It is good to see Salesforce, whose billionaire CEO Marc Benioff has inserted himself in San Francisco politics to back higher taxes like last year's Proposition C, coming in for criticism over their contracting with Customs and Border Patrol (CPB).
Tomorrow at noon, there will be a demonstration against the company's tacitly aiding the agency responsible, along with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), for caging immigrants and separating families:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2752287111460118/
WHEN: Thursday Dec. 19, noon
WHERE: Meet at First and Minna, proceed to 415 Mission St. (Salesforce Tower)
Protesters previously made their presence felt at a Salesforce event in September:
You might ask why people are protesting a company like Salesforce that contracts with the agencies engaged in these inhumane practicies, rather than protesting the evildoers themselves.
The answer is two-fold – One, people have been protesting the agencies directly, such as via the extended encampment outside ICE offices in San Francisco until their free assembly there was shut down by the SFPD. Two, despite the usual sophistry justifying Big Government on the grounds that we are the government, it represents us, we can control its actions, etc., the reality is that it is often easier to apply pressure to a private company and get them to change their policies than it is to do the same to a government agency. Just because an entity calls itself "public" and is run by people who are democratically elected doesn't automatically make it more accountable to us than another entity that is for-profit and privately owned.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Polls show that more people find government to be a threat than corporations, In my discussions with more statist-oriented individuals, one frequent point of contention I've found that comes up is that many people
We wouldn't try to keep government power in check
By giving more power to corporations
Yet we try to keep corporate power in check
By giving more power to government
We let governments regulate corporations
But not vice-versa
Those who defend this status quo
Tell you it's because government is run by and for we the people
While corporations are run for profit
(Is it not strange that none of the "for-profit" institutions have as much money as "Uncle Sam"?)
Nevertheless, they tell you, governments are us
Hi, corporation!
Okay they aren't us but they represent us
We can tell them what to do
It's democratic
Well, okay, in practice the wealthy really do control government
When a company and a government have a relationship that we don't like
Why do we lobby the company to end its relationship with the government
Instead of lobby
Okay they don't represent us in practice but they do in theory
Those calling themselves governments have had power forever –
Kings, lords, aristocracies, have been around for many centuries
Corporations for only a few
We resent them the same way we resent the nouveau riche
But they too are institutions
And as such they remain dangerous
Regardless of what they call themselves
Headpalm!
Headpalm!
Headpalm!
The most common reason given by those who say we should institutions calling themselves governments
But not institutions calling themselves corporations