All posts by Elisabeth

Announcements, Events, Featured

Parallel Liberation Struggles: Lessons in Resistance

Conference, Saturday, October 21, 2017, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm*

University of MN, Keller Hall, Room 3-210, 200 Union Street SE, Minneapolis, MN

*Registration: 9:30 am / Lunch will be provided

Conference is free and open to the public. Advanced registration is requested.

People under oppression suffer from three types of violence (Johan Galtung)

Structural violence  Direct Violence  Cultural Violence

as in Genocide, Apartheid, Ethnic Cleansing (Raphael Lemon)

Join us as we (1) commemorate the 100-year Palestinian resistance to Israel’s settler-colonial project and (2) explore the similarities in violence used against Palestinians, African Americans, and Native Americans and their methods of resistance.

Speakers:

Philip Weiss

Mondoweiss.net

 Dhoruba bin Wahad

Black Panthers
Nadia Ben-Youssef

Adalah Justice Project

 Alan O. Gross

American Indian Movement
Jennifer Bing

AFSC, No Way to Treat a Child

Raven Ziegler

Lakota Sioux Activist

 Erika Levy

Jewish Voice for Peace

 

Please register here

Sponsoring Organizations: MN Break the Bonds Campaign, Women Against Military Madness – Middle East Committee, Anti-War Committee, Middle East Peace Now, Jewish Voice for Peace – TC, National Lawyers Guild, American Muslims for Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine, Minnesotans Against Islamophobia, Socialist Action.

Announcements

2016 Minnesota Precinct Caucuses

The 2016 MN precinct caucuses are coming up on MARCH 1ST and the Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign has prepared a critically important resolution for you to share with your community. First the resolution – then some background!

Because the Minnesota State Board of Investment invests a sizeable portion of the state’s nearly $100 billion taxpayer-funded public employee pension fund in foreign, corporate, and government securities without restriction (which may include arms dealers, carbon polluters, sweat-factories and apartheid states), mandatory environmental, labor and human rights investment guidelines should be enacted by the legislature to ensure that Minnesota is not financially complicit in the violation of universally recognized environmental, labor and human rights standards.

Background of the Resolution

We pushed hard for the State Board of Investment (SBI) to adhere to their own guidelines when it came to investing our money. The ethical guidelines made it clear that Minnesotans value human rights, labor rights and environmental protections, and any fund manager that wanted to invest public money in a country that did not take those values seriously would have to be able to justify their proposal to invest in them. The SBI, saying that they never used those guidelines anyway, voted in 2015 to throw the guidelines out! Regardless of the flaws in the way these former guidelines were used (or not used), it is unacceptable that the SBI would rather get rid of all ethics guidelines (read: constraints) for their investments than reform them, so that they are usable. This resolution calls for the creation of new guidelines that can’t be brushed aside, guidelines that will be law, enacted by the legislature, that require the SBI to follow. Without the creation of new mandatory ethical guidelines the SBI will continue investing our money in dozens of enterprises, which violate human rights, labor rights, and damage the environment. Without this resolution, the SBI will continue making every Minnesotan complicit in funding international and local human suffering and poisoning the environment.

What You Can Do

1. Plan to Attend Your Precinct Caucus on MARCH 1ST – Figure out now where your caucus location is and make sure you are registered to vote! Caucusing is just as important as voting in the general election, if not more. It’s your biggest opportunity to influence your party’s platform and let our representatives know what they need to support to get our votes! This is done by introducing a resolution that you’d like the party to endorse. To find your caucus location, please see the Resources section at the bottom of the page.

2. Bring This Resolution and A Resolution Form to Your Caucus on MARCH 1ST – To introduce a resolution you need a resolution form. You can write the resolution on the form itself or staple it to the back.

3. Introduce the Resolution During the Appropriate Time – Ask whoever is leading the caucus when resolutions will be introduced, and let them know you have one. To introduce the resolution you can read the background section above or put it in your own words. Make sure to speak about why you personally support it! Tell your neighbors why you think they should support it! Are we going to let our government use tax-payers’ money to commit human rights abuses or pollute the environment?

4. Vote for the Resolution!

5. Tell Us What Happened – Regardless of whether the resolution passes or not in your precinct, please tell us about it. Did it pass? By how much? Were there questions? A debate? What kinds of comments were made? Send an email to mn@breakthebonds.org

6. What Happens If It Passes? – Resolutions that pass will advance to be evaluated by your party Platform Committee, then the State Convention. If enough precincts pass the resolution, there is a good chance of getting the resolution onto the party platform.

Register to Vote: https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote#item-212126
Precinct Caucus Location:
Find your DFL Caucus location: https://www.dfl.org/about-our-party/caucuses-conventions/
Find your GOP Caucus location: http://mngop.com/precinct-caucuses/
Find your GPMN Caucus location: http://mngreens.nationbuilder.com/dstrand/green_party_of_minnesota_caucuses_2016

Read below for Talking Points to take to the Caucuses. These will help if you get questions.

Continue reading 2016 Minnesota Precinct Caucuses →

Announcements, Featured

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS DELIVER PETITION DEMANDING SEC DISCLOSE ISRAEL BONDS FUND ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS

Contact: Sylvia Schwarz at 651-485-5269 or Robert Kosuth at 218-724-4800.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS DELIVER PETITION DEMANDING SEC ENFORCE DISCLOSURE RULES ON ISRAEL BONDS

Palestinian rights activists are calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to enforce U.S. law in the sale of Israel Bonds, the latest attempt by human rights groups to ensure the U.S. government is implementing its own policies concerning Israeli actions.

On Tuesday, January 19, 2016 activists from Minnesota Break the Bonds (MN BBC), the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Jewish Voice for Peace, and US Palestinian Community Network delivered a petition to the SEC signed by more than 6,400 people demanding the agency implement an existing law that requires a seller of securities in the United States disclose all material facts about the security to potential investors.
The petition contends that by failing to disclose to investors that money received from the sale of Israel bonds is used for projects that violate international law, the Development Corporation of Israel (DCI) is withholding facts that would cause a prudent investor to make a different investment decision.

“The US government has a responsibility to enforce US laws. It is longstanding US policy that Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land are illegal and a major obstacle to peace so how can the SEC allow investors to unknowingly invest in these activities?” said Robert Kosuth from MN BBC, which started the petition and has campaigned to have the State of Minnesota dump its multi-million dollar pension fund investment in Israel Bonds.

Money received from the sale of Israel Bonds is deposited into Israel’s pooled General Treasury accounts, which are used to fund projects such as building settlements, illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention, and constructing the separation wall, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004. The DCI omits these material facts from its prospectuses and only states that the money is used for “general purposes of the state.”

Earlier this month DCI announced that it had surpassed one billion dollars in US sales for the third year running. The largest institutional investors in Israel Bonds in the United States are state and municipal employee retirement funds. MN BBC believes that it is unlikely that any public fund fiduciary who is properly informed of all material facts about the use of Israel Bonds would invest public funds knowing that the money will be used to violate international criminal law.

“Retirement fund managers who purchase securities knowing that the funds will be used to violate international criminal law are in breach of their fiduciary duties,” Robert Kosuth said.

The SEC has not yet responded to the petition.

The Israel Bonds issue is only one example of how the United States fails to clamp down on funding for Israel’s illegal activities. In December Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz detailed how US donors had given settlements more than $220 million in tax-exempt funds over five years. A group of American citizens filed a lawsuit on December 21 against the US Department of Treasury seeking to stop nonprofit groups from sending donations to support settlements and the Israeli army.

“The US government keeps insisting that it seeks peace between Palestinians and Israelis but continues to allow Israel to act with complete impunity. It is long past time for the United States to end its complicity in the denial of Palestinian rights and a major step would be to end the material support Israel receives to continue its policies, support that violates US laws,” said Ramah Kudaimi of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

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Articles

We Support Students for Justice in Palestine

Editor’s note: A shortened version of the following was published in the October 27, 2015 issue of the Minnesota Daily:

When Fadi Alloun became the second Palestinian teenager in as many days to be killed by Israel, the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) re-posted a report by Electronic Intifada on their Facebook page. For this they were attacked as supporters of terrorism and “disgusting.” As this is only the most recent of attacks on SJP, several organizations issued the following statement:

“For months the world has watched as the racial violence in Palestine perpetrated by Israeli civilians escalates while the Israeli government refuses to hold accountable those responsible. The extrajudicial execution of Fadi Alloun is a recent example. No attempt was made to arrest Alloun; he was killed by the military urged on by a mob of Israeli settlers. Only after his killing was he accused of having perpetrated a knife attack on an Israeli Jew, as if an excuse was needed to kill him without due process.

“The accusation is typical of a mentality that claims victimhood for the oppressors. The world is slowly waking up to Israel’s human rights violations.

“Members of the SJP student group at the University of Minnesota are helping Minnesotans wake up and learn about these human rights violations. But as any human rights activist knows, exposing Israel’s human rights abuses and international law violations makes one vulnerable to accusations of anti-Semitism from pro-Israel advocates. These advocates, bankrolled by wealthy right-wing neo-cons like Shelden Adelson, spend millions attempting to silence advocates for human rights, especially advocates for Palestinian rights, and most especially those on campuses in the US.

“Recently, the SJP became the target of some of these pro-Israel forces and has been on the receiving end of threats and accusations.

“This fits perfectly into the model that the Israel advocacy organizations typically use: accuse the students of anti-Semitism for speaking against Israeli human rights abuses, escalate to accusations of “incivility” (see Steven Salaita’s new book, Uncivil Rights), and get the university to cancel events or even suspend a student group for exercising their First Amendment rights.

“These tactics are all spelled out in a new report by the Center for Constitutional Rights and Palestine Legal called “The Palestine Exception to Free Speech.” Threats to First Amendment rights should concern everybody, regardless of one’s stance on Israel or Palestine.

“Tactics going beyond suppression of speech, such as disrupting future job prospects or threatening bodily harm are also in the pro-Israel advocacy arsenal, and should trouble all Americans.

“All who value human rights must equally value Palestinian human rights. All who value constitutional rights should be proud and humbled by the courageous students of SJP who speak out for justice and equality in the face of suppression tactics. “

Signatories:

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign2015 SJP
Coalition for Palestinian Rights – MN
Women Against Military Madness – Middle East Committee
Middle East Peace Now
Anti-War Committee
Minnesota BDS Community
United States Palestinian Community Network

Articles, Featured

Dark Money

 

This article, by Robert Kosuth, originally appeared in the Zenith City Weekly LLC, Volume 9, Issue 141, September 1, 2015.

On June 3, the Minnesota State Board of Investment voted unanimously to end consideration of human rights in their investment decisions.

The State Board of Investment (SBI) manages $80 billion in assets used to pay for state pensions and other trusts. In 2014, SBI saw an 18.6 percent yield, with an annualized return over the last 10 years of 8.4 percent.

SBI’s authority rests in four officers outlined by the state constitution—the attorney general (currently Lori Swanson), the secretary of state (currently Steve Simon), the state auditor (currently Rebecca Otto), and the governor (currently Mark Dayton) as chair. The officers supervise a staff headed by Executive Director Mansco Perry.

The vote on the June 3 resolution was initially split 2–2, with Dayton and Otto opposed. Perry repeated the major points of the resolution and they voted again, this time 4–0. But none of the constitutional officers is eager to discuss his or her vote.

Spokespeople for Dayton and Simon did not respond to multiple phone and email requests for comment. Ben Wogsland, a spokesman for the Attorney General, refused to accept questions and deferred comment to Perry.

Jim Levi, a spokesman for the Auditor, accepted questions, but deferred response to the June 3 meeting minutes, which, as of press time, had not yet been released. Levi read a prepared statement from Otto: “If I’m approached about potential investments, I refer them to SBI staff. If I’m approached about divestment of any of the investments, I listen. Everything I do on the Board I do as a fiduciary and according to state law.”

State law requires SBI to follow the “prudent person rule,” meaning the Board is to manage the state’s assets as carefully as they would manage their own. The law includes a few clauses about the types of allowable investments, as well as risk and performance standards, but the four constitutional officers have considerable latitude in setting SBI’s policies and making investment decisions.

Former Duluth Representative Mike Jaros was in the state legislature in the ’80s when it first passed divestment resolutions stemming from human rights concerns. “I think our resolution said that the Board should not invest in South Africa.” Jaros says the resolution was well received and passed easily.

In 1992, the Board adopted task force recommendations to consider human rights in its investment decisions. In its summary, the task force examined 34 countries, including South Africa, China, and Israel, but the details are only available in the full task force report. SBI accepted a data request for the full report last April, but a few weeks later, SBI Chief Operating Officer LeaAnn Stagg called to say the full report couldn’t be located.

Union leaders were involved in SBI’s human rights issues in the ’90s, but have since been silent. AFSCME Council 5 head Eliot Seide was on the task force in 1992, but Council 5 Public Affairs Director Jennifer Munt responded to questions via email. “It would be best to interview someone closer to recent actions to change the investment policy.”

UNITE/HERE did not respond to requests for comment, despite appearing at an SBI meeting in 2013, seeking support for one of their workers who was employed by a firm connected to one of the Board’s investments.

Having now withdrawn its human rights policy, SBI is free to continue giving taxpayer money to entities flagged by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Through SBI, Minnesota invests in scores of Chinese companies or those doing business in China, including more than $40 million stock in the Bank of China and $190,000 in Taiwan’s Foxconn, an electronics manufacturer notorious for its 2010–13 employee suicides in protest of working conditions.

Chinese labor law fails to meet international standards. Average manufacturing wages are 25 cents an hour and workers lack the right to organize. The Chinese government persecutes dissidents, censors the press, and displaces farmers to give their land to developers.

SBI owns more than $35.5 million stock in Rio Tinto, a mining company that holds mineral exploration leases to 36,000 acres of Minnesota land. Through its Kennecott subsidiary, Rio Tinto is drilling for copper, nickel, and other precious metals in Aitkin and Carlton Counties.

Rio Tinto’s environmental record—from burning PCBs in Utah to groundwater contamination at Wisconsin’s Flambeau mine—and its record of union–busting and squalid working conditions prompted Norway to divest from Rio Tinto in 2008.

SBI owns over $100 million stock in Royal Dutch Shell, which paid out $15 million in 1996 to settle a lawsuit over the oil company’s collaboration in executing tribal leaders in Nigeria. Despite promoting itself as a sustainable energy company, Shell has been linked to dozens of oil spills, fires, and toxic dumps.

SBI owns $80 million stock in Coca–Cola, whose Colombia subsidiaries were accused in 2003 of contracting with paramilitaries to kill union organizers.

SBI owns $100 million in bonds and dozens of companies in Israel, which has conducted a violent military occupation of the Palestinian Territories since 1967. Sometimes compared to South African apartheid, Israel walled off the West Bank, imposed a blockade on Gaza, set up military checkpoints that restrict Palestinian access to jobs, education, and medical care, and built civilian settlements on Palestinian land—acts declared illegal by the United Nations and the International Court of Justice.

Israel engages in targeted assassination and disproportionate force (e.g., a crime by a Palestinian prompts Israel to respond with ground troops, home searches, and bombing civilian targets like schools or hospitals).

“We have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize the returns,” says SBI Executive Director Mansco Perry. “Absent a legislative mandate, the sole criterion is to exercise fiduciary responsibility, to maximize returns.”

Perry says SBI’s investment decisions are “very apolitical…We invest in most stocks around the world. When it comes to choosing one or the other, the factors are weighed to try to determine which will give us the best return. We also have to take diversification into consideration, not just the simple, ‘I like A and I don’t like B.’”

But it’s hard to make a case that SBI’s divestments have not been influenced by parallel political trends. In addition to South Africa, the legislature restricted SBI from investing in Northern Ireland in the 1980s and it currently prohibits investment in Iran and Sudan.

More importantly, SBI’s behavior does not suggest its decisions are apolitical.

In 2011, SBI was sued by Minnesota Break the Bonds, an organization seeking divestment of publicly held stocks and bonds in Israel. [Author’s disclosure: I’m a member of Break the Bonds, which has been attending SBI meetings since 2009.]

Opposition to divestment was led by the Jewish Community Relations Council, where Secretary of State Steve Simon serves on the board of directors in addition to being a constitutional officer of SBI.

The Council retained St. Paul attorney Charles Nauen, who was Dayton’s lead attorney in the 2010 Dayton–Emmer vote recount. In addition to contributing to both Dayton and Swanson’s campaigns, Nauen “spent election night with Dayton in case elections issues came up,” according to the Star Tribune. Nauen also represented Otto last year in an election dispute with Matt Entenza.

Break the Bonds’ lawsuit was dismissed for lack of standing, but SBI considered a divestment motion at its quarterly meeting on March 4, 2015. After comments from the Arab–American Anti–Discrimination Committee and the Jewish Community Relations Council, Dayton presented a motion declining to divest from Israel. Simon seconded the motion, opening the floor to discussion.

A member of the public asked the Board to speak louder so observers could hear them, and Dayton replied that they are not required to.

After repeating the mantra of “fiduciary duty,” Swanson asked Perry about the lawsuit. Perry said the court upheld SBI’s right to invest in Israel bonds, but he did not mention the human rights issues in the suit.

Swanson noted that Israel bonds yield more than treasury bills (2.4 percent versus 1.54 percent). Perry said the rates were “competitive,” but made no reference to his 2014 report that SBI’s Combined Funds yielded 18.6 percent in 2014 and 8.4 percent annualized over 10 years.

Simon, making no mention of his board position with the Jewish Community Relations Council, stated, “I will be voting today according to our fiduciary duty, and on that alone.”

The motion passed 3–1 with Otto opposed after reiterating her concern that, “Politics should not drive our decisions, as we are fiduciaries.”

Followed three months later by the Board’s vote to no longer consider human rights, labor rights, or environmental concerns in its investment decisions, Minnesota pensioners can now be assured their retirements are funded in part by human misery, military violence, and the destruction of the planet.

Articles, News from our Friends

Why Using Pension Money to Fund Israeli Bonds is both Wrong and Illegal

by James Abourezk

This piece first appeared in CounterPunch on March 27, 2015. James Abourezk is a former US senator from South Dakota. He is the author of: Advise and Dissent: Memoirs of an ex-Senator.

The Minnesota State Board of Investment is honor bound when it invests monies from Minnesota’s public employee pension funds. Each of the Board members, which includes Governor Mark Dayton (Chair), State Auditor Rebecca Otto, Secretary of State Steve Simon and Attorney General Lori Swanson know, or should know, that the Board has violated its fiduciary responsibility to only invest public pension funds prudently by investing in Israel Bonds. Israel Bonds are government bonds issued by the State of Israel.

Earlier this month, I appeared before the Board members to urge them not to invest in Israel Bonds. Immediately after I ended my presentation, the Governor handed the other Board members a previously prepared written motion to continue investing the state’s pension funds in Israel Bonds. All of us in the packed hearing room understood that my testimony had been wasted. Facing members of the pro-Israel Lobby who had been seated in the front row, three of the four board members voted to invest. Only the State Auditor, Rebecca Otto, voted against the motion.

I’ve seen this pressure before. It usually consists of a subliminal threat by the pro-Israel Lobby to cut off any campaign money to those who defy what the Lobby wants. That is the same kind of threat that allowed Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to travel to the United States to dictate to our Congress how American foreign policy should be conducted. I believe that the 36 standing ovations for Bibi and the 47 Republican Senatorial signatures on the letter to Iran were eager messages to the Israeli Lobby telling them how much Congress appreciated the campaign money given each election cycle to its obedient members. When I served in the US Senate I well remember the threats directed against me for not being obedient enough to the Lobby.

The Board of Investment’s vote to use Minnesota pensioners’ money to buy the low-yield bonds issued by Israel is, without question, highly imprudent and illegal, especially because the Board knows how the money will be used. American money plunged into Israel Bond sales is fungible, meaning that the money is lumped into Israel’s General Fund, and then used for anything Israel wants, without
abourezkrestriction. That also means that the money sent to Israel is used for settlements. Israel’s settlements are illegal under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupier from transferring any part of its civilian population into the territory it occupies. Article 49 was adopted by the international community after WWII as a direct response to Nazi Germany’s illegal and brutal occupation of lands belonging to its neighbors. Both the United States and Israel have signed the Fourth Geneva Convention.     Even the United States Government has acknowledged that Israel’s settlements are illegal.

Beyond just exploiting American elected officials in their political zeal to become complicit in financing illegal Israeli settlements by using money from taxpayer funded public employee pension plans to do so, Israel has a long history of inflicting damage on American interests. During the 1967 Middle East War, Israel’s military attacked and attempted to sink a fully flagged American Navy vessel—the USS Liberty—which had been ordered to monitor the War by assuming a listening post off the coast of Egypt and Israel. Using fighter jets, as well as torpedo boats, Israel killed 34 American sailors and wounded another 171 sailors in the process.

What was painful for the survivors and the families of those Americans killed and wounded by Israel were the duplicitous actions of our own public officials, starting with President Lyndon Johnson, by refusing to allow fighter jets of the Sixth Fleet to come to the aid of the Liberty when it was under attack and working to cover up evidence of Israel’s deliberate attack on our ship and the killing and wounding of our sailors.

That wasn’t the last injury against American interests by our so called “ally.” In the 1970s, Israel recruited and paid a Pentagon employee, Jonathan Pollard, to sell to Israel a “truckload of secret documents,” as described by our then Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger.

More recently, a Pentagon official, Larry Franklin, was indicted by the Justice Department in 2004 for handing over classified information on Iran to two employees of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the leading lobby for Israel. Franklin, a former United States Department of Defense employee, pleaded guilty to several espionage-related charges and was initially sentenced in January 2006 to nearly 13 years in prison. Amazingly, Franklin’s sentence was later reduced to ten months house arrest and 100 hours of community service. In reducing his sentence, the Judge told Franklin that his community service should consist of “speaking to young people about the importance of public officials obeying the law.”

Franklin had passed highly classified information to AIPAC policy director Steven Rosen and AIPAC senior Iran analyst Keith Weissman, whom AIPAC later fired. Initially indicted for illegally conspiring to gather and disclose classified national security information to Israel, all charges against Rosen and Weissman were eventually dismissed.

These are just a few examples that we know about where Israel’s activities have seriously damaged United States interests. What we do not know, including the extent of the duplicity of our public servants, would most likely fill the pages of a book.

Not only is the Investment Board’s action imprudent and illegal with respect to giving Minnesota retirees’ money to a country that has never hesitated in harming America’s interests and will use the money to violate international law, it also tells Israel that it can do what it wishes, without paying any penalty, and that it can even get the United States to pay the price for it.

The Minnesota Investment Board should obey the law whether or not Israel’s Lobby dislikes that decision.

Announcements, Articles, Events, Featured

MN BBC Interactions with the State Board of Investment Thus Far

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) members and supporters attended the quarterly State Board of Investment (SBI) meeting on March 4, 2015, as we have for almost all quarterly meetings for more than three years. More than 50 supporters packed the room holding signs that encouraged the SBI to divest from the Israel Bonds that it holds. More supporters were turned away from the overcrowded meeting room, held in the State Board of Investment offices, rather than its usual meeting place of the Capitol building, due to renovations at the Capitol. Also in attendance were two members of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Former Senator James Abourezk of South Dakota spoke on behalf of MN BBC. He spoke about why Minnesota should not be investing in a country which commits human rights abuses and undermines US Foreign policy, backing up his statements with a history of Israel’s involvement in human rights abuses against both Palestinians and Americans. He was himself, the target of an attack because of his co-founding of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and his colleague, Alex Odeh was assassinated. Although the perpetrators of the murder were never brought to justice for that crime, Israel was clearly implicated.

It did not matter, however, what Senator Abourezk, a friend of Governor Dayton, said. The script for the day had been written in advance. For as soon as the opposing side from the JCRC spoke (Steve Hunegs spoke about the article that he and his friend Walid Issa wrote for the MinnPost, which said that Israel Bonds are a good investment and Israel has always repaid those bonds), Governor Dayton passed out pre-printed copies of his resolution calling for continuing investment in Israel Bonds. The decision had been made prior to the meeting. The debate that ensued did not discuss the issues that MN BBC had been bringing to their attention since the beginning of the campaign – that Israel uses the money from Israel Bonds for illegal purposes. Indeed, never in the history of our dealings with the SBI, have they addressed this issue, much less answered it to anyone’s satisfaction.

So even though this is an apparent loss to our cause, it is also an opportunity for us to step back and look at our strategies in all our interactions with the SBI. While MN BBC has been active in many other areas, this posting will discuss what we have done just with the SBI. It is not written in chronological order, but rather by topic, and hopefully will give activists in other states and municipalities techniques and ideas in executing their campaigns.

The struggle continues! We will not give up until all Palestinians are accorded their full human rights!

We address the SBI

In 2011 at least 30 MN BBC supporters from all over the state (from as far away as Luverne in the southwest and Brainerd in the north central), read statements to the Board during the public comment period of the SBI meeting. Governor Dayton thanked everyone for coming and listened patiently as everyone spoke.

Since that time we have addressed the SBI many times, always insisting that their investments in Israel Bonds are illegal and immoral. At one meeting a student intern stood to speak and Governor Dayton fast-gavelled a close to the meeting. This was a disappointment for the student who had prepared his statement and was looking forward for a chance to speak. We then wrote a letter to Dayton, informing him that his rude behavior had been a frustration to a student who was just learning about the political system. After that letter Dayton allowed speakers again.

Lesson: In an open meeting system, the public has the right to speak. We always (well, almost always) remained respectful and non-disruptive, so there should not have been a reason to bar us from speaking. Always insist on your rights under the US and State Constitutions.

We have conversations with the Executive Director and staff of the SBI

We began speaking with the Executive Director, Howard Bicker, and his staff early in the campaign. None of us at the time had experience in getting information from governmental agencies and we find that, because we didn’t ask the right questions, there were many details that Bicker never included in his responses to us (for example, that the Development Corporation of Israel thanked Howard Bicker personally for his “support of the State of Israel.” It was only recently that we learned this fact.) But we did learn some essentials about the Israel Bonds: date of maturity, approximate amount of investment, average rates of return, and the fact which the SBI continually tries to claim, that they do not invest based on politics, but only for fiduciary purposes. Yet this letter which Bicker received belies that claim, since investing in Israel is a political act.

Lesson: It takes time to know what questions to ask. Get to know your State’s equivalent of a FOIA request. In Minnesota it’s called a Data Practices Act Request (see below).

MN BBC files lawsuit

We brought a lawsuit against the SBI in December 2011. (You can read the complete documents here.) We alleged three counts:

1. That the SBI had invested in Israel Bonds contrary to state statutes 11A.24 subdivision 2, which restricts investments in foreign sovereign bonds to those of Canada and requires substantial restrictions on those investments. We alleged that the State of Minnesota violated those statutes for Israel only, again showing political solidarity with a country against its own stated policy of investing only on the basis of fiduciary duty.

2. That the SBI had invested in Israel Bonds with the knowledge that the money from the sale of those bonds goes into the Israeli treasury and is distributed to various ministries, some of which carry on illegal activities according to both US and international law. The United States is a signatory of the Geneva Conventions and therefore it is incumbent upon all states to comply with those international treaties. Investments in activities which violate ratified international treaties are illegal according to the US Constitution.

3. That the SBI had violated the “prudent person standard” of investment, exposing the state’s pensioners and taxpayers to potential lawsuits based on the harm caused by the international law violations.

The lawsuit was dismissed from the lower court and from the Appeals Court (November 2012) and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case. The court asserted that the SBI did have the legal authority to invest in foreign securities.
The important point which was not addressed is the fact that Israel uses the money from the sale of Israel Bonds for illegal purposes. This has not been disputed by the courts or the SBI.

Lesson: Don’t get discouraged by apparent losses. There were many avenues to go after this dismissal. We began to pursue the avenue that the SBI had violated its own investment guidelines.

We begin a postcard campaignSBI Post Card

The postcard campaign began about the time the lawsuit was filed. The front of the postcard shows pictures of desperation from the Occupied Territories, with the words “This is how MN invests.” The back had a statement saying that the undersigned urged the SBI to divest from its Israel Bonds. Whenever we received a number of signed postcards we delivered them to the SBI. No acknowledgment was given on their receipt.

Lesson: It is vital that the broader community continues to be informed, educated and involved about the campaign and its purposes. A petition or postcard campaign is a great way to involve and educate people.

We allege that they are violating their investment guidelines

In September 2013 we delivered a report to the SBI called “Twenty Years of Failure – A Report on the MN State Board of Investment’s Neglect of Human Rights”. This White Paper pointed out that in the 1990s, then State Auditor (now Governor) Mark Dayton urged the SBI to adopt guidelines to include the consideration of human rights, labor practices and environmental practices in their investment decisions. Each country was to be categorized in one of three groups based on their human rights, labor and environmental records. A Group I country had the best record and investments could be made in those countries without restriction. Group II countries had laws protecting workers, but there were problems and fund managers who recommended those investments were required to make a statement that it would be a breach of the fund manager’s fiduciary duty NOT to invest. Group III countries had the worst human rights, labor or environmental records and the fund manager had to justify a decision to invest in that country. Israel had always been placed in Group II, yet no fund manager ever was required to make the statement that it would be a breach of fiduciary duty not to invest in Israel… until we filed the lawsuit. In June of 2012 the first statements appeared. However these statements did not exactly say that it was a breach of fiduciary duty not to invest in Israel. The best the fund managers could muster was to say it was a breach of fiduciary duty not to have a diverse portfolio.

We also noticed that countries did not change classification from year to year. The country review process, originally required to take place annually, had been skipped for several years. After a Data Practices Act Request, we realized that they had changed the review period to quadrennially, and finally quit reviewing countries altogether after 2005.

Since they had neglected their own requirement for country reviews, we submitted a Shadow Report which reviewed Israel’s human rights record based on the same categories that the SBI was supposed to have used. No response to either of these papers was received.

Lesson: Even though these are politicians who don’t care about human rights unless it will get them votes in the next election, we thought we could shame them for not even following their own internal investment guidelines. It didn’t seem to work, although who knows how they will react when suddenly they can support Palestinian human rights and not suffer political repercussions? We don’t know what will affect someone, so we have to approach it with different tactics.

We file Data Practices Act Requests

Howard Bicker retired in 2013 and Mansco Perry replaced him as the Executive Director. We have met with Perry several times also, and he continues the claim that they only invest based on fiduciary reasons. Perry, however, has been much more forthcoming with records than his predecessor, and we have filed several Data Practices Act Requests from him.
These requests included any written material showing decisions on changing the country review process to extend it to four years instead of annually, and changes to the internal investment guidelines. The guidelines did not change until March 4, 2015 in an important motion that was most likely overlooked by most of our supporters attending that meeting.
The internal investment guidelines had been implemented when Dayton was State Auditor, with the encouragement of several labor unions. That they had not been followed was not an issue for them until MN Break the Bonds insisted that they should follow their own rules on investing. So without attracting any attention to what they were doing, Perry announced that the guidelines were being changed. From now on, the country grouping no longer applies to anything but “emerging markets.” In other words, a developed country can commit whatever crimes against humanity it feels it needs to do and this will not prevent the SBI from investing in it. The SBI voted unanimously to adopt the changes.

Lesson: I already denigrated politicians – enough said!

We encourage them to not reinvest

We have consistently encouraged the SBI to divest from or not to reinvest in Israel Bonds. It is undisputed that the money from the sale of these bonds goes to illegal activities. We confronted the SBI with legal arguments and human rights arguments. We will not be deterred from seeking justice for Palestinians. March 4, 2015 was just another disappointment showing that the SBI, while claiming not to consider politics in their investment decisions, make the very political decision which will get them reelected. Even the fact that Dayton’s own guidelines had to be thrown out in order to make his supporters happy was not enough to make him question his support of an apartheid state.

Here is the wording of the resolution which the board voted on following Abourezk’s address:

The SBI declines to divest of its holdings in its bonds issued by the State of Israel and will continue to invest in the fixed and floating rate bonds offered by the State of Israel subject to a determination by the Executive Director that the rate of return is competitive, and that the duration, terms, amount and risk of the investment are consistent with sound investment practices and the prudent investor fiduciary standard of care in Minnesota Statutes 11A.09 and Section 356A.04.

In other words the SBI is letting Mansco Perry make the investment decision. If it’s a good investment, they all get complimented, if it’s a bad investment Perry may suffer some consequences, but the SBI will have made the politically expedient decision of showing solidarity with an illegal and inhumane regime.

Lesson: The March 4 meeting is not the end of the campaign. We continually find new arrows in our quiver! Stay tuned!

And Stay Human!

For an abridged video of the meeting on March 4, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eThLkKUV_-Y

Announcements, Events, Past Events

MN Break the Bonds condemns the State Board of Investment’s decision and representation of Israel bonds

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 5, 2015 — Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) strongly condemns the decision on Wednesday, March 4 by the State Board of Investment, as initiated by a motion from Governor Dayton, not to divest from Israel bonds, which are maturing on June 30, 2015. The motion came after a presentation by former South Dakota Senator and co-founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee James Abourezk urging the State Board of Investment not to continue to use state pension funds to invest in Israel because of its human rights abuses and oppressive occupation of Palestinians, and the Executive Director of the JCRC who claimed that Israel bonds are an important investment for Minnesota and that their rates are competitive.

After hearing the testimony, Governor Dayton put forth a motion calling on the SBI to “decline to divest” from Israel bonds so long as the bonds continue to return at competitive rates and not pose financial risks for the state, as per their fiduciary responsibility. The Governor remarked that he was behind the effort of the initial purchasing of the bonds and believes they are an important investment to maintain. Attorney General Lori Swanson questioned SBI Director Mansco Perry as to whether these bonds were financially lucrative, pose risks, and have rates similar to other bonds, to which he answered yes. The Board voted 3-1, with State Auditor Rebecca Otto voting no on the basis that she did not believe that the Board should weigh in on an individual bond decision or bring political considerations to an individual divestment decision. Otto’s statement affirms the assertion of MN Break the Bonds that the nature of Dayton’s motion and Israel bonds in general are indeed political. Break the Bonds estimates that since the bonds are general Treasury bonds, at least 20% of Minnesota’s investments are used for settlement activity in the occupied West Bank or towards other infrastructure maintaining the occupation. The occupation is illegal under international law and as such Minnesota is making a political statement by continuing to be invested in a military occupation in violation of international law.

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign challenges the claim that the state’s Israel bonds were purchased for fiduciary rather than political reasons. While the bonds may provide a small and reliable return, this is not the basis on which they are sold. The bonds were purchased as “solidarity bonds” which are sold privately by the Israel Development Corporation as a way to show support for the state of Israel, not for financial competitiveness. “Israel bonds are not prudent investments because they are not competitive; they are not liquid and even the Israel Development Corporation acknowledges that the return is not competitive,” says Karen Schraufnagel, economist and member of MN Coalition for Palestinian Rights.

MN Break the Bonds mobilized supporters in the last several months to call on the SBI to not reinvest in the $10 million bonds, which mature at the end of June. Through this effort they collected over 1,200 signatures from residents of MN calling on the state not to reinvest.

MN Break the Bonds has been calling on the SBI to divest from Israel bonds since 2008 in a broad grassroots campaign with several thousand supporters from around the state, including chapters in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Rochester, Morris, and Willmar. The Break the Bonds campaign follows the Palestinian civil society call in 2005 for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against the state of Israel until Israel complies with international law and enables justice for human rights violations against Palestinians. MN Break the Bonds calls on all supporters of human rights to continue demanding that the State Board of Investments stop investing in Israel bonds.

MN Break the Bonds is a grassroots campaign supported by Friends of Sabeel North America-MN, US Palestinian Community Network-MN, Jewish Voice for Peace Twin Cities, Women Against Military Madness, Anti-War Committee, Middle East Peace Now, and several other community organizations.

Announcements, Events

MN BBC to MN SBI: Don’t Reinvest in Human Rights Abuses!

Please come to the next quarterly meeting of the State Board of Investment on Wednesday, March 4 at 10:00 am in the State Board of Investment building, 60 Empire Drive, Room 106, St. Paul. (Come early and pick up a sign.)

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) announces that former Senator James Abourezk of South Dakota (D-SD, 1973-1979) (US House of Rep., 1971-1973) will be addressing the quarterly meeting of the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI). “I intend to call attention to Israel’s repeated bullying by using money from Minnesota’s Israel Bond sales to kill, wound and imprison helpless Palestinians. I’m certain that Minnesotans do not intend that their hard earned tax money should go to the Israeli military’s brutalizing [of] Palestinian people,” says Abourezk, the first US Senator of Arab descent and the founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the largest Arab-American civil rights organization in the United States.

Comprised of Minnesota’s top four constitutional officers and chaired by Governor Dayton, the SBI manages the investment of Minnesota’s $74 billion pool of public employee retirement funds.

For more than six years, MN BBC has attempted to persuade the SBI to divest its holdings in Israel Bonds which are unrestricted loans to the government of Israel. Israel uses the money from the sale of Israel Bonds to construct settlements on Palestinian land and build apartheid separation barriers, including a massive separation wall, among other actions that violate international law. The SBI’s Israel Bond investments will be maturing on July 1. At the SBI’s September 2014 meeting, Governor Dayton announced that the board would consider whether to reinvest in Israel Bonds when it meets at its March 4 meeting.

MN BBC and its supporters are urging the SBI not to reinvest in Israel’s human rights abuses. In addition to Senator Abourezk’s appearance on their behalf at the March 4 meeting, MN BBC will be submitting a petition signed by over a thousand Minnesotans from many different backgrounds.

Because of his leadership role in a community organization that has advocated for the purchase of Israel Bonds, MN BBC has requested that Secretary of State Steve Simon recuse himself from the SBI’s decision whether to reinvest. The letter to Sec. Simon from MN BBC and the Midwest Organizer for Jewish Voice for Peace requesting his recusal can be seen here.