facebook to ensure its 
 policies don’t censor Palestinians and Palestinian human rights 
 advocates. Together, we can build a better world where all people, 
 including Palestinians, live with safety and freedom.\n\nGOOGLE AND 
 AMAZON\nENABLE ISRAELI APARTHEID\nThe harmful impact of Israeli apartheid 
 on Palestinians is well documented. Recently, mainstream organizations like 
 Human Rights Watch and Israel-based B’Tselem released reports echoing 
 what Palestinians have said for generations: the Israeli government is 
 running an apartheid regime.\n\nGoogle and Amazon are doing business with 
 apartheid. Palestinians are already harmed by Israeli military surveillance 
 and repression. By expanding public cloud computing capacity and providing 
 their state of the art technology to the Israeli government and military, 
 Amazon and Google are helping to make Israeli apartheid more efficient, 
 more violent, and even deadlier for Palestinians. \n\nTechnology should be 
 used to bring people together, not facilitate and entrench violence, 
 occupation, and land grabs. Google and Amazon’s cloud services may be 
 used to enable Israel's expansion of illegal settlements by supporting data 
 collection for the Israel Land Authority (ILA), part of the Israeli 
 government. The ILA uses discriminatory policies to expand segregated 
 Jewish settlements while trapping Palestinians in densely populated areas 
 and limiting the growth of Palestinian communities.\n\nBy collaborating 
 with the Israeli government and military, Amazon and Google are complicit 
 in enabling abuses such as:\n\n72,000\nPalestinians in Gaza forced to flee 
 their homes during Israel’s May 2021 assault\n600\nCheckpoints and 
 roadblocks controlled by the Israeli military that restrict Palestinians 
 from traveling to school and work and separating them from their 
 families\n80\nPercentage of Palestinians in Gaza who rely on humanitarian 
 aid to survive due to the Israeli government’s illegal 12-year 
 blockade\n535\nPalestinian homes and structures in the West Bank demolished 
 in 2020 to make space for illegal settlements\n20\nGazan families where 
 every single member was killed during Israel’s May 2021 bombing 
 campaign\n4,400\nPalestinian political prisoners incarcerated in Israeli 
 prisons\nPALESTINIANS DESCRIBE LIFE UNDER OCCUPATION & 
 APARTHEID:\n\nTechnology has the power to either expand freedoms or limit 
 them. They promised expansions and global inclusion, but for Palestinians 
 this has been a hollow promise, driven by politics. For example: Are you an 
 Israeli living in the illegal settlements of the West Bank? This item on 
 your Amazon wish list is on sale with a big reduction in pricing if you 
 chose Palestine as your location. Don’t even bother trying this if 
 you’re Palestinian - your package will never be delivered.\n\nMeanwhile, 
 Palestine is stuck with 3G networks (and Gaza is still on 2G), while the 
 world, including Israel, is anticipating the possibilities of 5G. This 
 leaves Palestinians with an underdeveloped and expensive connection, in 
 direct contrast with the other side of the political fence. Silicon 
 Valley’s tech giants show deliberate and systematic censorship of the 
 Palestinian narrative, which borders on a denial of our very existence. 
 These companies support a living apartheid.\n\nRead more\n\n\n\n– AHMAD 
 ABU SHAMMALH, COMPUTER SCIENTIST, GAZA\n\nI am a computer geek and to me, 
 software and the latest gadgets are my whole world. But none of Google’s 
 paid services are available in Palestine. So, if you are using Google Drive 
 and want to purchase extra storage, you cannot do that in Palestine. If you 
 own an Android device, you will not be able to purchase apps. But, 
 Israelis, who live on the same piece of land, have the convenience of 
 accessing all Google services.\n\nGoogle signed a $1 billion contract with 
 the Israeli government to provide its apartheid regime with cloud services 
 for the Israeli military. This is the very same system that operates and 
 controls the gates, cameras and barriers [at checkpoints] that add to 
 Palestinians’ daily suffering. Not only has Google discriminated against 
 my country, but it has also gone a step further by partnering with the 
 militarised Israeli state.\n\nRead more\n\n\n\n– AKRAM ABUNAHLA, GRADUATE 
 STUDENT IN LINGUISTICS, GAZA\n\nIn December 2019, Facebook deleted my 
 account. Supposedly, my perspective, interests, and lived experiences 
 violate their community standards, and I lost precious old memories that 
 connected me with acquaintances and friends. What’s worse, according to 
 the Commission of Detainees Affair, in 2018 Israeli forces arrested more 
 than 350 Palestinians because of their posts on social media platforms. 
 \n\nThe severe restrictions on Palestinian content on social media 
 platforms come from the economic contracts between Israel and international 
 corporations. Israel continues its apartheid system toward the Palestinians 
 even in the virtual world. These high-tech mediums provided by 
 international corporations enable Israel to violate and access sensitive 
 information about Palestinians. Google and Amazonhave agreed to provide 
 cloud services to Israel which contribute to the strengthening of Israeli 
 digital control of cyberspace. But Israel can only continue to grab 
 Palestinian land, break international laws, and violate Palestinian human 
 rights if it is not held accountable by the international 
 community.\n\nRead more\n\n\n\n– ISRAA MUSAFFER, ADMINISTRATIVE 
 ASSISTANT, RAMALLAH, WEST BANK\n\nI can only experience Palestine in the 
 news, in pictures and videos, and through texting my friends in Gaza. 
 It’s a painful experience, to watch your people’s oppression daily, 
 unable to do anything. I spent most of May by the phone making sure my 
 friend was still alive during the Gaza bombardments. What happened to 
 Palestine is a perfect example of how technology can take a dystopian turn 
 in the oppressor’s hands. And now Google and Amazon signed a $1.2 billion 
 contract with the Israeli government, which will enable it to maintain and 
 strengthen its apartheid and occupation.\nRead more\n\n\n\n– JAN AMIN, 
 BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING STUDENT, LIVING IN LEBANON\n\nTravelling has always 
 been a luxury for my generation, a fantasy we can only imagine and dream 
 about. Instead, we are forced to communicate with our own people through 
 digital screens only, no actual eye contact, no real gatherings, just 
 virtual ones. I have an aunt who lives in Egypt, and I barely remember what 
 she looks like. When my grandma passed away, my aunt couldn’t even say 
 goodbye to her mother. As Gazans, we are not able to travel and move 
 freely.\nRead more\n\n\n\n– BARAA’H QANDEEL, GRADUATE IN ENGLISH 
 LITERATURE, GAZA\n\nTAKE ACTION NOW\n\nJOIN THE DAY OF ACTION:3 WAYS YOU 
 CAN PARTICIPATE!\nFor over a year, Amazon and Google workers and a 
 coalition of 40+ grassroots organizations have been organizing to end both 
 companies’ contracts with the Israeli military and apartheid government. 
 The message is clear: tech workers do not want to build technology used to 
 surveil, oppress, or commit other forms of violence against Palestinians. 
 \n\nOn September 8th, 2022, Amazon and Google tech workers will lead direct 
 actions in front of their offices in Seattle, San Francisco, and New York 
 City to escalate the pressure and demand #NoTechForApartheid!\n\nJoin tech 
 workers and activists fighting for Palestinian freedom!\n\nAttend 
 worker-led direct actions in New York, San Francisco, and Seattle:\n\nJoin 
 Amazon and Google tech workers at their offices to demand 
 #NoTechForApartheid!\n\n\nNew York\nSan Francisco\nSeattle\nTake Digital 
 Action:\n\nClick here to email Amazon and Google execs & demand they stop 
 doing business with Israeli apartheid and cut the Project Nimbus 
 contract.\n\nTAKE ACTION\nShare Across the Internet 
 (#NoTechForApartheid):\n\nBoost the campaign in your networks and tell your 
 folks to take action at notechforapartheid.com.\n\nTWEET\nFACEBOOK\nIN 
 SOLIDARITY: ACTION TAKERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY\n\n\n\n\nJOIN THE 
 MOVEMENT\nENDORSED BY\nThis is a project of:\n\n\nFor press inquiries, 
 please contact us at:\nnotech4apartheid@protonmail.com\n\nHeader photo 
 credits: Ammar Awad/Reuters, Menahem Kahana/AFP, Josh Hough, Kashfi 
 Halford, Majd Gaith.\n\nThe name of our campaign was inspired by our 
 friends at Mijente's #NoTechForICE work; the #NoTechForApartheid campaign 
 strives to connect the experiences of Black, brown, immigrant communities 
 in the U.S. to Palestinian people living under apartheid and how 
 tech-fueled state violence impacts them. Click here to learn more about 
 #NoTechForICE.\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/09/02/18851885.php
SUMMARY:National Day of Action: No Tech for Apartheid
LOCATION:@Embarcadero Plaza, then start the program outside of Google office at 1 
 Market Street!, San Francisco.
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/09/02/18851885.php
DTSTART:20220908T193000Z
DTEND:20220908T193000Z
END:VEVENT
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