Microsoft fires employees who organized vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza (www.seattletimes.com)
from geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to technology@lemmy.ml on 26 Oct 2024 09:59
https://lemmy.ml/post/21800855

Microsoft has fired two employees who organized an unauthorized vigil at the company’s headquarters for Palestinians killed in Gaza during Israel’s war with Hamas. Both workers were members of a coalition of employees called “No Azure for Apartheid” that has opposed Microsoft’s sale of its cloud-computing technology to the Israeli government.

But they contended that Thursday’s event was similar to other Microsoft-sanctioned employee giving campaigns for people in need. Mohamed, who is from Egypt, said he now needs a new job in the next two months to transfer a work visa and avoid deportation.

Google earlier this year fired more than 50 workers in the aftermath of protests over technology the company is supplying the Israeli government amid the Gaza war. The firings stemmed from internal turmoil and sit-in protests at Google offices centered on “Project Nimbus,” a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 for Google and Amazon to provide the Israeli government with cloud computing and artificial intelligence services.

#technology

threaded - newest

IcyToes@sh.itjust.works on 26 Oct 2024 11:35 next collapse

Isn’t it punishment enough having to use Azure? It’s worse than having to use Google Cloud…

CodexArcanum@lemmy.world on 26 Oct 2024 13:38 next collapse

IBM provided business machines (internationally, even) to Nazi Germany, probably a big help in bureaucratically processing those millions of murders they were doing. I can’t (or perhaps, “won’t” is truer) imagine how much cloud compute a modern genocide requires.

OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml on 27 Oct 2024 00:56 collapse

The Nazis couldn’t have done the holocaust without IBM, yeah.

MajorHavoc@programming.dev on 26 Oct 2024 14:11 next collapse

Why would Microsoft fire an employee for holding a vigil, it’s not like they …

…called “No Azure for Apartheid”

Oh. Thanks for drawing attention to this, Microsoft! I appreciate that they’re so willing to invoke the Streisand Effect.

I hope those employees land somewhere where they build something that costs Microsoft a lot of profit.

admin@lemmy.my-box.dev on 26 Oct 2024 14:21 collapse

Yeah, I don’t think they would have been fired if they had just held a vigil without shitting all over their employers brands.

heavy@sh.itjust.works on 26 Oct 2024 15:45 next collapse

To add some more context. Microsoft (and a lot of tech companies) have a relatively big presence in Israel, and that includes a lot of Israeli employees and acquired business.

AndrasKrigare@beehaw.org on 26 Oct 2024 19:43 collapse

Microsoft has fired two employees who organized an unauthorized vigil at the company’s headquarters

But they contended that Thursday’s event was similar to other Microsoft-sanctioned employee giving campaigns

Seems like employer approval is an important piece.

But I think the most interesting part of the article is

Nasr said his firing was disclosed on social media by the watchdog group Stop Antisemitism more than an hour before he received the call from Microsoft. The group didn’t immediately respond Friday to a request for comment on how it learned about the firing.

some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org on 26 Oct 2024 23:26 collapse

Fucking zionists.