Answering the national call to “shut down tech” on October 24th, autonomous groups of community members targeted Microsoft headquarters in Seattle, breaking glass jars full of “blood” (red paint) on its Executive Briefing Center building, pouring “blood” on the big Microsoft sign, and leaving behind the message “Azure: Drop Israel Not Bombs” painted in dozens of places. This action brought attention to companies in Seattle have with the israeli occupation forces (IOF), that many are unaware of.
A recent article in +972 Magazine exposed how Microsoft’s cloud computing software, Azure, has been crucial to the criminal military operations conducted in Palestine and Lebanon. The article, quoted an IOF colonel who said that the cloud services provided by Microsoft and other major tech companies have led to “very significant operational effectiveness” in the Gaza Strip. This officer further described the cloud computing capabilities as a “weapons platform” that included applications to mark targets for Unmanned Ariel Vehicle (UAV) drone strikes. In particular, +972 highlighted Microsoft’s Azure as the military’s main cloud provider.
Microsoft has shown time and time again that it values profit over people, whether that be the tens or hundreds of thousands of people it helps slaughtering, or its own employees it censors and fires for speaking out against the company’s unethical actions.
The main target was the Executive Briefing Center in which all of Microsoft’s executives meet, discuss, and come to powerful decisions, like those relating to war crimes and human rights violations. Every member who works in the Executive “Bombing” Center is aware of and complicit in the actions that the company is taking.
Where there is oppression, there will be resistance. And the movement will continue to expose and escalate against tech entities–like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon–that are aiding the israeli occupation and genocide.
submitted anonymously