Yesterday, Jewish Voice for Peace attended TIAA-CREF's annual meeting as part of its campaign to get the retirement fund to divest from companies profiting off the occupation. The group delivered a petition signed by 15,300 people demanding the fund drop its investments in Caterpillar, Elbit, Motorola, Veolia and Northrop Grumman. Here's an account of how it went:
At the meeting, those who have retirement accounts with the company can stand up and speak. We had a designated speaker delivering the postcards to TIAA-CREF management, and we knew a few other people, mostly professors and teachers, would get up and ask that their money not be invested in companies that profit from discrimination, death, and destruction, and push hope and peace ever further away.
But what happened was extraordinary. First 5, then 10, then 14 people, then more got up, one after another, to speak from the heart about why TIAA CREF must not profit from Israel's occupation. These people weren't just JVP members, but included TIAA-CREF shareholders attending the meeting for entirely different reasons, who were spontaneously moved to speak in support of our campaign.
Not a single person spoke to defend Israel's occupation. Not one.
In response, TIAA-CREF corporate leadership asked to meet with JVP, and they had their first direct talks today. JVP says the fund will respond if they hear from enough people, especially plan participants. You can find the petition to sign here.
Don’t companies usually base their the overwhelming majority of their decisions on their shareholder’s views?
I’m genuinely curious as it seems to me that TIAA-CREF is attempting to weasel its way out of what it perceives to be a predicament. I’d love to be wrong.
Anyone?
Avi,
I’ve been a TIAA-CREF participant for 40 years, and I can’t recall a single instance in which participants were queried about divestment. I agree with you: waiting to “hear from enough people” is disingenuous and opens the door to standard Lobby tactics involving a flood of anti-divestment letters.
What TIAA should do is to poll its membership by mail, make the results public, and act in accordance with the majority’s wishes. If they want to put up “pro” and “con” divestment pieces on their website to assist shareholders in reaching a decision, cool.
In the meantime, I will sign the petition and call TIAA-CREF with my suggestions…
me too.
Went to the nearby Ulta Store today. It had Ahava products on the shelf; I asked them not to sell the products that were made on stolen property.
The clerk was sympathetic, “No, we don’t think it’s right either. There is nothing we can do, but we will pass the message on to corporate and suggest you contact our corporate headquarters as well. They make the decisions.”
good enough.
These people weren’t just JVP members, but included TIAA-CREF shareholders attending the meeting for entirely different reasons, who were spontaneously moved to speak in support of our campaign. Not a single person spoke to defend Israel’s occupation. Not one.
I’m speechless. People attending for entirely different reasons had a coherent, non-anti-Semitic Israel-critical narrative in their heads, and given that it was under discussion, were ready to speak, and did. Things are changing.
It seems as if the Jewish Zionists may have miscalculated. They inderestimated the power of the Jewish people. It has taken awhile, but when the Jews break solidarity with Zionism, Zionism is in trouble. Jewish Voice for Peace is, of course, to be commended for their honorable actions.
This boycott is collective punishment against the Jewish people.
How dramatic. But untrue even by your definition of “collective punishment,” unless you believe the entirety of the Jewish people are profiting from the Occupation.
Did you even read this article? There’s no boycott, nor a call for boycott, whatsoever. There’s a call for divestment. And it’s not against Israel. It’s against five companies (only one of which is Israeli) that PROFIT FROM THE OCCUPATION.
And you have the chutzpah to imply that there’s anti-Semitism afoot? That only makes sense if Judaism = profiting from the occupation. And no one here believes that, right?
Isn’t it telling that Zionists who post on this website end up being the ONLY ones who are actually anti-Semitic. Sometimes I wonder if they realize that they are what they preach against. It’s kind of like Larry Craig the homophobe who was an outspoken bigot against gays and then one day the police found him soliciting MALES at an airport restroom stall. Perhaps those Zionists are the REAL self-hating Jews, for if they cared about Jews they would actually realize how disgusting Zionist ideology is and how it has damaged the reputation of Jews worldwide. But, I bet he’s too dense to realize that.
Thanks for the daily dose of maximalist narrative.
I respectfully ask that my comments not await moderation. I have never violated the comments policy, it is a violation of the stated goals of this website to have “many voices” to censor my comments while allowing those of the anti-semites
Max, leave the absurdist comments to me, I do them a little better, I think.
First you “respectfully” declare you haven’t violated the comments policy. Than you blithely say all the other comments are from anti-Semites! Looks like I gotta hit that ol’ abuse button. Consider yourself reported.
But please, don’t stop now, defend yourself, and tell us which commenters are anti-Semites!
Mooser,
In weird Zioland, “anti-Semite” must be the equivalent of Hokus Pokus. You say the magic words and Israel’s critics vanish. Who cares about exact science when one can do that voodoo so well.
Taking into account the considerable number of Jews in America’s academia, this effort will surely bring the debate to many more colleges. Good thinking by Jewish Voice for Peace to involve TIAA-CREF!
5 maximalistNarrative July 21, 2010 at 7:28 pm
“This boycott is collective punishment against the Jewish people.”
No, it’s not. It’s group therapy.
Well put. If the Israeli blockade is a “diet”, than your formulation is fair enough.
I was at this meeting, it was very heartening indeed. I was shocked that not one person stood up and said something like, “Invest in Israel, Invest in peace!” Literally, almost ninety percent of the people who raised questions and comments were asking for divestment from the occupation, and not a single person stood up to defend the occupation. It was kind of breathtaking. The CREF people listened very attentively and seemed slightly flabbergasted.
They’ll probably try to appease us to death — a little venting here, a little meeting there, but no real movement, and they assume we’ll go away.
If they assume that, they are in for a surprise.
The Caterpillar shareholder meetings are getting like that now, too, I have it on good authority.
When apartheid South Africa ceased to be a profit-maker for corporate America, it was dropped like a stone. Israel is in for the same.
“Literally, almost ninety percent of the people who raised questions and comments were asking for divestment from the occupation, and not a single person stood up to defend the occupation.”
This is very encouraging news! Thanks…