SDS call for divestment in the South End
On Wednesday, March 21 we presented a statement to the schools Board of Governors proposing divestment from several military contractors, and the adoption of an ethical investing clause that would prohibit the university from taking out investments in companies that abuse human rights or otherwise aim to cause harm.
We presented our statement to the BOG after a statement read by the campus’ Anti-Racist Action chapter, who read a statement calling for the administration to divest from Israel and denounce the McCarthyist tactics of the campus Zionists. Both proposals were reported about in the student newspaper, the South End,
Representatives from Anti Racist Action (ARA) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) asked WSU administrators and Reid for one thing — divestment.
Michael Stauch from ARA demanded Reid formally announce WSU’s divestment from Israel.
“In the Middle East, the state of Israel must be dismantled in order for democracy in the region to flourish,” he said.
Stauch said Reid’s comments to the Detroit Free Press, where he called Israel divestment a compromise to free speech and intelligent dialogue classified him as a Zionist.
“The (ARA) contend that we have afforded this university, the Board of Governors, and President Irvin Reid a historic opportunity to be the first university in the United States to take a moral stand on this, perhaps the most pressing contradiction of our time,” Stauch said.
“By demanding divestment, we are in fact attempting to promote much-needed intelligent dialogue on this topic.”
Stauch charged that Zionist groups have repeatedly contacted ARA members’ employers and called them “terrorists,” adding that WSU’s inaction toward the hostile dissent of this group’s message was akin to the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s.
SDS representative Michael Merriweather spoke about WSU’s investments in companies involved in the “military-industrial complex.”
“We recognize Wayne State University’s need to invest, we believe this need must be balanced against the responsibility to invest sustainably (sic),” he said. “Should Wayne State profit from an industry whose products bring suffering and death to thousands of people?” he asked. “What complicity does Wayne State have in this suffering?”
Merriweather presented a proposal which urged WSU to divest from corporations that profited from war including Halliburton, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Company.
The proposal included an “ethical investment clause” which insisted WSU refrain from investing resources into “defense and other corporations whose products or practices endanger human life.”
Original post by Aaron and reposted by Radical Blogs
