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9 days after writing in defence of a Free Palestine, Paul Biggar is dropped from his director role at CircleCI (hachyderm.io)

submitted 2 years ago by danielquinn@lemmy.ca to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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His original post , titled I can't sleep, is some brilliant writing. When we talk about the chilling effect that criticism of Israel creates in industries everywhere (including ours) this is what that looks like.

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[-] library_napper 55 points 2 years ago

He attacked their investors by name and said they support a genocide. Either they back him and everyone looses their job or they fire him

[-] flumph@programming.dev 16 points 2 years ago

It isn't a shock. Right or wrong, if you call out your boss/board/investors, you should expect to be fired. Corporations are required to protect their shareholders, not make a moral stand. I hope the gentleman here understood that -- when you choose to take a moral stand, it isn't going to be without consequences. It's one of the reasons we generally admire people who took a stand (and ended up judged "correct" by history).

[-] library_napper 21 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Corporations are required to protect their shareholders,

Corporations definitely are not required to protect their shareholders, especially when those shareholders are championing genocide.

Anyway, this is yet another reason why for-profit companies should be illegal. The goal of an organization should be to help the world, not make as much money as possible.

[-] flumph@programming.dev 13 points 2 years ago

“Within the limits of their discretion, directors must make stockholder welfare their sole end,” Strine wrote. “Other interests may be taken into consideration only as a means of promoting stockholder welfare.” -- Chief Justice Strine, Delaware’s Supreme Court, 1985’s Revlon v. MacAndrews

[-] library_napper 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

First, this is just a US thing. But in the US it also used to be illegal to help slaves run away. Just because some judge says you have to do something doesn't mean you should do it.

[-] flumph@programming.dev 18 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

You're conflating my statement of "this is how you should expect companies to act" with "this is morally right" -- which was literally the point of my original post. You're either deliberately trolling or unable to engage in a respectful conversation. Have a day!

Edit: Oh and CircleCI is a US company, so you once again tried to change the topic to fit your point. Please learn to converse in good faith. Cheers!

[-] grue@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Counterpoint: https://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate-accountability-history-corporations-us/

[-] flumph@programming.dev 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

There's no counterpoint in that article. The article says that things should change. At no point did I say I agree with the status quo.

[-] library_napper 1 points 2 years ago

The word you used is "required" I'm pointing out that's false. The only person who can require you to do something is you.

[-] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago

You don't seem to understand what is required of whom. Corporations are required to act in the best interests of their shareholders (within the bounds of the law) or the shareholders can sue the company.

People are not legally required to do anything but they will be fired if they don't. If someone says something that makes a company look bad to their customers, they kinda need to be fired. Otherwise keeping them on may be detrimental to the interests of the investors.

Basically, you can say what you want but anything but positive attention may get you fired.