The 2014 Precinct Caucuses will be held all over the state on Tuesday evening February 4. We are encouraging all our members to attend the caucus in your district and bring forward one of the two following resolutions. The first resolution specifically mentions Israel, as in “the State of Minnesota shall immediately divest from any investments in government bonds of the State of Israel.” The second resolution says only that the State of Minnesota shall divest from and not invest in any country which commits serious human rights abuses and war crimes. These are similar to each other and similar to other resolutions some of you have already brought to your precinct caucus in past years, but there are reasons you might want to bring one over the other.

For example, if your caucus two years ago did not pass the resolution which specifically mentions Israel, people voting against it would have a hard time justifying a vote against human rights. On the other hand, some people might find a resolution not specifically mentioning Israel to be somewhat cagey and untruthful. You might think that it’s important to say out loud what you mean.

Note that there are no “whereas clauses” in these proposed resolutions. Resolutions that get passed in the DFL precinct caucuses move up to the Senate District caucuses stripped of the whereas clauses, so these resolutions include everything right in the text.

These resolutions are catering to stated Democratic and DFL principles. If you are going to a Republican caucus you can also bring a divestment resolution forward but you may want to rewrite it using different rationale (whereas clauses). That’s fine.

After your caucus is over, please send us the following:

• your name, email address, and house district (or address)
• which party caucus you attended
• which resolution you brought (send us the entire text of the resolution if you made your own)
• whether it passed or not and by how much
• whether you signed up to be a delegate at the next convention

We will compile all the information and possibly ask for your help in meeting with your state senator and representative with the results.

Have fun! It should be a great time to meet your neighbors!

Here are the two resolutions:

Israel Bond Specific:

Be it resolved that the Minnesota State Board of Investment, the State agency responsible for the investment management of various public employee retirement funds, trust funds and cash accounts totaling approximately $69 billion, shall not invest in the government bonds of the State of Israel and shall immediately divest from any investments in the government bonds of the State of Israel, a portion of the proceeds of which are used to finance Israel’s continued occupation and construction of illegal settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories, until Israel is found to be in full compliance with its obligations under international law as determined by the cognizant agencies of the United Nations, including the International Court of Justice and the UN Human Rights Council.

Generic:

Be it resolved that the Minnesota State Board of Investment, the State agency responsible for the investment management of various public employee retirement funds, trust funds and cash accounts totaling approximately $69 billion, shall not invest in the government bonds of any country that is engaged in the violation of human rights as defined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights or in the commission of war crimes in violation of international law.