[Occupymendocino] ethical investing and TIA-CREFF

Tue Mar 26 23:00:38 PDT 2013

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
March 26, 2013

*Contact:* We Divest Campaign, *info at wedivest.org*

*CREF Deaf to Shareholders’ Socially Responsible Investment Concerns:*
*Retirement Giant Refuses to Place Human Rights Issue on its Shareholder
Ballot*

ST LOUIS – TIAA-CREF has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
to protect it from liability for refusing to allow its participants to vote
on a shareholder
proposal<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BblefIZLQZeVH4FvlVP%2FndFLALTtcIEO>.
The
proposal, submitted by over 200
clients<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ffp2%2FD83wz%2BoEfqSfh9MAtFLALTtcIEO>,
asks trustees to end investments in companies that profit from serious
human rights violations, including those profiting from Israel’s occupation
of Palestinian lands.

The proposal cites as one example Veolia Environnement, a company
profiting<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=L12VSq2PXjFgDrlnsusHtNFLALTtcIEO>
from
the operation of settler-only buses on segregated roads and a landfill
dumping Israeli waste on Palestinian villages’ lands in the West Bank. Said
Steve Tamari, a Palestinian-American educator and member of the St. Louis
Palestine Solidarity Committee, on behalf of hundreds of CREF filers who
signed onto the resolution:

“TIAA-CREF has not only ignored our moral concerns, but now refuses to let
us vote or have any voice on the issue. We are hundreds of investors who
are deeply troubled that we are forced to support segregation and other
abhorrent human rights violations in order to maintain our retirement
accounts.”

The Company has made legalistic objections to keep its clients from voting
on the issue, taking the position that pervasive segregation, widespread
land theft that deprives a farming population of its livelihoods and food,
and other major and more violent human rights violations are not
sufficiently “significant” social policy issues to justify a shareholder
vote. This last assertion comes on the heels of President Barack Obama’s
visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories, where he
stated<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=aUabLZMQNf6cYFPJ58BAUGoKt5Igk8MA>
that
“continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace,”
and “the Palestinian people deserve an end to occupation and the daily
indignities that come with it” (March 21, 2013).

Condemnation of the Israeli occupation on human rights grounds has swept
from Europe -- where public pension funds, banks, and other major
institutions have divested billions from companies involved in the
occupation, including Veolia, which has lost more than $15 billion in
contracts following boycott and divestment campaigns -- to the U.S.
Veolia’s bids for contracts around the country have been heavily contested,
shelved, or withdrawn completely in cities including St.
Louis<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=lHEcl35W0bahpbKsMSHYR9FLALTtcIEO>,
Boston, Los Angeles, and Yolo
County<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=vxEdNnGarmXkQfzykn%2F6adFLALTtcIEO>,
Calif. Three campuses<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=vCsv2kkNI4eqH%2BOEEFvC4tFLALTtcIEO>
of
the University of California recently adopted divestment resolutions. And
when the Brooklyn City Council tried to squelch an event last month on
divestment and similar campaigns, the Council was strongly and widely
condemned -- by the mayor of New
York<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=wl647jAjOMs01fAdKY7rxNFLALTtcIEO>,
among others -- for trying to stifle free speech. TIAA-CREF now aligns
itself with that same anti-democratic spirit.

The We Divest Campaign<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=2JwKuC0rBxs8ekbj8SUTu9FLALTtcIEO>,
a coalition effort that began in 2010 urging TIAA-CREF to divest from
companies profiting from the Israeli occupation, is calling the Company’s
refusal to hear their own clients’ human rights concerns a “double
standard,” given TIAA-CREF’s otherwise active promotion of shareholder
resolutions directed at companies in which it invests.

*We Divest is a national, coalition-led initiative by
**Adalah-NY<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=nFb%2FRONrL7KdpEF3qAOgndFLALTtcIEO>
**, the **American Friends Service
Committee<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=9D1XzA8QZzgEVHmipdUoZNFLALTtcIEO>
**, **Grassroots
International<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=k8OpZydf%2FILjV4KC0P8l69FLALTtcIEO>
, Jewish Voice for
Peace<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=IfgeC3jJsS0LPV62SfRrO9FLALTtcIEO>,
the US Campaign to End the Israeli
Occupation<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=P2mHRjy%2BP9WhVk7ILeK7WdFLALTtcIEO>,
and the US Palestinian Community
Network.<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=J7w9C%2FCdn5CauEQhCkB1ytFLALTtcIEO>
*
###

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