DIVEST FROM SUDAN!
What is Divestment?
JWW supports and advocates for a method of economic pressure called targeted divestment. As the ultimate goal in our divestment campaign is to protect the victims in Darfur, the targeted divestment model which JWW supports is crafted so as to maximize the impact on the Sudanese government and its policies while they minimize adverse impacts on the innocent Sudanese people JWW is trying to help.
The divestment awareness campaign targets companies that are complicit in the genocide or that are benefitting from it, and companies that have refused to take a stance against the atrocities, but that offer only minimal benefits to the country's oppressed and underprivileged.
Divestment from these types of companies (called "worst offenders") causes the companies' stocks to fall and share prices to decline. To protect their falling share prices, company executives convey to the Sudanese government that the genocide they are perpetrating in Darfur is bad for business. This economic pressure, in turn, forces the Sudanese government to recalculate its position on whether or not it can "afford" the genocide: either government behavior would have to change (in order to keep businesses in Sudan) or offending companies would leave Sudan, thereby withdrawing money that had been used to purchase military equipment for the genocide
For more information about targeted divestment, visit the Sudan Divestment Task Force at www.sudandivestment.org.
What Can I Do?
- Check Your Portfolio: Ensure you are not investing in companies that help Sudan fund its genocide in Darfur. The Sudan Divestment Taskforce has developed a screening tool especially for this purpose. Ask your investment advisor to assess your portfolio and divest from any "worst offender" companies or mutual funds that hold their stocks.
- Engage Offenders: If your mutual fund is exposed to any of the offending companies in Sudan, consider sending a letter to your mutual fund manager or company, asking them to remove the offending companies.
Download sample letter here.
- Consider Making a Move: If your mutual fund manager or company refuses to remove the offending companies from the fund, consider replacing it with a mutual fund that does not have holdings in any of the offending companies. Several socially and fiscally responsible companies are eager to have your investment business. Make sure you let your mutual fund manager know genocide doesn't pay by sending a letter explaining why you are switching investments.
Download sample letter here.
JWW Divestment Projects:
JWW is engaged in a campaign to educate and raise awareness on the part of the City of Los Angeles, the State of California, other local governments, and other entities and individuals about the value of divesting from companies doing business in Sudan.
JWW has worked with the Sudan Divestment Task Force to convince the University of California regents vote in favor of divestment and the state legislature to pass legislation that was recently signed by Governor Schwarzennegger, enacting UC divestment legislation and requiring divestment by the state retirement funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS.
JWW is also working on divestment efforts at the local level, within the City of Los Angeles, and at the federal level.
California State Divestment Action:
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| JWW meeting with City Council President Eric Garcetti |
City of Los Angeles Divestment Action:
Divestment Resources
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