RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TO STAGE MULTIPLE PROTESTS OUTSIDE GLOBAL GOOGLE OFFICES AHEAD OF THE COMPANY’S SHAREHOLDER MEETING

TIBETAN, UYGHUR, CHINESE AND ETHICAL CONSUMER ACTIVISTS PRESS GOOGLE FOR CONCRETE COMMITMENTS TO ADHERE TO STRONG HUMAN RIGHTS POLICIES AND PREVENT ANOTHER ‘PROJECT DRAGONFLY’ DEBACLE

[LONDON] To coincide with Alphabet’s AGM, [1] on Wednesday 19 June 2019, Tibetan, Uyghur and Chinese rights activists, along with ethical consumer campaigners and supporters, will directly call on Google management to urgently and unequivocally confirm they will not re-establish business relations with the Government of China because of their current cyber security laws, mass cyber surveillance and human rights abuses.

Actions are currently planned in at least 15 cities worldwide [see list below], organised by Tibet Groups including Free Tibet, Students for a Free Tibet, Tibet Action Institute [2] and other Tibet Network members; [3] the World Uyghur Congress; [4] consumer group SumOfUs [5] and other activists from Chinese, Tibetan and Uyghur communities.

Following a carefully worded statement from Google CEO Sundar Pichai [6] implying that the company has dropped plans for a bespoke search engine for the Chinese market, codenamed ‘Project Dragonfly”, activists will press Google for confirmation that Dragonfly is definitely dead, and call for a major shakeup of the company – as outlined in the shareholder resolution [7] – breaking it up due to concerns about human rights violations.

Protests will be taking place at Google headquarters in the following cities:
Asia Pacific:
Australia – Sydney, 48 Pirrama Road – 12 noon to 1pm
Contact: Kyinzom Dhongdue kyinzom.dhongdue@atc.org.au, +61 2(0)416 695 590
New Zealand – Auckland PwC Tower 188 Quay St – 12 noon to 1pm
Contact: Thuten Kesang office@kesang.pl.net
Taiwan – Taipei No. 7 XinYi Road Section 5
Contact: Penghsuan Lee penghsuan@tibetnetwork.org +886 912 545 542
India – Gurgaon Sector 15, Part II Village Silokhera – From 9 am
Mumbai 3 North Avenue, Maker Maxity, Bandra Kurla Complex – From 9 am
Contacts: Thinley (Mumbai) +91 92055 13651, Tamdin Choedon (Gurgaon/Delhi) +91 82799 18103
Europe:
Sweden – Stockholm Kungsbron 2, 111 22 Stockholm – From 12 noon
Contact: Anita Hagelin tibetkommitten@gmail.com
France – Paris 8 Rue de Londres, 75009 Paris
Contact: Tenzin Jangchup jangchup6631@gmail.com
Germany – Munich, Erika-Mann-Str. 33, 80636 Munich – From 15:00
Contact: Peter Irwin peter@uyghurcongress.org
UK – London, Six Pancras Square, Kings Cross, N1C 4AG – 12 noon – 2pm
Contact: John Jones john@freetibet.org +44 7770681938
North America:
Canada – Toronto 111 Richmond Street West – 3pm to 5pm
Contact: Sonam Chokey sonam@studentsforafreetibet.org
USA Contact: Tenzin Sonam operations@studentsforafreetibet.org
Cambridge 355 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142
New York 111 8th Avenue, New York, NY 10011 – 3pm to 5pm
Los Angeles Playa Vista 12422 W. Bluff Creek Drive, Playa Vista, CA 90094
Seattle 601 N. 34th Street, Seattle, WA 98103

Contacts:

  • Mandie McKeown, International Tibet NetworkE: mandie@gmail.comT: +44 (0)7748 158 618
  • John Jones, Free Tibet
    E: john@freetibet.org
    T: 0207 324 4605
  • Sondhya Gupta, SumOfUs
    E: sondhya@sumofus.org

Notes:
1. Alphabet Inc. became the parent company of Google in 2015. Alphabet’s AGM will take place on Wednesday 19 June in Sunnyvale, California.
2. freetibet.org, studentsforafreetibet.org, tibetaction.net, www.tibet.se, friends-of-tibet.org.nz, tibetmx.org
3. International Tibet Network is a global coalition of 170 Tibet related organisations and groups worldwide – tibetnetwork.org
4. uyghurcongress.org
5. Sumofus.org
6. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/16/tech/google-china-ceo-sundar-pichai/index.html
7. SumOfUs’s shareholder resolution can be read at https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/000130817919000205/lgoog2019_def14a.htm#lgooga069 https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/000130817919000205/lgoog2019_def14a.htm#lgooga069