Divestment
Updated 2024-08-24
2024-05-15 University of California official says system has $32 billion in holdings targeted by protesters Investments in weapons manufacturers and a wide array of other companies by the University of California targeted by students protesting the Israel-Hamas war represent $32 billion – or nearly one-fifth – of the system’s overall assets, the system’s chief investment officer says.
UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher unveiled the estimate Tuesday at the first public Board of Regents meeting since nationwide pro-Palestinian student protests began in April. The calculation was in response to a letter he received last month from the UC Divest Coalition, which is scrutinizing the system’s overall $175 billion in assets. The group asked for the system to halt its investments in weapons manufacturers, the investment firms Blackstone and BlackRock, and two dozen companies across the entertainment, technology and beverage industries.
Bachher said that would apply to investments that include: $3.3 billion in holdings from groups with ties to weapons manufacturers; $12 billion in U.S. treasuries; $163 million in the investment firm BlackRock and $2.1 billion in bonds that BlackRock manages; $8.6 billion from Blackstone and $3.2 billion from the other 24 companies.https://www.yahoo.com/news/university-california-official-says-system-232316555.html
2024-05-13 Christian School to Divest From Businesses Profiting From Israel, Hamas War Christian seminary in New York affiliated with Columbia University recently announced plans to divest from Israel and other companies involved in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas militants. On May 9, the Union Theological Seminary in New York announced that its board of trustees had endorsed a divestment plan from “companies profiting from war in Palestine/Israel.”
“Over the decades, we have developed what are called ‘socially responsible investment (SRI) screens’ to express our values and not financially support damaging and immoral investments,” the seminary said in a statement. “With respect to companies that are profiting from the present war in Palestine, we continue to hold these standards high and have taken steps to identify all investments, both domestic and global, that support and profit from the present killing of innocent civilians in Palestine, whose numbers are now over 34,000—and a humanitarian crisis of ever-growing magnitude.”
Pro-Palestinian protests began at Columbia University on April 18 before spreading to college campuses across the U.S., with students calling for schools to divest from Israel. https://www.newsweek.com/union-theological-seminary-cut-ties-israel-columbia-campus-protests-1899854?
2024-05-07 Students Demanding Divestment: You’re on the Right Side of History Israel has damaged or destroyed every university in Gaza. But no university president has denounced Israel’s genocide or supported the call for divestment.
Stanford students are rising up for peace and justice. They have established a “People’s University” encampment and they are demanding that Stanford: (1) explicitly condemn Israel’s genocide and apartheid; (2) call for an immediate ceasefire, and for Israel and Egypt to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza; and (3) immediately divest from the consumer brands identified by the Palestinian BDS National Committee and all firms in Stanford’s investment portfolio that are complicit Israeli war crimes, apartheid and genocide.
At this moment in history, there are two related military occupations occurring simultaneously – 5,675 miles apart. One is Israel’s ongoing 57-year occupation of Palestinian territory, which is now taking the form of a full-fledged genocide that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians. The other is at Columbia University, where the administration has asked the New York Police Department to occupy the school until May 17. Both occupations are fueled by the Zionist power structure. Both have weaponized antisemitism to rationalize their brutality.
The students at Columbia are demanding that the university end its investments in companies and funds that are profiting from Israel’s war against the Palestinians. They want financial transparency and amnesty for students and faculty involved in the demonstration. Most protesters throughout the country are demanding an immediate ceasefire and divestment from companies with interests in Israel. More than 2,300 people have been arrested or detained on U.S. college campuses. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-gaza-war-bds
2024-5-06 Antony Blinken Greeted by Protestors for Palestine On Today’s Show: US Secretary of State in San Francisco, greeted by protesters with the mock blood of Palestinians. The East Bay City of Richmond, California takes a bold step to divest from companies that do business with the Israel apartheid State. And Nora Barrows Friedman talks to antigenocide students from coast to coast https://kpfa.org/episode/flashpoints-may-6-2024/
2024-05-06 War, Money, and US Universities’ Response to Israel Divestment Protests Yes, the peaceful protesters are interrupting the status quo—setting up encampments, even occupying university buildings. For instance, at Columbia University, students actually renamed the occupied Hamilton Hall, declaring its new name to be Hind’s Hall, after Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli armed forces, along with the rest of her family (and several aid workers), as they were fleeing their home in Gaza. The point of the protests is, indeed, to change the world: to stop U.S., including university, support of the devastating “war” (i.e., carnage). They’re not trying to eliminate an enemy but, rather, illuminate the situation—putting themselves on the line to do so.
Some of the responses to the protests are definitely illuminating. A statement from UCLA’s Palestine Solidarity Encampment, for instance, noted:
The life-threatening assault we face tonight is nothing less than a horrifying, despicable act of terror. For over seven hours, Zionist aggressors hurled gas canisters, sprayed pepper spray, and threw fireworks and bricks into our encampment. They broke our barriers repeatedly, clearly in an attempt to kill us.
Furthermore, the account continued: “Campus safety left within minutes, external security the university hired for ‘backup’ watched, filmed, and laughed on the side as the immediate danger inflicted upon us escalated. Law enforcement simply stood at the edge of the lawn and refused to budge as we screamed for their help. . . .
“The university would rather see us dead than divest. “https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/campus-protests
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