Church of England divests from Caterpillar

Church of England divests from U.S. bulldozer biz

CAIRO (Marwa Awad)

The Church of England announced Monday it had withdrawn its investments in a controversial company over the weekend following a threat by a group of vicars to publish a letter denouncing the Church's investment, but denied there were any political or ethical consideration in what it called an economically informed decision.

The Church of England said Monday that it withdrew 2.2 million [pounds] ($3.3 million) from Caterpillar Inc. in late December 2008 because of economic considerations. Israel used bulldozers bought from the U.S.-based manufacturer of construction and mining equipment to demolish Palestinian homes.

News of the church’s divestment came late Saturday just in time to prevent the planned publication of a letter in the Guardian signed by 23 theologians accusing the Church of England of not acting on its policy to promote morally and ethically responsible investments.

"We believe that given the events in Gaza as well as the continued illegal occupation of whole swathes of Palestinian land and the illegal land grabs by settlers, supported by the Israeli Government, that the Church of England must make good on its policy of disinvestment and withdraw its investments from those who profit form the misery of millions of Palestinians immediately," the unpublished letter stated.

But the church denied it had withdrawn investment for political or ethical reasons and said the timing of the announcement was coincidental.

"The holding status was made public when (the Church was) asked," church spokesperson Steve Jenkins told AlArabiya.net. "The Church of England withdrew shares it held in Caterpillar for purely investment reasons."

He added that the Church sold its shares in Caterpillar late December “on investment grounds," explaining that the church’s investment bodies is charged with making investment decisions and takes into account the recommendations of the ethical advisory group.

Activists say otherwise

Activists, however, believed the church's last minute announcement proved it had given into growing pressure for an embargo.

"The Church seems very reluctant to promote the implementation of their own policy, and yes they snuck the news out, under the cover of darkness, with little in the way of a fanfare!" Niall Sookoo, media spokesperson for Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which issued Monday a press release lauding the church's long awaited divestment, told AlArabiya.net.

"The Church must be proud of taking such a stance in the name of human rights, not use financial investment considerations as a fig leaf to hide its decision to finally enact the resolution for morally responsible investments," he added.

Reverend Garth Hewit chair of Interfaith Group for Morally Responsible Investment (IMRI) expressed concern over the Church of England's claim that it had divested for economic reasons and not at the Synod's instigation.

"I think it is a little bit sad that they quietly removed their holdings presumably to avoid any fuss," he said, adding that members of the General Synod had no news of divestment.

"We only heard about this by accident as it was not publicized. It appears to have been done secretly and leaked, then later announced as divestment but not at [our] instigation," he said.

Controversial investments

The Church of England voted in February 2006 at the General Synod—the legislative body of the Church—to disinvest in companies operating in the Palestinian Occupied Territories that profit from the suppression of human rights, and to uphold "morally responsible investment."

The decision came after the Church's Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG) issued a report detailing the involvement of Caterpillar's equipment in illegal activity under the Geneva Convention.

The U.S.-based manufacturer of construction and mining equipment has been criticized for several years by heavy weight human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as well as the United Nations for supplying weaponized bulldozers to Israel's military which has used them to raze more than 7,000 homes and fields that form Palestinians' livelihood since 1967.

Caterpillar has become the central target for growing threats of divestment for supporting the Israeli Defense Forces, especially following the death of Rachel Corrie, a 24-year-old American activist bulldozed to death in 2003 by an IDF-operated Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer in Gaza.

Initial press release

Amid growing public protests in Britain since the Gaza offensive, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has promoted the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, a worldwide civil movement founded in 2005 following a ruling by the International Court of Justice that called Israel’s construction of a partition wall illegal

In a press release issued over the weekend prior to the Church's announcement Monday, Betty Hunter, General Secretary of Palestine Solidarity Campaign criticized the Church's inaction on divesting from Caterpillar.

"The General Synod of the Church of England took a morally courageous decision 3 years ago to disinvest from companies that profited from supplying goods and services in the Palestinian occupied territories," she said.

"Sadly three years on and the Church of England retains investments of £2.2 million in a company, Caterpillar, whose bulldozers and heavy machinery is used to extract the legitimate residents of Palestine to be replaced by illegal settlers."

"I have personally seen the damage, the destruction of homes, the building of the Wall in which Caterpillar had been involved. And I know that large number of the Church members felt [Caterpillar] was morally indefensible," he told AlArabiya.net.

"Our interest now is to go to Veolia, a company supporting war crimes by helping to build a rail way to Jewish settlements," he said, adding that the Stockholm Council in Sweden already turned down their contract.

Source: http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/02/09/66055.html