Speaking of activism…I just got this communication from Jewish Voice for Peace, via JAMP’s Alice Rothchild. Jewish Voice, along with several Catholic and Presbyterian organizations, has undertaken the quixotic mission of buying up enough Caterpillar stock to introduce a shareholder resolution to stop sales to Israel. Against all odds, they scored a big success at the Caterpillar annual meeting on April 13!
Caterpillar’s machinery is used by Israel for home demolitions, constructing the separation wall, and digging trenches and other barriers in Palestinina territory. The protest began after American activist Rachel Corrie was killed by a Caterpillar tractor while she tried to prevent a home demolition.
Cecilie Surasky of Jewish Voice for Peace wrote :
Three people from the American Jewish Congress and Stand With Us also attended the meeting. JVP Co-Director Liat Weingart spoke to Rosz Rothstein, the representative from Stand With Us, who shockingly told Weingart that Palestinians do not own their land. "What do they expect will happen if they build a house in Yosemite? If you build on land that isn’t yours, how can you expect that it won’t be demolished?" We took heart in the knowledge that AJCongress and Stand With Us are out of touch with both the US administration’s understanding of the conflict and with mainstream American Jewish opinion, which is much more peace-minded and respectful of human rights.
JVP board member Sara Norman gave a stunning speech to introduce our shareholder resolution, saying that investigating CAT bulldozers’ role in destroying civilian homes is "responsible corporate decision-making." Our resolution got 3% of the vote, meaning we won the support of investors holding close to 3/4 billion dollars of CAT stock, including CalPERS, the largest pension fund in the world.
Finally, we achieved feature coverage in dozens of media outlets throughout the world including the LA Times, the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz, the Associated Press, and Reuters. One of America’s most respected business programs, NPR’s Marketplace, also featured the campaign as the second story on their evening program on April 13. As the Chicago Tribune reported, CAT suffered a "punishing public relations campaign" this past year.
The campaign is starting to have a clear financial impact on the company. Whereas in 2001, only 3 stories ran in major media connecting CAT bulldozers with human rights abuses, already in the first quarter of 2005, 275 similar stories have run in major English language publications. One commentator documented that CAT stock went down by 8.5% on the week of the shareholder vote, as compared to a 6% decrease for competitor John Deere. On the week of an annual meeting, it’s very unusual that a company’s stock decrease, rather than increase, given that the focus of an annual meeting is to highlight the strengths and accomplishments of the company.
Haaretz was neutral, but led with the fact that the resolution didn’t pass. The fairest coverage, suprisingly, was in the Jerusalem Post.
You can follow the campaign at the Stop Caterpillar web site. This is how the South Africa divestment campaign began…
Catepillar
This is good news. Given corporate tendencies to suppress speakers who try to raise controversial issues at annual meetings, this is a REAL accomplishment.
On a related topic, I’ve been trying to figure out how house ownership works in Israel, given that the government owns 80%? 90% ? of the land. The implication seems to be that individuals can own their buildings or apartments, but that ultimately, the government owns, controls (and can repossess?) the underlying land. In England, members of the aristocracy own large tracts of land including many in large cities. I think but am not sure that "owners" can lease the property to "tenants" who are given permission to build on the property. Often the leases run 100 years or more, but a particular lord still owns the land, and I assume, the building, if s/he chooses not to renew the lease. Is this the system in Israel also? And in Israel, who owns the other 10-20% of the land. I’ve always assumed that Palestinians own their own land since the Israeli government and Jewish agencies have always emphasized that Jews bought the land they settled on. The more I think about this, the more confused I get.
Howard, someone, please help!
Gerry Schamess