Posts Tagged Divestment

UCSD Council Delays Decision On Human Rights Violations

Apr 30

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Council Delays Decision On Human Rights Violations

After emotional public input and a complete rewrite of the divestment resolution, proponents plan to reintroduce original language next week.

John Hanacek/Guardian

Hundreds of students gathered at the A.S. Forum last night to watch the council debate a controversial resolution calling for the University of California to stop investing in companies providing military technology to Israel. The resolution identified the Palestinian territories as being occupied by a military force guilty of committing human rights violations against the Palestinian people. The council ultimately voted 13-10-4 to create a committee to further discuss the resolution.

The resolution, which was modeled after a similar effort at UC Berkeley, called for the UC Board of Regents to divest endowment funds from corporations such as General Electric and United Technologies. According to the resolution, these companies manufacture technology used in military weapons and vehicles, such as helicopters, used in war crimes in the Middle East.

According to Associate Vice President of Enterprise Operations Rishi Ghosh — who helped draft the document — the resolution is not the first of its kind. However, Ghosh said, if it had passed, it would have been the first recognition of Israel’s war crimes to be approved at a public university. Hampshire College, a private college in Massachusetts, has already divested entirely from the state of Israel. (The resolution considered by the council last night only advocated a break from corporations said to profit from Israel’s alleged war crimes.)

The bill drew students from campus groups such as Tritons for Israel and Students for Justice in Palestine, who spoke during the public input period at the beginning of the meeting.

Campuswide Senator-elect Elizabeth Elman said the resolution encouraged the university to adopt a neutral stance in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by divesting from companies that support Israel’s actions in the conflict.

“I’ve heard that passing this resolution will divide our UCSD community on an issue that is far removed from this campus,” she said. “I would argue that we are already divided. I believe that discussing this resolution is the first step in reuniting our community. This resolution divests from American companies whose business solely benefits the war efforts of one side in this conflict will help restore the neutrality that our student body so vocally desires.”

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UC Berkeley Divestment Debate Shows Importance of Campus Divestment Movement

Apr 15

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The UC Berkeley divestment debate was a 12-hour nail biter. At one point, the Associated Students of the University of California Berkeley (ASUC) cast their vote: 12 votes to overturn veto of divestment at UC Berkeley. 7 votes in favor of veto. 1 abstention.

1 vote short of the number need to overturn President Smelko’s veto and divest from two companies–General Electric and United Technologies–that directly profit of off and sustain Israel’s military occupation and violations of Palestinian human rights.

But the debate raged on, and after 12 hours of testimony, debate, lobbying, and cheers, the ASUC tabled the motion to vote on at another time.

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What happened last night and into this morning at UC Berkeley was amazing. A diverse coalition organized around human rights, made up of Israelis and Palestinians; Jews, Christians, and Muslims; students and members of the community; people of color and representatives of the LGBT-Q community; organized to challenge a status quo of silence and support for Israel’s violations of international law.

When divestment was first introduced at UC Berkeley 8 years ago, student activists couldn’t even get ASUC to consider a bill. Now, a majority of ASUC Senators support the bill, and only 1 abstention blocked divestment.

Even that 1 vote wasn’t enough to kill divestment–the motion has now been tabled, and will be taken up again by ASUC next week.

Regardless of the final vote, this night will go down in history. How often do we have 12 hour teach-ins, with Holocaust survivors and Nakba survivors speaking out about war crimes in the presence of representatives from the Israeli consulate? How often do student governments hear testimonies from refugees, from people who lost relatives in the assault on Gaza, from Israeli and Palestinian activists committed to human rights?

Cecilie Surasky, of US Campaign member group Jewish Voice for Peace, Tweeted live from the debate. At one point she wrote: “This experience will change the lives of every student here. This discussion has to happen on every campus.”

We couldn’t agree more. This is exactly the conversation and the coalition building that needs to happen on every campus–the conversation about U.S. government and institutional complicity in Israeli war crimes, the conversation about what can be done to end that complicity, and the building of a coalition to do just that. The status quo–in Congress, on U.S. campuses, and in our communities–is silence and implicit (if not explicit) support for human rights violations against Palestinians. The UC Berkeley divestment debate has shattered that silence. We urge all of you to find your voice.

The decision to table the vote on divestment means that you can still send a message supporting divestment to ASUC student senators. Seize this opportunity to join one of the most interesting debates of our time, send an email to UC Berkeley Student Senators.

Source: EndtheOccupation.org Blog

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