Tag Archives: North America

Canada: It’s time to let Iraq War Resisters stay!

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from the War Resisters Support Campaign

Following the federal election, there is hope that there can finally be a positive and speedy resolution to the cases of U.S. Iraq War resisters. Your help is needed to make sure they are allowed to stay in Canada. Watch our new video below and then take a moment to write a letter to your MP in support of war resisters. For more information, see our backgrounder on the situation of U.S. Iraq War Resisters in Canada.

resisters

Video for campaign

Canadians voted for change and expect the new government to do the right thing and let the war resisters stay. It was the strong response of Canadians that has kept most U.S. war resisters in Canada – and out of U.S. military prison – for the past ten years.

U.S. Iraq War resisters have lived through a decade of unfair political interference in their cases by the previous Conservative government. Some were deported by the Harper government, and received harsh jail sentences in the U.S. for opposing the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq.

The new government should immediately heed the will of the majority of Canadians and stop any and all actions against U.S. war resisters, including halting the litigation against U.S. war resisters, as this litigation defends policies and decisions made by the previous Conservative government.

How you can help

1) Write a Letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
Langevin Block
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A2

2) Call, e-mail and write to your Member of Parliament:
To send a letter: address it to your MP, and send to House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

To find out your MP’s email and phone number, you can email info@parl.gc.ca
or call toll-free (Canada): 1 (866) 599-4999.

MP contact details will be up shortly at www.parl.gc.ca, under ‘Members of Parliament’.

Key points to mention:

• Resolve this issue swiftly as part of the change promised by the new government

• It is time to fix this issue – end over 10 years of unfair and unjust legal and political actions by the Harper government

• Stop the deportations

• Stop pursuing war resister cases in court, as doing so defends decisions and policies made by the former Conservative government

• Rescind Operational Bulletin 202

• Implement a new Operational Bulletin that restores fairness for all war resister cases and reverses the harm done

3) Donate to the War Resisters Support Campaign

4) Please join and follow us – and share us on Social Media:
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.)

Question for this article:
DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

Documentary Review: “Where to Invade Next” by Michael Moore

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

A film review by Ulkar Alakbarova

Each country has its own issues. Some have more, some have less. But one country has more internal issues than any other country in the world – The United States of America. In Michael Moore’s WHERE TO INVADE NEXT, you will discover some interesting facts that will make you wonder as to how is it possible that the greatest country on Earth can’t make its own people achieve the dream life they should have had a long time ago?

Moore
(click on photo to enlarge)

The idea of Moore’s documentary film is to invade a particular country that has something that the Americans don’t have. Moore begins his first trip with Italy, where he meets a charming middle class Italian couple, who tell us their lifestyle. From them, you will find out that every Italian is entitled to 8 paid weeks of vacation, two hours of lunch break, 15 days of vacation for newly married for their honeymoon, and 5 months of fully paid maternity leave. Moore strongly emphasizes here how important it is for Americans to implement this idea in the U.S. where, by law, every American is entitled to have only ‘0’ paid statuary vacations.

The second country the filmmaker invades is France, where he shows the importance of educating children to eat healthy food. While he takes us to a rural, and if I can say, not to a rich city at all, the food children are given in the school is equal to 5 stars’ restaurant in the North America. Instead, Moore shows the meal American students eat in the school: defrosted pizza and strange meal that looks like it had been kept in the fridge for ages. Moore’s third country being invaded is Finland, which offers the best education in the world, while Slovenia offers free University education. Saying that, it certainly looks like the richest country in the world is way behind those who have the annual budget a hundred times less than the United States.

WHERE TO INVADE NEXT is a great example of what a single country must do in order to make the life of its own people less stressful. Moore’s aim here is not to insult or embarrass his fellow Americans, but rather, make them to admit the gaps they have, and the urgency to fill it as soon as possible. It compares the prison system of Norway against the U.S., where no longer the rule being invented by the founders of the Great Nation: “no cruel or unusual punishment” is being followed.

In the end, this film can make you laugh, while, it`s uncomfortable truth may some viewer`s feelings. it touches quite a serious subject matter that somebody must look into. It reveals the negative side of American society that could not learn from past lessons. However, the filmmaker still looks optimistic, hoping that the ideas he claimed from foreign countries will help his country to restore its name before its citizens. Saying that, this film may be about America, but in the meantime, it’s about every country in the world that must face the issues they have, and fix it, if they want our next generation to have a prosperous future. But before it happens, allow yourself to be invaded by Moore`s brilliant film, that must be seen by everyone.

Question(s) related to this article:

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, North America

USA: New Haven Peaces Out. A Bit

. .DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION. .

An article by Aliyya Swaby, New Haven Independent (reprinted by permission)

The public schools “restorative justice” plan and the resettling of refugees in town strengthened New Haven’s “culture of peace” this past year, according to a new report.

swaby
Almost 200 “pink out” for Planned Parenthood (Photo by Lucy Gellman, New Haven Independent).

Compiled by the New Haven Peace Commission, the third annual report — “The State of the Culture of Peace in New Haven” — incorporates anonymous statements from 15 local activists on the ways that the city is improving or stagnating in eight different categories.

The conclusion: New Haven is moving toward peace. But slowly.

The report judges peace in New Haven by eight categories based on the United Nations Culture of Peace initiative launched in 1989. Each category was developed as a contrast to a characteristic of the culture of war: sustainable and equitable development, democratic participation, equality of women, tolerance and solidarity, disarmament and security, education for peace, free flow of information, and human rights.

Report author David Adams was at UNESCO until 2001, where he worked on the “Culture of Peace Programme” for promoting peace efforts nationwide. Nations, Adams said, operate under cultures of war, dominated by armament, propaganda, economic inequality and authoritarian control. But cities need cultures of peace to be successful.

“Cities don’t have enemies. Countries have enemies,” he said. “If we want to change the world and make peace, we should work at the level of the city and not at the level of the state.”

The full report can be read here.

The activists spoke anonymously, so that they spoke honestly, Adams said. “What you see is that it’s not perfect, but the city does work for the culture of peace.” The adoption of restorative justice in New Haven Public Schools, allowing kids to work through their problems instead of suspending them for disciplinary issues, is a major step forward in promoting peace, he said.

The Peace Commission is working to set up meetings with the chairs of Board of Alders education and youth committees in order to push for permanent funding for the restorative justice program. “Restorative justice addresses fundamental problems in the culture of peace. If we can do it in the schools, we can do it in society as a whole,” he said.

(Article continued in right column)

Questions for this article:

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

(Article continued from left column)

New Haven’s Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS) jumped into the national media in November for welcoming a family of Syrian refugees after the governor of Indiana refused to accept them into the state. This is an example of a “solidarity program” promoting community despite inequality in the city, according to the report.

The report also tracks programs that have not lived up to expectations from past years. Though the first peace report in 2013 lauded jobs program New Haven Works when it was first created to address unemployment and under-employment, this year’s report calls those early hopes “largely unfulfilled.”

New Haven Works has found jobs for 500 people in 18 months. That number is a “drop in the bucket,” the report quotes an activist saying.

Another major area of stagnation in creating a culture of peace in the city, according to Adams, is lack of sustainable, equitable development. Though thousands of new apartments are being developed, many are luxury units, “far beyond the reach of those who are being forced out of Church Street South, not to mention families and individuals already homeless or in over-crowded housing,” the report reads.

The prominence of women in politics this year—including Mayor Toni Harp’s reelection and Board of Alder President Tyisha Walker’s election by fellow alders—is a good model for woman’s equality, according to the report.

And New Haven supported Planned Parenthood at a rally on the Green against nationwide attacks attempting to cut sexual health services for women, the report says.

But women are largely heads of their households among the urban poor and often employed part-time or for low wages without benefits, the report said. Many have husbands or boyfriends in prison or who cannot find jobs because of a record.

The first report in 2013 said it was too early to judge whether community policing would be effective in New Haven. The new report characterizes it as still a work in progress.

“It takes a while to change the police force,” Adams said. “Developing trust takes years … Hopefully it will continue to move forward.” In other cities, the police are seen as an “occupying army, not as the fabric of the city.”

Earlier this week, the Peace Commission met to discuss the report and consider issues to address next year. Adams said it will continue pushing for a permanent restorative justice program and will need to come to consensus on another task.

A half dozen people sit on the commission. “The problem is when a lot of people think of peace, they think of business between countries. But when you talk about a culture of peace and define it this way, it becomes clear that it’s something people can do in their daily lives,” Adams said. “It brings peace home.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, North America

USA: Privacy Activists Rally Around Apple in ‘Most Important Tech Case in a Decade’

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article by Nadia Prupis for Common Dreams (reprinted according to provisions of Creative Commons)

Supporters are rallying around Apple in a watershed privacy rights case against the FBI, with activists, whistleblowers, and activists all lining up to express their support of the tech company in its refusal to hand over encrypted information to the intelligence agency.


apple
Dozens gathered at Apple’s flagship store on Wednesday to support the tech company in its privacy fight against the FBI. (Photo: Fight for the Future)

National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden said Wednesday in a series of tweets, “This is the most important tech case in a decade…The FBI is creating a world where citizens rely on Apple to defend their rights, rather than the other way around.”

Hours later, the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade group representing some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful companies—including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and others—released a statement that read, “Our shared fight against terrorism must be grounded in principle. We worry about the broader implications both here and abroad of requiring technology companies to cooperate with governments to disable security features, or introduce security vulnerabilities into technologies.”

“Our fight against terrorism is actually strengthened by the security tools and technologies created by the technology sector, so we must tread carefully given our shared goals of improving security, instead of creating insecurity,” the Council continued.

(Article continued in the right column)

Question(s) related to this article:

Free flow of information, How is it important for a culture of peace?

(Article continued from the left column)

And dozens of people rallied at Apple’s flagship store in San Francisco on Wednesday evening in a rapid-response event organized by the digital rights group Fight for the Future, which is planning additional actions next Tuesday.

The FBI, with the help of a federal judge, is demanding that Apple unlock an iPhone belonging to one of the suspected San Bernardino shooters, which the tech company says is essentially a demand to build a backdoor to encryption, threatening all of its users’ privacy rights and enabling a dangerous expansion of the government’s authority.

“Governments have been frothing at the mouth hoping for an opportunity to pressure companies like Apple into building backdoors into their products to enable more sweeping surveillance,” said Evan Greer, campaign director at Fight for the Future. “It’s shameful that they’re exploiting the tragedy in San Bernardino to push that agenda.”

Other whistleblowers also expressed their support of Apple’s stance. Mark Klein, an AT&T technician who exposed the telecom company’s cooperation with the NSA in 2006, said Wednesday, “It’s nice occasionally to have a company that has the balls to stand up to the government. The government—especially people like [CIA Director John] Brennan—is trying to brow beat everybody using the threat of terrorism. This allows the government to continually expand its powers.”

And the San Francisco-based digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which is planning to file an amicus brief in support of Apple, released this statement: “We are supporting Apple here because the government is doing more than simply asking for Apple’s assistance. For the first time, the government is requesting Apple write brand new code that eliminates key features of iPhone security—security features that protect us all. Essentially, the government is asking Apple to create a master key so that it can open a single phone.

“And once that master key is created,” EFF wrote, “we’re certain that our government will ask for it again and again, for other phones, and turn this power against any software or device that has the audacity to offer strong security.”

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, North America

USA: We come to the gates of Hancock Drone Base today to install a memorial of Jerry Berrigan.

….. HUMAN RIGHTS …..

An article from warisacrime.org

Jerry Berrigan, who died on July 26, 2015 at the age of 95, was a husband, a father, a brother, a teacher and someone who – like his brothers Dan and Phil – dedicated his entire life to Jesus’ command to love one another. Jerry came to the base on a bi-weekly basis whenever he was able, in Jerry’s words, “to remind the base commander of our government’s pledge under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, a treaty to safeguard non-combatant’s well-being in any warzone in which U.S. forces are engaged in combat.” And further, “to register horror and indignation at reports of bombing missions by drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan which resulted in the deaths of many innocent civilians; men, women and children.”

drone protest

As more and more evidence mounts regarding the illegality of U.S. drone policies, from the “Drone Papers” published by The Intercept, to the four drone pilots who have come forward to speak out about what this policy is doing, we bring Jerry’s image here to the gates to remember that this is where he would be, speaking out and putting his body on the line to say a clear “NO” to killing. Because Jerry Berrigan knew that it matters where we put our bodies.

In 2008 Jerry was asked by The Syracuse Post Standard if there was anything he would change in his life. Jerry replied, “I would have resisted more often and been arrested more often.” In our memorial today we use an image of Jerry from The Syracuse Post Standard where he is being arrested for opposing the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

As we are installing this Jerry Berrigan Memorial Drone Blockade, we also remember Mary Anne Grady Flores who is serving a six month sentence here in the Onondaga County jail because the courts in this county believe that the colonel at this highly armed base needs protection from citizens calling attention to the drone killings. We challenge the courts to apply the law as it was meant to be applied; to protect victims not victimizers.

Syracuse has a great history of men named Jerry and resistance to injustice. We call to mind “The Jerry Rescue” memorial that stands across the street from The Federal Court house where Syracusans in 1851 literally got in the way of the illegal and immoral Fugitive Slave law and the officials who tried take a man named Jerry back to enslavement in the South. They opened the prison gates for him to go to freedom. Our intent for this memorial today in honor of Jerry Berrigan, is to get in the way of the illegal and immoral use of killer drones. And to stand in solidarity with all those resisting other injustice – from Black Lives Matter to those putting their bodies to halt climate change.

Thank you Jerry Berrigan for your life and example. Your Spirit lives on!

In peace,

Beth Adams (Leverett, MA), Bev Rice (Manhattan), Bill Ofenloch (NYC), Brian Hynes (Bronx), Charley Bowman (Buffalo), Ed Kinane (Syracuse, NY), James Ricks (Ithaca), Joan Pleune (Brooklyn), Joan Wages (Roanoke, VA), Pete Perry (Syracuse, NY), Ray McGovern (Arlington, VA), Steve Baggarly (VA)

(Thank you to David Swanson for sending this to CPNN)

Question for this article

HUMAN RIGHTS, North America

USA: Albuquerque March and Rally Against Hate! Sunday, Feb. 21 at 2pm at Albuquerque Civic Plaza

….. HUMAN RIGHTS …..

by Susan Schuurman

JOIN US TO DEMAND:
– Stop the hate! Stop the violence! We are all together!
– Let’s stand together with our Muslim and Arab American neighbors!
– Let’s stand together with immigrant workers and families!
– Let’s stand together with the Black community fighting for justice!
– Let’s stand together with refugee communities!
– Let’s stand together with women who only want access to reproductive healthcare!
– NO to racist, sexist and anti-LGBTQ violence! 
-Let’s stand together with Native Americans against bordertown violence and attacks on Native sovereignty! 
Defend those that are under attack!

albuquerque
To enlarge, click on photo

There are growing efforts to whip up hatred against people in our community. We can’t stand by while people like Donald Trump use their power and money to spread hatred against Muslims, Arabs, Mexicans, immigrants, refugees, LGBTQ people, women or anyone. Enflaming hatred, scapegoating and racist rhetoric have no place in our society. Sickening acts of violence against Mosques, women’s healthcare clinics, and ordinary people everywhere are on the rise. We are united against acts of violence, including inflammatory statements against any group.

This march of hatred cannot be unopposed. This is a dangerous moment and that’s why we all have to unite! Preying on people’s fears requires us to say that immigrants, Muslims, refugees and other assailed communities are not the problem. Espousing hatred and violence is the problem! We are the majority. An injury to one is an injury to all!

Join the February 21 mobilization to Unite Against Hate! Join together with your neighbors, families, workers and everyone to stand up to Trump and all forms of bigotry!

CALLED BY: ABQ UNITED FRONT AGAINST HATE
Organized and endorsed by Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, Islamic Center of New Mexico, Blessed Oscar Romero Catholic Community, ANSWER NM, Party for Socialism and Liberation, The Red Nation, SouthWest Organizing Project, New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice, El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, United Voices for Refugee Rights, Friends of Sabeel ABQ, Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel, Veterans for Peace ABQ, Stop the War Machine, Jewish Voice for Peace ABQ, Bernie Sanders at UNM, Encuentro, La Plazita Institute, Mujeres Colectiva, ABQJustice, Burque Media Productions, People’s Lapel Camera of Albuquerque, UNM SOAP (Students Organizing Actions for Peace), Rock Against Racism, St. Mary Magdalene ECC, SURG-NM (Showing Up for Racial Justice), The Rev. Angela Herrera, minister of First Unitarian Church, Pastor Janet Norden, of University Heights United Methodist Church and First United Methodist Church, Bernalillo County La Raza Unida, Los Jardines Institute, Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine, Progressive Democrats of America Central New Mexico (PDA-CNM), and Theater Grottesco.

Call 505-268-9557 if your organization or group would like to endorse and to find out more info about how to participate. Everyone who endorses call to action is welcome to help plan this event. We meet weekly on Thursdays at 4pm at the Peace Center.

abqpeaceandjusticecenter@gmail.com
abqpeaceandjustice.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Albuquerque-Center-for-Peace-and-Justice/163970810300920

Question for this article

HUMAN RIGHTS, North America

USA: ​United Methodist Kairos Response Welcomes Pension Fund Exclusion and Divestment of Israeli Banks

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY .

Press release by Kairos Response

UM Kairos Response is pleased to announce that the $20-billion Pension and Health Benefits Fund of the United Methodist Church has declared the five largest Israeli banks off limits for investment and has divested from the two that it held in its portfolios. This is the first time a major church pension fund has acted to preclude investment in Israeli banks that sustain Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

Kairos

The information has been posted on the Pension Fund’s website under Evaluating companies in our investment funds that pose excessive human rights risks. The banks are Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, First International Bank of Israel, Israel Discount Bank, and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank. These banks are deeply involved in financing illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi were removed from the portfolios. The fund manager, known as Wespath, also divested from Shikun & Binui, an Israeli company involved with construction in the illegal settlements beyond Israel’s recognized borders. In addition, Wespath has placed Israel/Palestine on a list of regions where human rights violations occur.

UMKR is pleased to learn of these actions, while noting that Wespath still holds stock in ten companies located inside the illegal settlements and in several others that lend important support to Israel’s occupation. A list of those companies is available on the UMKR website.

According to UMKR Co-chair Rev. Michael Yoshii, “We commend the pension fund for taking this significant step in disassociating from the illegal occupation of Palestinian land. But as United Methodist policy opposes the occupation, this is only a first step towards ending our financial complicity in the ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people.”

Rev. John Wagner, a member of the UMKR Divestment Committee, added, “Since the church’s policy-making body, the General Conference, has called on all nations to boycott products produced in the illegal settlements, we urge our fund managers to maintain consistency and divest from all companies that profit from these same settlements.”

UMKR has submitted four proposals to the next General Conference, which will meet May 10-20 in Portland, Oregon. Three would require divesting from companies involved with the occupation and one would establish a screen to preclude investments in companies doing business in illegal settlements anywhere in the world.

United Methodist Kairos Response is a global grassroots group within the United Methodist Church seeking to respond to the urgent call of Palestinian Christians for actions that can end the Israeli occupation of their land. For more information, visit www.kairosresponse.org.

Question related to this article:
DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

USA: Wilmington Peace Plan

. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION .

Excerpt from the website of Pacem in Terris, Wilmington, Deleware

Pacem in Terris and other non-profits in the Wilmington area (Wilmington Peacekeepers, One Village Alliance, DE Coalition Against Gun Violence, etc.) want to develop a strategic vision, plan and resource document that will bring peace to Wilmington. The plan will deal with the actions needed to transform a culture of violence to a culture of peace. The plan would include input from civic groups, city and state governments and agencies, churches, students, the elderly, and general public.


wilmington
Video of March for a Culture of Peace

Building on the very successful September 2014 March for a Culture of Peace (and Rally and Call to Action) that we organized (45 co-sponsors, 400+ participants), and subsequent public forum events every month since then, we see the need and opportunity for a Wilmington Peace Plan that presents a clear vision of our desired goal, and the means for achieving it. The strategic plan would include needed actions by city and state legislators, divisions of the city, county and state government, neighborhoods, families, churches, schools, businesses, non-profit organizations and individuals.

The accompanying resource document would be printed as well as available on the web and via smartphone app. It would include organizations throughout our region that are engaged in what we call “building a culture of peace”, and include resources and information on a wide variety of topics– from anti-bullying strategies, civic engagement, domestic violence prevention, school to prison changes, financial literacy, management and violence, gun violence reduction,, gangs and violent street groups, safe havens for youth, juvenile justice system, mental health providers, mentoring, restorative justice, support groups for ex-offenders, service organizations, street level outreach, dating violence, workplace violence prevention and other topics.

Together, the Wilmington Peace strategic plan and Wilmington Peace Resources document will present a clear vision of a possible and attractive peace-filled future; the actions and means for getting there, and the resources needed to achieve the vision and implement the plan.

Click here for Tom Davis’ recap of the December 2014 event and click here for a video of the event. Also, on December 28th, Wilmington Friends Meetinghouse had a Memorial to the Lost. Click here for the video.

Questions for this article:
DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, North America

Obama’s speech on gun control: the ‘fierce urgency of now.’

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Some excerpts from President Obama’s speech on gun safety reform

“In Dr. King’s words, we need to feel the ‘fierce urgency of now.’ Because people are dying. And the constant excuses for inaction no longer do, no longer suffice. That’s why we’re here today. Not to debate the last mass shooting, but to do something to try to prevent the next one.”


Obama
Photo from Video of Obama speech

“How did we get here? How did we get to the place where people think requiring a comprehensive background check means taking away people’s guns? Each time this comes up, we are fed the excuse that commonsense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, or the one before that, so why bother trying. I reject that thinking.”

“So let me outline what we’re going to be doing. Number one, anybody in the business of selling firearms must get a license and conduct background checks, or be subject to criminal prosecutions … We’re also expanding background checks to cover violent criminals who try to buy some of the most dangerous firearms by hiding behind trusts and corporations and various cutouts … And these steps will actually lead to a smoother process for law-abiding gun owners, a smoother process for responsible gun dealers, a stronger process for protecting the public from dangerous people.”

“All of us should be able to work together to find a balance that declares the rest of our rights are also important — Second Amendment rights are important, but there are other rights that we care about as well. And we have to be able to balance them. Because our right to worship freely and safely — that right was denied to Christians in Charleston, South Carolina. And that was denied Jews in Kansas City. And that was denied Muslims in Chapel Hill, and Sikhs in Oak Creek. They had rights, too.

Our right to peaceful assembly — that right was robbed from moviegoers in Aurora and Lafayette. Our unalienable right to life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — those rights were stripped from college students in Blacksburg and Santa Barbara, and from high schoolers at Columbine, and from first-graders in Newtown. First-graders. And from every family who never imagined that their loved one would be taken from our lives by a bullet from a gun.”

Question for this article:

Will Obama’s initiative help reduce gun violence?

See below for comment form.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

UC System [California] Divests From Private Prisons Under Pressure From Students

….. HUMAN RIGHTS …..

An article from Care2 (reproduced as a non-commercial service)

On December 18, the University of California system quietly dropped a big bomb: It will be selling off its $30 million worth of investments in private prison corporations by the 31st of the month, thanks to considerable pressure from student groups. The move is a huge step for organizations concerned about inequalities in the justice system and the conditions at for-profit prisons, which definitely generate funds for shareholders, but don’t provide adequate living conditions for their detainees. The Afrikan Black Coalition is largely responsible for the divestment, as the group was the one to put forward a resolution demanding the sale, and representatives of the ABC met with UC officials to discuss disposing of the investments in an orderly fashion — typically divestment begins quietly before official announcements, to avoid creating instability in stock prices.

california
Photo credit: Richard Masoner

The University of California system has opted to divest holdings in controversial or harmful corporations before, as for example in 2006, when it dropped firms with investments in South Sudan, and earlier this year, when it pulled out of $200 million in oil and tar sands investments. As an economic tool, divestment sends an extremely powerful message, especially when it comes from huge institutional investors like statewide university systems. Mass sell-offs like this one can be used as grounds for other organizers to pressure different institutions to make similar moves, and they also set a model for other institutional investors considering ethical financial practices. In this instance, Columbia University set the bar by dropping for-profit prison investments over the summer [See CPNN article of June 27 this year]. Choosing to be selective not just about stock performance but social impacts is also part of the UC’s investment model.

(Article continued in right column)

Question for this article

Question: Divestment, is it an effective tool to combat the violation of human rights?

(Article continued from left column)

Dropping these investments will be a blip in the system’s massive portfolio of stock, but advocates say it’s the right thing to do. The prison system is plagued with racial and economic inequalities that contribute to a disproportionate number of incarcerated people of color and low-income people, with considerable overlap between these two groups. Between issues like racial profiling, fewer resources for judicial defense, and prejudices within the legal system, people are unjustly incarcerated simply for the crime of not being white. For-profit companies like Corrections Corporation of America have taken advantage of the growing privatization of the prison industry to generate $1.7 billion in revenue in 2011 alone. Geo Group, Inc. also generates substantial profits for shareholders annually through its networks of jails, prisons and immigration detention facilities. UC will be selling off all its shares in both.

These companies function not as public enterprises, but as corporations with the goal of cutting costs wherever possible. Many have substandard physical plants, insufficient staff, inadequate prison health care and food, high rates of physical and sexual assault, and other systemic problems. Even “three hots and a cot” isn’t guaranteed behind their walls, and in 2012, the Supreme Court actually limited the ability to sue private prisons for civil rights violations. This leaves prisoners with even fewer resources to advocate for their rights and safety behind bars. While groups like the ACLU advocate and litigate for prisoners stuck on the inside, one of the best ways to strike at the heart of the private prison system is to make it less profitable with steps like dumping shares and making it a toxic investment for potential institutional investors.

This move is a strong indicator that the UC system remains committed to regularly evaluating investments and determining whether it wants to continue sinking funds into endeavors that violate ethical guidelines. It also illustrates that organized and highly active student groups can make a big difference not just on campus, but in the world in general. With protest movements like Black Lives Matter getting more active and noisy in recent years, it’s clear that the next generation of youth is growing up with a mission to make the world a better place, and the courage to lobby those most in a position to do so.

[Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article.]

HUMAN RIGHTS, North America