Sundar and Me
How I tried and failed to have a dialog with one of the world’s most powerful people
I’ve been a software developer for 42 years at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, and Google. In all that time, I’ve never once had the temerity to directly email my CEO…until this year. Not only have I emailed Sundar Pichai, I’ve cced lots of people, and I’ve done so numerous times. This article provides a summary of my one-way conversation with one of the most powerful people on Earth, who happens to also be my boss (for now :).
In case the title doesn’t ring a bell, Michael Moore’s Roger and Me is an entertaining documentary with a serious undercurrent. The movie chronicles the filmmaker’s attempts to publicly confront General Motors CEO Roger Smith about the impact of GM’s massive layoffs on Moore’s hometown of Flint, Michigan. With less artistry, but with a similar sense of persistence, I’ve been on a quixotic mission to confront Google CEO Sundar Pichai about the impact of Google’s business relationship with Israel.
My unrequited pen pal relationship with Sundar started on April 5, when I sent him the following open letter:
Dear Sundar,
I was proud of Google when in 2010 the company decided to exit its business in China due to ethical considerations. Now, 14 years later, Google faces a similar dilemma with respect to its provision of Cloud services to a government that has a long history of apartheid and is currently engaged in a genocide of the Palestinian people. Time Magazine today reported credible evidence indicating Google Cloud services are being used to further Israeli military objectives.
As a Jewish person of good conscience and a Google employee of 13 years, I ask you to stand up for the victims of the horrible atrocities in Gaza and the occupied territories. Google should show the same moral courage exemplified in our decision to leave China, and respect the human rights of Palestinians.
Specifically, until Israel stops its genocidal campaign in Gaza, decommissions its illegal settlements in the West Bank, and dismantles its apartheid regime throughout the region, Google should terminate all business dealings with the government of Israel.
By taking a strong stance and speaking up for human rights, Google has the power to help stop the suffering being inflicted on the people of Gaza and the West Bank. Please make us proud to work for a company where “Don’t be evil” is more than just a catchy phrase.
A concerned employee,
Marc Cohen
The response exceeded my wildest dreams: hundreds of Google employees replied to that thread, sharing their feelings and experiences about how Israel’s attacks on Gaza and policies in the West Bank have affected them personally. But the coolest part, which I never expected, is that many of those people responded using reply-all.
For some of those folks, this was their first time speaking up about this issue, and they did so directly to our CEO. I found this both humbling and moving. Of course, many replied privately, due to the very reasonable fear of retribution and retalitation. More on this later.
Thus emboldened, I started a kind of petition but, in order to respect people’s privacy, I didn’t gather identities, only a count of people supporting the open letter. I also gathered optional anonymous personal statements and included those in an internal document.
To my surprise, the supporter count rapidly reached 1,000, at which point I realized this was no longer my letter, it now represented one thousand Google employees. With that in mind, I sent the following email on April 24:
Dear Sundar,
I signed my original open letter to you as “A concerned employee”. Today I’m writing to you, not as one Googler, but on behalf of 1,000 of your loyal and hardworking employees. One thousand conscientious Googlers have now registered their support for go/open-letter. I’ve added their comments in an appendix to the letter, so you can get a sense of the human reaction to Google’s role in the unfolding tragedy in Gaza.
As a reminder, the gist of our request remains as follows:
Until Israel stops its genocidal campaign in Gaza, decommissions its illegal settlements in the West Bank, and dismantles its apartheid regime throughout the region, Google should terminate all business dealings with the government of Israel.
We share this request with respect and sincere hope for a Google we can all be proud of. Please show us the same respect by providing a written response to this message at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
One Thousand Concerned Googlers
Surely Sundar can’t ignore 1,000 employees. Naively I waited for the reply that never came, from Sundar or anyone else in Google leadership. Meanwhile, people continued adding their support. When the count exceeded 1,500 on May 15, I sent the following email:
Hi Sundar,
Today is Nakba Day, which seems like an appropriately symbolic time to let you know that well over 1,500 Googlers have now registered their support for go/open-letter.
During a recent TGIF, Thomas Kurian emphasized how Google does business with governments all over the world, however, that doesn’t absolve us of our moral and legal responsibility to make sure those governments don’t use our technology to support war crimes and other atrocities.
As evident in the testimonies appended to our letter, many of our colleagues have lost family, friends, and community and suffered greatly due to recent events and long term policies in Gaza and the West Bank. For them, and for all of us, we continue to await your response to our request to terminate all business dealings with the government of Israel.
Thank you in advance for caring enough to share your thoughts with us,
Fifteen Hundred Concerned Googlers
After this correspondence, I noticed support for my letter leveling off, and still having received no response, I resolved to end my personal remake of Roger and Me. However, two things happened in early June that inspired me to send one last missive:
Hi Sundar,
I call to your attention two recent developments related to this conversation:
1. On 24 May, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled by 13–2 that Israel must (among other important requirements):
Immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Israel has ignored this ruling and increased its military activity in Rafah.
2. The United Nations annually publishes a list of nations that are endangering children and has announced that Israel is now being added to this list.
In light of the above developments, and the ongoing horrors in Gaza, which we are all witnessing on a daily basis, I reiterate this request from go/open-letter:
Specifically, until Israel stops its genocidal campaign in Gaza, decommissions its illegal settlements in the West Bank, and dismantles its apartheid regime throughout the region, Google should terminate all business dealings with the government of Israel.
This letter now has 1600 supporters and 50 pages of personal testimony regarding the impact these atrocities have had on a substantial number of Googlers.
Sixteen hundred of your loyal and dedicated employees await your response.
As I write this article on June 20, we’ve still received no response. In addition to our 1,600 supporters, the letter now includes over 50 pages of heart wrenching testimony from people whose lives, families, and mental health have been disrupted in one way or another by the genocide in Gaza.
In response to these letters, lots of people, both those in positions of authority and well meaning colleagues, have asked me to stop bringing politics into the workplace, or some variation on that theme. In fact, Sundar himself shared a message to all employees partly to that effect. Here’s my response to those admonitions…
The last sentence in Google’s Code of Conduct says:
And remember… don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right — speak up!
Those of us who are trying to convince the company to stop supporting Israel’s apartheid system and the genocidal campaign in Gaza are not engaging in “politics”. We’re doing precisely what we’ve been asked to do. We see something that isn’t right and we’re speaking up.
In closing, I want to note that countless people have contacted me privately to thank me, and I keep hearing this message over and over again: you are saying things we can’t say. I think it’s worth contemplating those words. What they tell us is we have established a culture where a vast number of our colleagues feel afraid to express themselves, unable to bring their whole selves to work. That’s not ok in any company, let alone one widely considered to be a leading light of technological innovation.
