news regarding divestment
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Andrea Whitmore
May 20, 2012, 1:22:55 PM5/20/12
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Greetings to all,
The Friends Fiduciary Committee announced last week that they'd divested from Caterpillar. The Friends (Quakers) are to be congratulated for the courage of their convictions. They are doing what Jesus described: "Where your treasure is, therefore also is your heart."
As you may know, the United Methodist Church failed to vote to divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions at its recent General Conference. I attended as an advocate with United Methodist Kairos Response (www.kairosresponse.org). I can't tell you how hard we worked towards divestment, both long before the Conference and during. Yet we failed, or rather, our church failed in its duty to represent the oppressed.
Let us hope that the Presbyterian Church USA, meeting this summer for their General Assembly, will show more courage than my own United Methodist Church. The Presbyterians will have before them the very same resolution to divest from the same three companies, and for the same reasons. I pray for their success.
You might be interested in this ten-minute Powerpoint, narrated by United Methodist Susanne Hoder of New England, explaining why we tried to get our church to divest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJtRU5DxbzI , and why other churches and organizations are considering divesting.
The best we could get was a strongly-worded resolution opposing the settlements and calling for a boycott of products made in them. The New York Times did a pretty good piece on our efforts: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/us/methodists-vote-against-ending-investments-tied-to-israel.html
However, the "call" has no teeth, as divestment would have had.
At General Conference, we lived and worked with members of Jewish Voice for Peace and I got to know people whose names I'd heard of many times. It was a joy. And many of you have heard Anna Baltzer speak when she's been here in the Kansas City area. She was there with us too, representing the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. In addition, there were activists with no affiliation at all except their concern for justice. And of course, United Methodist Kairos Response is filled with knowledgeable Methodists from around the U.S. It was a real privilege to work with all those inspiring people.
We have not given up. I hope to report better things to you in the near future regarding my UM Church. Meanwhile, I feel quite discouraged about the Church as an institution. I suppose it's silly to expect much more from any institution, yet I did.
Thank you for all you do,
Best regards,
Andrea Whitmore
The Friends Fiduciary Committee announced last week that they'd divested from Caterpillar. The Friends (Quakers) are to be congratulated for the courage of their convictions. They are doing what Jesus described: "Where your treasure is, therefore also is your heart."
As you may know, the United Methodist Church failed to vote to divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions at its recent General Conference. I attended as an advocate with United Methodist Kairos Response (www.kairosresponse.org). I can't tell you how hard we worked towards divestment, both long before the Conference and during. Yet we failed, or rather, our church failed in its duty to represent the oppressed.
Let us hope that the Presbyterian Church USA, meeting this summer for their General Assembly, will show more courage than my own United Methodist Church. The Presbyterians will have before them the very same resolution to divest from the same three companies, and for the same reasons. I pray for their success.
You might be interested in this ten-minute Powerpoint, narrated by United Methodist Susanne Hoder of New England, explaining why we tried to get our church to divest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJtRU5DxbzI , and why other churches and organizations are considering divesting.
The best we could get was a strongly-worded resolution opposing the settlements and calling for a boycott of products made in them. The New York Times did a pretty good piece on our efforts: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/us/methodists-vote-against-ending-investments-tied-to-israel.html
However, the "call" has no teeth, as divestment would have had.
At General Conference, we lived and worked with members of Jewish Voice for Peace and I got to know people whose names I'd heard of many times. It was a joy. And many of you have heard Anna Baltzer speak when she's been here in the Kansas City area. She was there with us too, representing the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. In addition, there were activists with no affiliation at all except their concern for justice. And of course, United Methodist Kairos Response is filled with knowledgeable Methodists from around the U.S. It was a real privilege to work with all those inspiring people.
We have not given up. I hope to report better things to you in the near future regarding my UM Church. Meanwhile, I feel quite discouraged about the Church as an institution. I suppose it's silly to expect much more from any institution, yet I did.
Thank you for all you do,
Best regards,
Andrea Whitmore
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