Starting at 3:30, you will see debate of divestment from companies profiting from the occupation at the United Methodist Church conference yesterday. Watch the official statement of rejection at 4:27. Disturbing. At 6:30 there is a harrowing statement for divestment. A woman says, We held stock in the manufacturing firms in Germany that received the bids to manufacture the ovens for the concentration camps.
How much evidence would we ask for, before it was time to stop the wholesale destruction of people?
Nobility. Listen to the amazing Tina Whitehead at 9:30, with a motion that will go nowhere:
The 2012 General Conference calls on all united Methodist boards and agencies to provide the moral non violent assistance called for by our sisters and brothers in the holy land and end our investments in the tools that systematically deprive them of their freedom. After more than 40 years of ethnic cleansing and occupation, Palestinian Christians are asking for divestment for their freedom not investment to improve life in their prison.
She’s up against too much establishment support.
“We also as Christians have a relationship to Judaism and Israel,” says a preacher, arguing against divestment.
Says Ilene Cohen: “A friend who watched the proceedings online wrote to me that he’d hoped against hope that the divestment measure would pass, but noted, quite soberly, ‘it’s quite a stretch for many Christians to consider sanctioning Israel (and Jews) this way. . . . [T]he struggle continues.'”
The Times has a good story on divestment. It quotes Susanne Hoder, a Methodist from Rhode Island and a spokeswoman for the United Methodist Kairos Response:
A one to one analogy between Israel and Auschwitz, and Phil calls it noble.
Does it ever occur to you that those sort of fear tactics and parodic exageratioj might put people off?
The settlements enterprise are ongoing war crimes UNDISPUTED [Geneva 49.6] and ICC Act 2001 UK 8[2bv111], To aid and abet a war crime ICC Act 2001UK 55[1a] and/or 55[1d] assisting a grave war crime, UNDISPUTED, the so called Christians who voted against the resolution are simply aiding and abetting or assisting war criminals, and therefore are war criminals themselves, thats the Law, in the UK at least, I know the US has not signed up for the ICC, but our Attorney General could make a good case under the act since the perpetrators did it purposefully. He would not of course, war crimes charges are only for the ‘other’.
As the therapist in the story said, “I never promised you a rose garden.” BDS doesn’t work in a day. Still, per NYT, Methodists did call for boycott of products made in OPTs.
But Divestment? No. Racism.
American Christians largely supported slavery, and racism is hard to erase. The guilt and pity for past oppression of the Holocaust (a “card” repeatedly played for Israel’s benefit) is still working “jez fine” and guilt and pity for the present oppression of the occupation adn refusal to re-admit refugees/exiles from 1948 is a non-starter, I imagine due to dual racism — pro Jewish (white in USA’s imagination) and against Arabs (dark in USA’s imagination).
When they were campaigning in the Democratic Party Presidential primary, both Senator Edwards and Senator Clinton made clear they wanted US taxpayers to continue to fund the occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians by Israel. Both were Methodists.
From looking at the Methodist web site page of the divestment petition. It seems to me that originally the majority report was a specific call for divestment from three companies , Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Motorola.
It looks like the that petition was amended on April 28. This amended version completed gutted the resolution and removed the names of specific companies. As a result it appears that those who opposed to the amended version, put forth a minority report.
Does anyone know why there was this drastic change in the original petition? I wonder how the vote would have been effected if the divestment proposal was presented as the majority and not the minority report.
Compare – Petition text, legislative committee report, legislative committee minority report
http://calms.umc.org/2012/Menu.aspx?type=Petition&mode=Single&number=1071