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Students, Unions Cite Hi Tech for Increase in Inequality at Climate Rally

by R. Robertson
On October 14th, high school students and union members said the hi tech industry is fueling the climate crisis and economic injustice. They were at the People's Climate Movement rally in Mountain View.

Top photo: Kian Martin of San Jose's Lincoln High School. Kian said that, "As a queer second generation Iranian-American youth, I feel it is my duty to fight for climate justice".
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On October 14th, high school student leader Kian Martin spoke on stage at the People's Climate Movement Rally calling out hi tech for fueling the climate crisis and economic injustice. Braulia Flores Delgado, Service Employees International Union member and Google janitorial employee, said hi tech must not forget those service workers who are priced out of the area. Delgado said that unions are not only essential for workers but that hi tech employers need to have more respect for the unions.

The rally was held right next door to the massive Googleplex in Mountain View, California. Spokespersons for Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Facebook were on hand to both give their own speeches and to hear the concerns of union members and youth of the South Bay.

Speaking to the group gathered in the park, student leader Kian Martin said that, while growing up in San Jose he was constantly told that he lived in the heart of Silicon Valley and that the innovation of companies like Google and Facebook was at the root of his hometown’s success.

He said further: "What I wasn’t told was that employment in Mountain View meant displacement in The Mission. That privatized bus systems are accessible only to the affluent employees of select companies. That the same industry that we had centered our collective social and cultural identities around was fueling the climate crisis and economic injustice".

Continuing with a clear passion for the subject, Kian said: "My hometown of San Jose sees an 8% increase in rent every year, largely due to hi tech. As a queer, mixed race person, I am statistically far more vulnerable to unemployment than my straight, white peers. This means that I’ve had to come to terms with the very real possibility that once I’m no longer financially dependent on my parents, I won’t be able to afford to live anywhere near the neighborhood where I grew up."

He said that youth have no place at the table in the conversations being had and decisions being made about climate, and that young people must be included in order to achieve real climate justice.

Speaking further he said, "We don’t need greenwashed, corporate solutions to climate change. We don’t need superficial changes in infrastructure. We don’t need promises of 'a commitment to a sustainable future'. What we do need is for these corporate entities to hold themselves accountable by ensuring affordable housing, and ensuring that local Bay Area youth like myself are not removed from our own communities. To invest in our youth, and in frontline communities feeling the most serious effects of climate change. To advocate for real climate solutions in the spaces where they have influence. What we need is bold action on climate".

The Google bus is a symbol of Bay Area rent prices and escalating number of evictions triggered by the high pay and perks enjoyed by Silicon Valley tech employees. Busses swarmed the streets pulling in and out of the Google campus as the rally came to an end. One can be seen in the background in photo here of Facebook's "Green Sustainability Guru" Bill Weihl who spoke last with the corporate viewpoint.
§Google bus in background as corporate "guru" talks
by R. Robertson
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§Some enthusiastic students wait on grass for rally to begin
by R. Robertson
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§students and SEIU members in the crowd
by R. Robertson
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§SEIU in purple
by R. Robertson
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Braulia Flores delGado, who spoke on stage after this photo was taken, is second from from right.
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