Our community speaks out
We feel compelled to speak against the destruction being rained on the Palestinian people in Gaza and urge you to join the global chorus to end it now! There are hundreds of ways to support Palestinians and oppose this live-streamed genocide. We are happy to share your statement here, signed or anonymous, as a small part of the worldwide support for Palestine. Email us if you would like to submit a statement.
The people are with Palestine
❝Nothing — even (the many) injustices that have been inflicted on my own family and community — has made me feel more rage, hopelessness, and hurt than seeing the genocide our government has condoned and funded in Palestine.
The censorship of this issue adds insult to injury, and I feel impotent that I cannot even publicly like a ceasefire post on social media, as we’ve all seen incredibly talented people lose their careers for speaking up against Israel’s relentless bloodbath.
So I just want to say what an outsized amount of people are thinking but cannot say: the powers that be have lost their humanity but the people are with Palestine.❞
–Anonymous
As technologists...What kind of world are we building together?
❝One of the core reasons the data for good community has come together in spaces like LA Tech4Good is that it is not the default mode of our world to use data for good. This should alarm us all and it should give us pause when we applaud technological advances without caution or criticism.
The Israeli and American governments work closely with private technology firms like Palantir, OpenAI, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and more to weaponize data and technology against the entirety of the Palestinian people. They have been doing this somewhat under the radar and now it is much more public that tech is far from a neutral industry providing tools for purposes out of their control. Tech companies, their leaders, and their investors have taken harrowing public political stances and are actively throwing the full force of their capital, assets and power towards achieving the imperial goals of a minority group.
On a specific note, for years, academics and tech ethics experts have demonstrated how wildly biased and inaccurate artificial intelligence is when it comes to identifying individuals by name, face or location. Even if one believes technology should be wielded in this way, which I do not, these experts have shared piles of evidence indicating that AI is not ready for this type of use. And yet, we have seen that Israel and the United States are using AI to select targets to bomb Gaza. What this has resulted in is the mass murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians, the maiming of tens of thousands of Palestinians, the mass destruction of entire neighborhoods, and the displacement of the majority of Gazans. The disregard for human life remains increasingly astounding though not surprising given what I’ve witnessed on the ground by these same tech-enabled forces in Atlanta, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The facade of an apolitical tech industry is crumbling. As technologists, the time has come to be more discerning with how we use our own labor and resources. The consequences of inaction and apathy are dire. What kind of world are we building together?❞
– In solidarity with all who fight for liberation
Lex Roman, former tech worker
None of us are free until all of us are free
❝As a Black American whose DNA is inextricably linked to genocide, I stand in solidarity with Palestine and call for an immediate ceasefire now. None of us are free until all of us are free. FREE PALESTINE!❞
–Anonymous
Israel as a state was created out of Palestinian bloodshed
❝History will not judge Israel kindly. In fact there are already war crime councils investigating their actions. Simply, the Israeli government is racist. It’s racist to Ethiopian Jews, LGBTQ people, and most certainly to Palestinians. It is racist to Muslims.
The global north has carved out the Middle East for itself, through the Sykes–Picot Agreement, and placed authoritative governments to serve in its favor while civilians languish. Israel as a state was created out of Palestinian bloodshed. Every day of the occupation the Israeli state creates more people who hate it with its ethnocentric genocidal state. For example, when the IDF storms into Palestinian houses in the middle of the night; when they harass a young boy walking home from school; when they foster an apartheid state where Palestinians are neither trusted or dignified in their identity to roam freely in their land or vote. This is a state built on lies, destruction, hate, and bigotry.
The word Semite means anyone who is from Afro-Asiatic language family that includes Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Amharic. Arabs are Semitic. Ethiopians are Semitic. Jews are not the only semites, and they can certainly be anti-Semitic.
The fact is that while people cry anti-Semitism for supporting Palestinians, there are real homegrown white supremacist organizations that are actually anti-Semitic and those groups hurt us all.
Dr. Gabor Mate studies trauma and notes that children with the most trauma live in Gaza and the West Bank. How do you think those kids will grow up to think of Israel as they witness killings, bombings, and further dehumanization as they sit in an open air prison? Have you ever questioned why a group of people feel so wronged by an action to the point that it leads to mass protests, outrage, and frustration with authority? Did you ask yourself why were Black Americans so outraged by the death of George Floyd and what the build up to that event must have felt like? Or did you just follow along because it was popular at the time?
The people of Palestine deserve freedom. Their children deserve the same opportunities as Israeli children. Palestinian lives matter as much as Israeli lives. We must stop this genocide and deal with the trauma of the Jewish people without taking it out on Palestinian people. Only then will we move towards a better future for everyone. ❞
–Anonymous
There is no excuse
❝There is no excuse for this genocide.
The Human Rights Watch has labelled this a genocide.
The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights resigned stating, "we are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes."
The WHO found that every ten minutes, a Palestinian child is murdered in Gaza.
Yet it seems that the people in power within disproportionately powerful nations like ours are scrambling to rub two brain cells together to shock themselves into action.
I deeply appreciate LA Tech4Good giving us a space to voice out in public – what many of us have only been able to voice in the privacy of our homes, our closest friends – and to our representatives that refuse to listen.
There is no excuse. Ceasefire. Now.❞
–Anonymous
A culmination of years of Ẓulm (oppression) and injustice
"Those who are silent when others are oppressed are guilty of oppression themselves." –Imam Hussain A.S.
❝The atrocities taking place in Palestine [Filasṭīn], specifically Gaza, are a culmination of years of Ẓulm (oppression) and injustice that has unfolded into what we are today - a genocide. A blatant attempt to ethnically cleanse a group of people who have been trying to stay afloat since their homes were first invaded in 1967. As of today, nearly 90% of the population of Gaza has been displaced and countless children, men and women have lost their lives in trying to convince the rest of the world that they are innocent.
It is incredibly uncanny how the world seems to understand who the oppressed is and who the oppressor is in dystopian movies such as The Hunger Games while they are so “confused” on figuring out what side to take in this “conflict”. People are not misguided overnight. Israel’s tactic to slowly dissipate and destroy the people of Palestine has been an ongoing effort that has been carefully sowed for decades. We, as educated people, as people who have the freedom of speech, the privilege to witness the Holocaust of our time through our screens, have a grave responsibility to use our voices to advocate for the silenced voices of our Palestinian brothers and sisters.
I saw a post that recently that said “you can drink all the juice, do all the yoga, meditate everyday – but if your ‘wellbeing’ doesn't take into account the well-being of other humans elsewhere in the world, your concept of wellness is not only narcissistic privilege but ultimately, well, a spiritual and moral death.” Let us break free from the narrow-minded, capitalistic and inhumane concept that the West instilled in us that taking care of yourself means ignoring the suffering of our neighbors. These concepts are deeply rooted in the fabric of our nation and can only be undone one resistance at a time.
Free yourself from these shackles and demand a ceasefire now! Free Palestine!❞
–Fatima
Urgent action is needed
❝Amid the ongoing crisis in Gaza, urgent action is needed to alleviate the suffering of innocent civilians. The current situation, marked by immense violence, unprecedented loss of life, and destruction of infrastructure, underscores the pressing need for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Civilians in Gaza are enduring unimaginable hardships.
Humanitarian aid must be allowed to enter Gaza without delay. The people of Gaza are facing dire circumstances, including the destruction of vital infrastructure and lack of access to medical care and basic needs.
It is important to uphold human rights and ethical principles, especially in times of conflict. The protection of civilians and the respect of their rights must be at the forefront of any resolution. Human rights organizations have been clear that we are witnessing major war crimes and acts of ethnic cleansing. Year after year, Israel has continued horrifically bombing Palestinian people living under siege in Gaza. It’s extremely urgent to stop these massacres. The United States has stood by and fanned the flames of genocide, promising to send Israel more weapons and military funding. Politics-as-usual words of concern are unacceptable without United States policy change. It is crucial that the United States stop arming and funding Israel’s violence.
Peace is not possible without justice, which begins with an end to Israel’s military occupation, a resolution to disputes over Palestinian land, attacks on Palestinian lives, and a commitment to dialogue and diplomacy. Just and lasting peace can only be achieved through a comprehensive approach that addresses the root causes of the conflict.❞
–Roxanne García
We witness the Nakba of 2023, and we must not choose to look away
❝It is apparent that tech and data tools can be used to foster or hinder social change, and both of these dynamics are clearly on display during this most recent push of the Zionist's genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people and homeland. Moreover, it is important that as people dedicated to fostering social change through equitable and ethical data practices, we point out the parallels to how the technology used to surveil, suppress, and silence the Palestinian people can easily be shared between oppressive forces to surveil, suppress, and silence those invested in other forms of social change.
Amnesty International's report from May of this year details the many ways surveillance technology enhanced by innovations in AI and ML are used on the Palestinian people to reinforce the apartheid state they live in. And now, Knock LA reports that LAPD has purchased a subscription for surveillance software from Israeli company Cobweb Technologies, marketing specific "Civil Disorder Investigation Methodology" targeting protests driven by the people. In Anthony Lowenstein's book, The Palestine Laboratory, he outlines how surveillance technology is tested on the Palestinian people and then sold at a profit to police and government organizations around the world. These tactics are scarily similar – but with significantly improved efficiency – to those instances we swore would happen "Never Again", from the Holocaust to Japanese American incarceration.
But through innovations in technology, we are seeing the ruthlessness of these tactics through our own eyes. We may not have been able to witness the Nakba of 1948, we are certainly able to witness the Nakba of 2023, and we must not choose to look away. Instead, we are obliged to fight for our fellow person, and demand an immediate and permanent end to death and suffering. Ceasefire Now, Free Palestine Forever.❞
–Cindy Lin, Data Product Management Consultant
Cindy Lin Consulting
Palestinians have the right to self determination and a free Palestine
❝The attempt to eradicate Palestinians from Gaza brings to mind images of the forced expulsion of Armenians from the Ottoman Empire during World War I, the Trail of Tears – “Indian Removal” – from the American South in the mid 1800s, and, yes, Jews being loaded onto trains to be sent to concentration camps by Hitler Germany in WW2. Palestinians’ land was stolen 75 years ago in the Nakba and therein lies a major source of the “Middle East problem.”
It also brings to mind its very opposite: the 40 days of Armenian resistance at Musa Dagh, the Wounded Knee Occupation of 1973, and the Warsaw ghetto uprising, to say nothing of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the fall of Saigon in 1975 that ended the Vietnam War, and the Black Lives Matter upsurge of 2020.
Now the whole world is watching as press on the ground and young Gazan street reporters with only cell phones show flattened homes and hospitals, and massive death and destruction. Gazans are being encircled with no place to go in the most intensive bombardment in human history. This is wrong.
Palestinians have not surrendered in the face of attacks on their olive trees, their flag, their homes, their culture. They have the right to self determination and a free Palestine.❞
–Karen Borchgrevink
Founder and Executive Director
LA Tech4Good
It means so much to see organizations publicly demonstrate “tech for good”
❝I just want to extend my deepest thanks for speaking up on the Palestinian genocide. It means so much to me to see other organizations model and publicly demonstrate what it means to be "tech for good," especially in one of the darkest hours of history.
Thank you, please keep speaking out, and know that you have my full support!❞
–Anonymous
Join the global chorus!
Protest, sign letters, speak out, follow Gaza youth reporters on Instagram and TikTok, watch Palestinian films, donate to news agencies, attend teach-ins, study history, pressure your politicians, and be creative!
And please reach out via email if you would like to share your statement, short or long, tech related or not, signed or anonymous.