About 20,000 people attended Microsoft’s Ignite conference in San Francisco last month. Alongside conference attendees, current and former Microsoft employees and supporters of the No Azure for Apartheid movement held protests to challenge Microsoft’s contracts with the Israeli government and what protesters describe as the company’s role in enabling alleged abuses in the occupied territories. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Patrick Fort, a Microsoft senior engineer who resigned in protest at the conference, and Hossam Nasr, an organizer with No Azure for Apartheid who says he was fired by Microsoft.
Additional links/info:
No Azure for Apartheid Instagram and Linktree
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, «Microsoft cancels Israeli spy unit access after tech worker revolt»
Credits:
Post-Production: David Hebden
Transcript
The following transcript is preliminary and may contain errors. A verified version will be published when available.
Maximillian Alvarez:
About 20,000 people attended Microsoft’s Ignite conference in San Francisco last month. In addition to official programming, current and former Microsoft employees and supporters from the No Azure for Apartheid movement staged protests at the event to press the company on its contracts with Israel. A clip posted to No Azure for Apartheid’s Instagram shows a Microsoft employee confronting Judson Altoff, a senior company executive, during the keynote.
Patrick Fort:
I am Patrick Fort. Until today I worked at Microsoft as a senior software engineer for seven years. I interrupted the Ignite keynote to call attention to Microsoft’s role, as I see it, in supporting actions in Gaza. I resigned on the spot because I did not want to remain part of work that I believe contributes to harm. My action was intended to show other employees that choosing personal and moral responsibility over staying silent is possible. I want Microsoft to stop supporting operations that harm civilians, and I support calls for Palestinian rights and an end to the violence affecting civilians.
Maximillian Alvarez:
I spoke with two members of the No Azure for Apartheid coalition outside the conference. I asked them to explain the protests and to describe their demands after their campaign helped prompt Microsoft to block some access by an Israeli military unit to certain cloud and AI services in late September.
Patrick Fort:
To summarize: I disrupted the keynote to make visible that some Microsoft workers refuse to be complicit in policies and contracts they see as facilitating harm. After seven years at the company, I chose to resign publicly to encourage others to speak up. For me, the issue is connected to broader patterns of violence and the responsibility of companies and workers; I want Microsoft to change its practices and for a peaceful resolution that respects rights and safety for all.
Hossam Nasr:
My name is Hossam Nasr. I organize with No Azure for Apartheid, a worker-led group of current and former Microsoft employees demanding that Microsoft end its involvement with what we characterize as Israel’s systems of military control and oppression in Palestine. We are protesting at Microsoft Ignite to signal that our campaign continues until our demands are met. Microsoft did announce limits on some cloud and AI services for a specific Israeli military unit (Unit 8200), but we consider that partial step insufficient. We are calling for a complete end to contracts that enable the Israeli military’s operations and are urging Microsoft employees and others to join our efforts. We intend to continue escalating actions – in offices, at events, and in public – until the company meets our demands and until we see meaningful changes.