Hundreds march for Gaza in Seattle on October 7

Seattle, WA – On October 7, over 500 protesters gathered Cascade Playground in South Lake Union to take part in a march for Gaza, calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and urging Seattle-based companies such as Palantir and Amazon to cut ties with Israel.

The protest marked two years since the start of the genocide in Gaza, a reminder that the struggle for Palestinian liberation remains urgent. The march began with roughly 200 high school students walking out of class to join workers from Seattle and beyond who had taken the day off in solidarity with Palestine.

The rally opened with speeches from tech workers, college students and a local Imam. Speakers called for solidarity between students and workers, highlighting U.S. responsibility in the genocide in Gaza and the role of major tech companies in enabling it. Many emphasized the power of labor, stressing that workers’ solidarity was essential to the broader fight for Palestinian liberation. After the speeches, the crowd left Cascade Playground and marched through South Lake Union to the site of Palantir’s Seattle office.

The demonstrators paused for a few minutes in front of the Palantir office, chanting “Join the workers’ intifada!” as Palestinian flags waved above the crowd. A representative from No Azure for Apartheid then addressed the demonstrators. They called for local tech companies and political representatives to be held accountable for their part in supporting the genocide of the Palestinian people. The speaker described how companies like Palantir provide cloud services, data analytics and AI infrastructure that are directly used by governments, including Israel. All of this, they emphasized, is made possible through the labor of tech workers whose code, data systems and infrastructure power the tools used in the genocide of the Palestinians.

“Many assume that tech workers are simply ignorant of their company’s role in genocide,” said Ben Wheelon, a local tech worker participating in the protest. “This is not true. What it is, is that the American education system has trained us since birth to view this as acceptable. Protests like this are not only important in calling out the CEOs, but also in showing the tech workers of Seattle that their luxurious lifestyles are funded by the blood of Palestinians.”

Because these systems rely on their labor, organizers argued, tech workers need to demand that their companies “disclose and divest” from contracts as well as partnerships that support the occupation of Palestine. The rally’s message on labor solidarity came through clearly as protesters tied the struggle for Palestinian liberation to broader workers’ movements around the world.

“Labor is with Palestine 100%” said Talison Crosby, a rank-and-file teamster with Local 174. “Dock workers are shutting down ports, and workers in Italy went on a general strike. When workers of the world unite, there is nothing we cannot do.”

After making their point in front of Palantir, the march pressed on to Amazon’s offices at the Spheres. Organizers reminded the crowd that Amazon, alongside Google, “holds a $1.2 billion contract under Project Nimbus, which provides cloud and AI services to the Israeli occupying forces.” Speakers condemned the company’s contracts and the retaliatory actions taken by Amazon to unjustly punish employees who express solidarity with Palestine. The speakers tied this to Amazon’s broader suppression of labor organizing over the years and how tech giants like Amazon constantly “put profit over people.”

The march concluded at the Amazon Spheres, where the crowd gathered to hear additional speeches from tech workers and activists. Speakers reiterated calls for tech companies to divest from contracts supporting Israel and highlighted the ongoing suppression of pro-Palestinian voices within Amazon.

One speaker, an Amazon worker and member of No Tech for Apartheid, discussed their personal experiences with this. “I read racist, disgusting comments about the Palestinians on Slack channels, and received emails from the company about their support for the Israeli government following October 7 [2023],” the speaker recalled. They further emphasized the role of labor in challenging corporate complicity, noting that collective action and worker solidarity are essential to holding companies accountable.

Izzy McCabe, speaking for Seattle Against War, one of the organizations behind the march, stressed “The Global Sumud Flotilla did not happen, it was organized. The Italian general strike did not happen, it was organized. It is critical that if you walk away from this action with one thing, I want you to walk away getting organized. Because that is what it will take to block everything! Because that is what it will take to win an arms embargo! Because that is what it will take to free Palestine!”

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