ISRAEL DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGN
A California initiative calling on public employee pension funds to divest from and to refrain from investing in corporations complicit in Israel's violations of universal human rights and international law
IDC is a participant in the international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign (BDS) initiated by Palestinian civil society as a non-violent means to achieve justice, equality and peace.
California public employee pension funds owe it to both the workers and taxpayers who contribute to them to invest in companies that respect their workers and honor human rights wherever they operate. Caterpillar is a company that flagrantly violates these principles in both in occupied Palestine and in North America. To learn more about this issue, click here.
In response to Caterpillar's abuses, IDC is launching a new campaign, appealing to California public pension funds PERS, STRS and LACERA to divest from Caterpillar. These pension funds have endorsed the UN Principles of Responsible Investment which should mean they are committed to respecting human rights and workers rights in directing their portfolios.
Let’s make sure that they do!
- Sign the letter to the pension funds.
- If you are a member of a union invested in these funds, bring the issue to your union local.
- If you are a member of a social justice group, bring the issue to your group.
IDC Campaign Updates
05.13.2013 IDC Update
Israel Divestment Campaign Challenges CalPERS to Do the Right Thing
[Video clips and transcripts of the IDC-related comments at the CalPERS Investment Committee meeting.]
Some 25 IDC activists and supporters, most of whom are CalPERS members, attended the May 13, 2013 CalPERS Investment Committee meeting in Sacramento after first holding a streetside demonstration.
Twelve IDC members from Los Angeles, Chico and the Sacramento area took the Committee/Board to task for
terminating the engagement process with Elbit and Veolia, and for refusing to investigate Caterpillar's role in Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands and its violation of worker's rights in North America.
Statements from Rabbi Lynne Gottleib of the JVP Rabbinical Council and Methodist ministers Larry George and Michael Yoshi were also read.