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> TECHLASH was on 4.18.2026.
HIGHLIGHTS
> Mo’s Experience of Discrimination at Google
> The Organizer’s Toolbox & Why the Fired 50’s Lawsuit Matters
> Clarissa Redwine on Tech Workers’ Wins and Industry Pushback
> Abdo on the Utlimate Goals of the Movement
> Inside Oracle’s Unwavering Support of Israel
> Alex & Cheyne Give Advice to New Organizers
Two years ago, Google workers protested the internal culture of hate and abuse against Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim workers, who were targeted and marginalized during the internal debate around Project Nimbus, Google’s $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government and military. Google retaliated by firing 50 workers. Now the workers are taking Google to court.
Techlash is a 9 hour livestream, fundraiser, and social media blitz event to commemorate the 9 hour livestream of the Fired 50’s original direct action two years ago. Tune throughout the day for interviews and discussions with activists and community leaders, some games, entertainment and plenty of chances to join in on the action as we flood big tech companies’ socials with reminders that the #techlash is here.
Keep scrolling for schedule and speaker bios.
livestream schedule
Eastern Time
Pacific Time
Session
12:00pm
9:00am
Welcome & Kickoff
12:30
9:30
Rotten at the Root: Silicon Valley’s Past and Present in Militarism
With Shazeda Ahmed & Becca Lewis
1:30
10:30
Hear from Mohammad Khatami, NOTA organizer and member of the Fired 50
2:00
11:00
Interview with Author and Organizer Claire Stapleton
2:30
11:30
NOTA International: Interview with Joanne from NOTA Ireland
3:00
12:00pm
Clarissa Redwine, Author of Against Tech Oligarchy
On her book, her organizing work, & her latest oral history project
3:30
12:30
First Hand Accounts: Interview with Paul Duke of the Thanksgiving 4
4:00
1:00
Info Session: Who are the Fired 50?
4:30
1:30
Conversation with Abdo Mohamed of No Azure for Apartheid
5:00
2:00
Michael Batchelder & Art Before Science Discuss Cisco & Bridge 2 Humanity
5:30
2:30
Inside the Fight for an Ethical, Sustainable Semiconductor Industry
With Kiran, Nick, & Afraz from UNCAGE
6:00
3:00
Success Stories with Joan Wright from Kickstarter United
6:30
3:30
Interview with Independent Socialist for Congress Kshama Sawant
7:00
4:00
Info Session: Who are the Fired 50?
7:30
4:30
Info Session: What is NOTA up to now?
8:00
5:00
First Hand Accounts: Worker Testimonials from the Fired 50 and NOTA
8:30
5:30
Live Correspondence from the Techlash-adjacent conference in Atlanta
9:00
6:00
Closing & Goodnight
speaker spotlight
Becca Lewis
Scholar & Researcher
Becca Lewis is an interdisciplinary scholar who examines the rise of right-wing politics in Silicon Valley and online. She holds a PhD in Communication Theory and Research from Stanford University and an MSc in Social Science from the University of Oxford. Her work has been published in academic journals including New Media & Society, Social Media + Society, and American Behavioral Scientist, and in news outlets such as The Guardian and Business Insider. She previously worked as a researcher at the Data & Society Research Institute, where she published the organization’s flagship reports on media manipulation, disinformation, and right-wing digital media.
Live on stream
12:30pm ET / 1:30pm PT
Shazed Ahmed
Scholar & Researcher
Dr. Shazeda Ahmed is a DataX Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles. Shazeda holds a PhD from UC Berkeley’s School of Information. She researches how ideologies including effective altruism and progress studies shift power and reshape the knowledge production, media discourse, and policy landscape around artificial intelligence. Previously, she has been a researcher at Upturn, the Mercator Institute for China Studies, the Citizen Lab, Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), the AI Now Institute, and Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy.
Live on stream
12:30pm ET / 1:30pm PT
Mohammad Khatami
No Tech for Apartheid
Mohammad Ehsan Khatami is a Software Engineer and Tech Labor Activist based in New York. He spent the bulk of his career at Google where he built core user experience features and infrastructure for YouTube Music and Google Search. Mohammad was fired from Google for his activism and continues to work as a Software Engineer. He earned his bachelor’s degrees in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Public Policy from Duke University.
Live on stream
1:30pm ET / 10:30pm PT
Claire Stapleton
Author
Claire Stapleton is a former longtime Google communications and marketing leader who became a central organizer of the 2018 Google Walkout. She is the author of Don’t Be Evil, a memoir about power, labor, and the unraveling of Silicon Valley’s ideals from someone who once helped craft its story.
Live on stream
2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT
Joanne Carney
Oracle Employees for Palestine
Joanne resigned from a director role at Oracle after 19 year tenure. She is the former lead of Oracle Employees for Palestine group and NOTA Ireland.
Live on stream
2:30pm ET / 11:30am PT
Clarissa Redwine
Author & Organizer
Author & Organizer
Clarissa Redwine helped unionize Kickstarter and organizes the tech labor conference Circuit Breakers. Her organizing work has been featured in The New York Times, the BBC, The Guardian, The Verge, TechCrunch, and elsewhere. And she has an active Kickstarter campaign to make an oral history of the tech union drive at Mapbox.
Live on stream
3:00pm ET / 12:00pm PT
Paul Duke
Google Thanksgiving Four
Paul Duke was fired from Google along with 4 others in late 2019 after labor organizing. Paul and their fellow comrades advocated for worker power and against Google contracts with CBP, ICE, and the US DOD. Now Paul wants you to fight fascism everywhere you can.
Live on stream
3:30pm ET / 12:30pm PT
Abdo Mohamed
No Azure for Apartheid
Abdo Mohamed is an organizer with No Azure for Apartheid and a former Microsoft worker fired for organizing a vigil & fundraiser for Palestinians killed in Gaza in October 2024. No Azure for Apartheid is a campaign of current & former Microsoft workers demanding an end to all Azure Cloud & AI contracts with the Israeli military and government. Under months-long pressure, Microsoft recently stopped selling a subset of its cloud and AI services to Unit 8200, the spy agency of the Israeli military.
Live on stream
4:30pm ET / 1:30pm PT
Michael Batchelder
Bridge 2 Humanity
Michael Batchelder worked at Cisco for four years, starting in 2020 with the acquisition of his company ThousandEyes. He left for a year and returned to Cisco/ThousandEyes in 2025, but chose to leave again after only a brief period once he learned of Cisco’s support the Israeli government and military, and of Cisco leadership’s retaliation against co-workers who called out this complicity as a violation of Cisco’s Global Human Rights Policy.
Live on stream
5:00pm ET / 2:00pm PT
‘Art Before Science’
Ex-Cisco / Bridge 2 Humanity
I was at Cisco for 3.5 years, until summer 2025. I was one of the handful of openly Jewish people who spoke up internally and the question was why weren’t more Jewish people able to do so? It was painful for me to realize how brainwashed we all were! I have thoughts on that.
Live on stream
5:00pm ET / 2:00pm PT
Nick Collins
UNCAGE
Nick Collins is a former Intel engineer who resigned in protest after helping lead an internal effort to challenge Intel’s deep business ties to Israel. He and others formed a group called UNCAGE, which demanded a ceasefire, human rights audit, and public accountability. Nick continues to support shareholder activism, including at Intel’s 2025 and upcoming 2026 annual meetings. He speaks on the moral imperative of withdrawing labor, the power of tech worker organizing, and the lessons of past divestment movements like anti-apartheid South Africa.
Live on stream
5:30pm ET / 2:30pm PT
Kiran
UNCAGE
Kiran began organizing for Palestine in 2019 after visiting the West Bank for the first time. Since then, she has worked with groups like the Tech Workers Coalition, UNCAGE, and No Games for Genocide to mobilize tech workers to take action for Palestine
Live on stream
5:30pm ET / 2:30pm PT
Afraz
UNCAGE
Afraz is an activist, faith leader and performance artist. He works at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on immigration advocacy campaigns and teaches weekly Qur’anic reflection classes in the Bay Area. He volunteers as a chaplain for incarcerated populations.
Live on stream
5:30pm ET / 2:30pm PT
Joan Wright
Workers Strike Back
Joan Wright is a tech worker organizer and member of Kickstarter United, which conducted one of the first tech strikes in US history, winning their second contract after a 42-day strike. She advocates for building a militant tech labor movement to combat corporate exploitation and war profiteering.
Live on stream
6:00pm ET / 3:00pm PT
Kshama Sawant
Congressional candidate
Kshama Sawant is an independent socialist and former Seattle City Council member who won landmark victories including the nation’s highest minimum wage, the Amazon tax, and unprecedented renters’ rights by using a class struggle-based strategy to build working class power. She is now running for US Congress as a revolutionary socialist candidate and has launched Worker Strike Back, a national organization aimed at building the anti-war movement and uniting workers across industries.
Live on stream
6:30pm ET / 3:30pm PT
Alex Samburov
NOTA
Alex Samburov is senior software engineer at Google who’s worked there for 7 years. He’s a member of NOTA’s organizing committee and one of the organizers behind Googlers Against ICE.
Live on stream
7:30pm ET / 4:30pm PT
