EXCLUSIVE: Left-wing Google Employees Urge Company to Disavow CPAC Over ‘Ethno Nationalism,’ ‘Hate’

Left-wing employees at Google are pressuring the company to disavow their sponsorship of CPAC 2018. In a petition to management, the employees smear the conservative conference as a platform for “hate,” “xenophobia,” “sexism” and “ethno-nationalism,” among other alleged ills, citing points from Never Trumpers to back up their arguments.

The petition acknowledges that Google has to “reach out across the political spectrum” to “influence policy,” but in the same breath urge the company to retroactively distance themselves from this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), of which they were a major sponsor.

“We believe that Google has no business sponsoring conferences which host organizations and individuals that promote hateful, ethno-nationalist, sexist, xenophobic, racist, racist or reactionary views,” wrote the Googlers in a petition to management.

The petition was promoted by “Yes at Google,” the company’s official mailing list for social justice causes. Breitbart News has seen screenshots of the petition, and have transcribed parts of them below.

The petition calls on Google to “internally and externally” disavow their participation in CPAC 2018, citing a retroactive disavowal of CPAC 2012 as a precedent. According to the petitioners, CPAC 2012 was described by senior Googlers as contrary to the company’s values.

In late February, it became public knowledge that Google had signed on as a presenting sponsor of CPAC 2018, despite the past sponsorship of CPAC 2012 having been retrospectively acknowledged as a mistake by John Burchett and Larry Page “[P]eople and organizations are judged by the company they keep. And some of the views being espoused [at CPAC 2012] are at odds with Google’s values of openness and tolerance. So with hindsight it’s clear that we should have dug in deeper with the organizers before signing up.” This sentiment was later echoed by Rachel Whetstone at a TGIF in 2013.

CPAC “continues to showcase and broadcast ideologies that feature hateful ethno-nationalist, sexist, xenophobic, racist or reactionary views,” say the petitioners.

Here are the examples cited in the Google employees’ petition:

• The head of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, spoke at the conference at denigrated the survivors of the Parkland shooting as “opportunists” for speaking their views on gun control. Despite many organizations having chosen to donate behind a shield of anonymity, Google chose to sponsor in a highly public fashion, resulting in our logo being featured prominently next to the NRA logo which raises concerns for brand safety in the wake of the horrific Parkland shooting.
• CPAC communication director Ian Walters said at the CPAC Ronald Reagan dinner: “We elected Mike Steele as chairman because he was a black guy, that was the wrong thing to do,” which has prompted public controversy about the racial implications of the statement. After, American Conservative Union Michael Schlapp told Steele to show some “grace,” a racial dog whistle often invoked to demonstrate that successful people of color are ungrateful and have been given, rather than earned, their opportunities.
• James Damore, an ex-Googler who denigrated his female colleagues and was fired after deliberation at the highest levels, was a featured guest.
• This year’s CPAC featured a book signing of “Team Jihad: How Sharia-Supremacists Collaborate With Leftists to Destroy the United States,” prompting deeply unsettlng  anti-immigrant and anti-muslim rhetoric.
• At this year’s CPAC, a panelist (Mona Charen) had to be escorted by security out of the conference te to concerns about her physical safety after critiquing Republican party leadership over #MeToo.
• Several individuals and organizations featured at or attending CPAC 2018 actively work against rights for immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, environmental efforts and much more. Specifically, there were open white nationalists attending and exhibiting, a major climate change  denier was a featured sponsor; anti-LGBTQ+ activists shared the stage with President Trump and Vice President Pence.
• Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, a figure of the far right in France, was also in attendance and spoke during the conference. She has been described by moderate conservative commentators as an ethnonationalist and an anti-immigration activist,  and used inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric during her speech.

On two occasions in the petition — the example of Mona Charen’s panel and the criticism of Marion Le Pen — the left-wing petitioners referenced criticism from “Never Trump” conservatives to bolster their case against CPAC. Breitbart News previously covered the Never Trump whining campaign against this year’s CPAC, primarily over the inclusion of Le Pen.

Concluding that the “psychological safety” of Google employees and the “values” and “brand reputation” of Google have been compromised by the company’s endorsement of CPAC, the petitioners call on management to take three actions:

1. Internally and externally disavow our participation in CPAC 2018 as a mistake due to the platform it provided to hateful individuals and organizations.
2. Renew our commitment to no longer participating in conferences or affiliating with organizations which promote ideas or host speakers that are openly antagonistic towards individuals or groups based on their nation of origin, gender, color  of skin, sexual orientation, religious identity, and sexual identity.
3. Renew our commitment to no longer participating in conferences or affiliating with organizations which promote ideas or host speakers that are openly antagonistic towards individuals or groups based on their nation of origin, gender, color  of skin, sexual orientation, religious identity, and sexual identity. To the extent that explicit sponsorship of conservative groups is a strategic imperative, seek conservative organizations and events to sponsor whose viewpoints do not directly contradict Google’s stated values.

Google has extensive involvement with a number of left-wing conferences and activities that have not attracted petitions from employees. Their official “Women Techmakers” project organizes feminist initiatives around the world, one of which recently ostracized a female tech entrepreneur for being too conservative. According to a source at Google, the company’s official developer conference this year will also have “explicit race/gender quotas.” The company’s “Talks at Google” programme regularly invites left-wingers to speak — one example is Van Jones on “Can Computers be Racist?” As Breitbart News previously reported, the company also sells Black Lives Matter hoodies at its campus store.

Breitbart News previously reported on how a left-wing faction within Google aims to remove ad revenue from Breitbart and other conservative news sites. Members of the same faction are accused of deliberately intimidating and harassing conservative employees, with multiple examples revealed in James Damore’s class action lawsuit. The lawsuit also reveals widespread instances of sexism and racism against white males at Google.

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