Carleton University Pension Fund Divestment Campaign
SAIA Carleton Divestment Campaign Statement
Updated November 2, 2010
SAIA Carleton was formed in 2008 around the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against the state of Israel until it complies with international law. Given that the Carleton University Pension Fund is invested in four companies that are complicit in human rights violations and crimes under international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories - Motorola, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, and Tesco supermarkets - SAIA is calling upon Carleton University to divest from these companies, and implement a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) policy.
Our Campaign Recommendations
1. That the Carleton University Board of Governors, via the Pension Fund Committee, immediately divest of its stock in BAE Systems, Motorola, Northrop Grumman, and Tesco
2. That Carleton University refrain from investing in other companies involved in violations of international law (for recommended guidelines see Conclusions/Recommendations section of our divestment report)
3. That Carleton University work with the entire university community to develop, adopt, and implement a broader policy of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) for its Pension Fund and other investments, through a transparent and effective process.
We are currently soliciting support from the Carleton University community for our campaign recommendations. Once we have demonstrated that the Carleton community clearly supports our campaign, we will submit our divestment report, "Carleton University Pension Fund: Complicity in Violations of Human Rights and International Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories," to the Carleton Pension Fund for review and recommendation to the Carleton University Board of Governors. Our report documents how these companies manufacture weapons and weapons components that are used to kill and maim Palestinian civilians, support the illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian territories, and perpetuate Israel’s illegal siege of the Gaza strip.
How You Can Support Our Campaign
- If you are a Carleton student, staff, faculty, or alumni, sign our hard-copy petition
- If you belong to a Carleton student group, club, association, or union, have your group endorse the campaign recommendations
Click here to see the current list of endorsers
Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to sign the petition, endorse our recommendations, and learn other ways to get involved in the campaign!
Corporation Dossier
• BAE Systems: the world’s third-largest arms producer, it manufactures military equipment such as combat aircraft and associated components, as well as precision targeting systems. Through its affiliated companies, BAE has also been involved in manufacturing cluster bombs and nuclear weapons. Both BAE Systems and its Israeli subsidiary, Rokar, contribute to weaponry used by Israel to attack Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
CARLETON PENSION FUND'S INVESTMENT: $559,218.17*
• Motorola: involved in designing and implementing perimeter surveillance systems around illegal Israeli settlements and military camps in the occupied West Bank. Motorola is entrenching the occupation and solidifying military bases and illegal settlements as “facts on the ground.” Motorola and its subsidiaries also have hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts to supply the Israeli military with telecommunications technology. Several Motorola subsidiaries are involved in manufacturing watchtowers, metal detectors, motion sensors, military surveillance and communications systems, public announcement systems, and x-rays, which are used at the illegal wall, checkpoints, terminals, military bases, and settlements that Israel has established in the occupied West Bank.
CARLETON PENSION FUND'S INVESTMENT: $635,341.44*
• Northrop Grumman: one of the world’s largest weapons manufacturers. It produces all the fuselages, wings, tail, engine cowlings, canopies, and avionics containers, as well as the optional Longbow mast-mounted 360º radar, for the Apache AH64D Longbow Helicopter. Amnesty International has described the Apache AH64 as a piece of “key equipment used by the [Israeli military] in the [December 2008-January 2009] Gaza bombing campaign.” Northrop Grumman also assists in producing the Longbow Hellfire 2 missiles. The wide use of Hellfire 2 missiles by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians in Gaza has been clearly documented by numerous human rights organizations.
CARLETON PENSION FUND'S INVESTMENT: $468,590.40*
• Tesco: a large United Kingdom-based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain. Tesco has been a major target of social justice activists in the United Kingdom for selling produce originating from illegal Israeli settlements. In selling settlement produce, Tesco is ignoring the blatant illegality of the settlements and is facilitating their expansion and economic growth. The settlements are thus allowed to flourish and export their products, while Palestinian agricultural life—and thus the Palestinian economy—is decimated. Tesco’s supplier for these settlement products is an Israeli export company called Carmel-Agrexco, which is notorious for establishing its picking and packing factories in illegally occupied Palestinian territory. Carmel-Agrexco has also instituted a slavery-type system in which Palestinian children as young as 9 years old are put to work in its factories. Workers in the factory are paid less than $3 per hour, are not allowed breaks during 8-hour shifts, cannot unionize, and are forced to work without contracts.
CARLETON PENSION FUND'S INVESTMENT: $763,607.11*
*Market value of the investments as of May 31, 2010
Update: When we first launched this campaign in January 2010, L-3 Communications was included in the list of companies under review for its role in violating international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Carleton University Pension Fund has since withdrawn its stock in L-3 Communications as part of its regular investment monitoring process, hence L-3 has been removed from our divestment targets.
Campaign Endorsers
Ahlul Bayt Students' Association Carleton
Amnesty International Carleton
Bill Ellis Centre for Mature and Part-Time Students
Books To Prisoners
Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4600
Carleton University Graduate Students' Association
Carleton University Human Rights Society
Carleton University Somali United Students Association
Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Centre
Communist Party of Canada-Carleton
Critical Social Research Collaborative
Faculty for Palestine (Ottawa)
General Union of Palestinian Students-Carleton
Humanitarian Organization of Latin American Students
Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement-Ottawa
InSol: Womyn of Colour Collective
International Students' Centre
Muslim Students Association-Carleton University
Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Carleton
Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Hall
Resources
Campaign divestment report (PDF) >>>
Articles & Media
Carleton's war portfolio: Pension Fund invested in occupation of Palestine
By Aidan Macdonald
Published in The Leveller 2.3, January 2010
Carleton's war portfolio: Students demand divestment from apartheid
By Aidan Macdonald
Published on rabble.ca, January 22, 2010
Also published on ZNet, Global Research.ca and The Bullet
Looking back at Carleton's divestment from South Africa
By Alroy Fonseca
Published on rabble.ca, January 22, 2010
Press Release: Carleton Students Discover University's Links to Military Occupation: Launch Divestment Campaign
By SAIA-Carleton
Published on the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel website, January 27, 2010
Also published on Tadamon!
Students Against Israeli Apartheid Launch Divestment Campaign
By SAIA-Carleton
Published on Global BDS Movement.net, January 27, 2010
Also published on Electronic Intifada and Mondoweiss
SAIA urges university to pull portfolio
By Hillary Lutes
Published in The Charlatan 39.21, January 28, 2010
SAIA to Carleton: Divest from the Occupation!
By the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
Published on StoptheWall.org, January 30, 2010
Carleton University funds war crimes: report
By Sean Hayward
Published on theCord.ca, February 2, 2010
Divestment campaign kicks off
By Chris Herhalt
Published on The Charlatan, February 5, 2010
Walk the talk and divest
By Yasmine Abu-Ayyash
Published in The Charlatan 39.23, February 11, 2010
Divestment campaign has faculty's blessing
By the Charlatan
Published in The Charlatan 39.23, February 11, 2010
Profs for Palestine
By Aaron Nava and Joel Eastwood
Published in The Charlatan 39.23, February 11, 2010
Israeli Apartheid Week
By Sara Falconer
Published in Ottawa XPress, February 25, 2010
Seeding Divestment: Carleton's Yafa Jarrar discusses BDS Campaign
By Ali Mustafa
Published in The Dominion 67, March/April 2010
Boycott, divestment and sanction: Israeli Apartheid Week at Carleton University
By Heba Eid
Published on rabble.ca, March 1, 2010
Size doesn't mater . . . but apartheid does
By Aaron Lakoff
Published in The Link 30.24, March 2, 2010
SAIA seeks justice
By Sam Brimble
Published in The Charlatan 39.25, March 4, 2010
Israeli Apartheid Week stirs up campus
By Danielle Whittemore
Published in The Charlatan 39.25, March 4, 2010
International Letters of Support
BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call From Within Israel
February 7, 2010
