Tech Stands Up to Trump is the latest movement to protest the new President of the United States. Over 1,000 tech industry workers in California will march to the Palo Alto City Hall on March 14, also known in the community as Pi Day.
This demonstration will be yet another reaction to Trump’s immigration policies, most notably the recent Muslim ban and travel restrictions to foreigners. The U.S. tech industry is largely enriched by bright minds from all over the world.
So far, in less than a month installed in Washington, the new administration triggered the Women’s March nationwide and sparked the organization of two more mass protests: the March for Science on April 22 and the Tax Day March on April 15.
What is Tech Stands Up to Trump?
Tech Stands Up to Trump was born from an email rant by Brad Taylor, a software engineer working for Optimizely. The startup creates customer optimization software for other firms.
Taylor sent the email to a small group of colleagues who shared his views on President Trump’s policies. He and others were just as frustrated to see their bosses reactions or lack of.
So, after the email reached large tech communities, the need surfaced to gather all the dissatisfied people in one place. A Facebook group was created and a walk to the Palo Alto City Hall was scheduled for March 14.
Who will participate in the tech march?
At the moment of this writing, over 1,300 have pledged to attend the Tech Stands Up to Trump protests in Palo Alto. Over 6,000 people are listed as invited, and almost 9,000 are interested in the event according to the Facebook page.
Satellite marches are reportedly being organized in tech-heavy cities such as Los Angeles and Austin, Texas. Employees from Google, Microsoft, Apple, Tesla, Uber, and others are planning to march on Pi Day.
What could be the impact on the tech industry?
Although not directly derived from the Tech Stands Up to Trump movement, the industry has already seen some initial demonstrations that show the discontent among workers.
Last week, both Facebook and Google organized walk-offs to protest the executive order that imposed an immigration ban on Muslim travelers. A large part of the workforce from the biggest names in tech comes from Muslim countries.
Over the weekend, almost a hundred companies filed an amicus brief against the new policies. The usual suspects were among the signers, as well as Netflix, Spotify, LinkedIn, and SpaceX.
Tech Stands Up to Trump could force CEOs across the industry to take a firmer stand against legislation that threatens the stability of their work environment.
Such was the case of Uber’s Travis Kalanick, who dropped out of Trump’s advisory council after app users complained about the executive’s political decisions. Tesla and SpaceX co-signed the court documents after not doing so at first.
Source: Facebook
