Microsoft employee protests reach peak amid unprecedented escalation..
Microsoft is witnessing one of the most violent waves of protests in its history, after current and former employees escalated their actions against the company over its contracts with the Israeli army and government, prompting the administration to declare an unprecedented state of security alert at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
The moves begin with a group of employees within the company who called themselves No Azure for Apartheid, a group that emerged last year with a petition of demands addressed to senior executives at Microsoft.The group demanded that all Azure contracts with the Israeli military and government be terminated, that all existing links be exposed, that a ceasefire in Gaza be called for, and that pro-Palestinian rhetoric within the company be protected.
Microsoft has not responded to those demands, prompting the group to organize bolder moves at the company's headquarters and events, all the way to the homes and offices of senior executives.Even as the company tried to reduce the size of the engagement, many employees continued to support the protests behind the scenes.The first petition did not succeed in making an impact, but it sparked a noisy demonstration in front of the company's headquarters and sparked a wide wave of public activism.Two of the group's leaders, Abdo Mohamed and Hossam Nasr, were fired after using in-house speakers and have since begun recruiting other employees from Microsoft and the tech industry in general, as well as members of the local community.The group later succeeded in disrupting major Microsoft events, such as the company's 50th anniversary celebration and the Build developer conference earlier this year.Theresa Hutson, vice president of trusted technology at Microsoft, came under direct attack on Aug. 7, when more than 30 people gathered in front of her home carrying Palestinian flags and banners that read: Wanted for Profit from Genocide, and protesters covered the sidewalk in front of her house with red paint and wrote Theresa Hutson's phrase "Kill Teresa."Hutson, who is not a senior executive in the company's hierarchy, presents herself as responsible for Microsoft's human rights file and oversees the AI Transparency Report, which has made her one of the figures involved in the eyes of the protesters.Hutson previously confronted the same group at a Seattle University conference on ethics and technology in June, and was forced to leave the hall after her intervention was disrupted.The sit-in in front of Hutson's home was a dangerous turning point in the level of escalation. Just days later, protesters moved to the company's headquarters, where they set up camp in a yard, before police intervened on the second day and arrested about 20 people.The operation saw violent altercations after the red paint was poured on the official Microsoft banner, while the group later broadcast videos showing a policeman firing a pepperball at a protester as he lay down and was tied up.
