IDC is the acronym for California Divestment Initiative. To fully understand the importance of this initiative please hear me out.
The Israel Divestment Campaign (IDC) is the first citizens’ effort in the country to appeal directly to voters to hold Israel accountable for violations of international law and human rights.
Do you know what this means for us? Finally we will have a real conversation about what’s happening in kansas Israel. That’s right, out in the open on the airwaves and exactly the kind of conversation the PTB do not want us to have, especially not out in public. We need this people, we need to take our support for equality and justice in Palestine directly to the people. We need a national conversation about this and it’s never going to happen until it’s on the ballot. Do you know why? Because both houses overwhelming support Israel 24/7. Is that what we look like as a country? Do we look and sound like we all support this occupation? I don’t think so!
Face it, those of us who support concrete resolutions to bring about desperately needed change in the region have virtually zilch representation in congress. zilch nada finito not happening forget about it!
And why would that be? Because of the lobby. Tell me people, where else do you see a powerful lobby representing a constituency with virtually no opposition? You don’t, you just don’t. The lobby is powerful because it needs to be, because if it wasn’t it couldn’t drown our our voices. The lobby exists because there is opposition out there we are just not afforded the luxury of airing this atrocious situation in all its ungloriousness in a big fat national conversation like the ones we have about wall street and insurance companies and gun legislation and the economy and all the other controversial areas of interest that divide this country. So please let’s have this conversation.
But for us to have it we need at least 434,000 registered California voters to sign a petition to qualify the measure for the statewide ballot. Where California goes the nation will follow. Does it mean we’ll win? I do not know. Does it mean we will have the conversation? You better believe it!!
Then, if approved by a majority of voters, it will become California law. This means that the two public retirement systems, the Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), would be required to engage in a divestment process with corporations providing equipment and services to Israel that are used in the violation of human rights and international law, including but not limited to the building of the “Separation Wall” and settlements.
Do Californians want their pension funds investing in the Occupation? If you are a Californian go to the Israel Divestment Campaign website, print out a copy of the Initiative petition , get your friends and relatives to sign it and send it in. Contact the campaign about volunteering (you co not have to be a californian to do that). If you do not live in California contact your friends and relatives who do. We have 53 DAYS LEFT
