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Announcement :: Israel / Palestine |
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4/13 Midwest Action - International Day of Action Against Caterpillar |
Current rating: 0 |
by Stop Cat
Email: info (nospam) stopcat.org (verified) |
01 Apr 2005
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4-13: MIDWEST CALL TO ACTION - CHICAGO
International Day of Action Against Caterpillar
Noon - Northern Trust Bank - 50 S LaSalle |
Click on image for a larger version  |
The Stop CAT Coalition is issuing a call for all Palestine solidarity organizations and activists in the Midwest to join us in Chicago for the International Day of Action Against Caterpillar. Our action will take place at the Northern Trust Bank (50 South LaSalle Street) from 12 noon until 3 PM. We would like to send the strongest message possible to Caterpillar management that profiting from human rights violations will not be tolerated. In order to help accomplish our goal, we need as many activists as possible to join us on the sidewalks surrounding the Northern Trust Bank on April 13.
Caterpillar equipment is being used by the Israeli Defense Forces to destroy roads, orchards, greenhouses, agricultural land and the homes of over 50,000 Palestinians. Dozens have died such as Nabila al-Shu’bi, [2] who was seven months pregnant when she was killed with seven other family members in an illegal home demolition. Rachel Corrie, a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, was murdered on March 16, 2003, in Rafah when she was crushed underneath a Caterpillar bulldozer as she attempted to stop an illegal home demolition. While U.S. taxpayers foot the bill, Caterpillar profits from this illegal destruction.
At Caterpillar’s 2004 shareholders meeting, the Board of Directors successfully urged the defeat of a resolution calling on CAT to investigate whether it was adhering to its own Corporate Code of Conduct with regard to its sales to Israel. After calls from human rights organizations, members of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, religious and social justice organizations and the victims themselves, CAT has the responsibility to investigate the ethics of selling bulldozers as weapons and profiting from human rights abuses.
On Wednesday, April 13 (2005) CAT shareholders will meet again in Chicago. Join our action outside the shareholders meeting that day to oppose Caterpillar’s sale of bulldozers to Israel. Let’s send the Board of Directors and CAT dealerships a strong message that complicity in human rights abuses will not be tolerated.
Additional Details:
There will be both educational leafleting and “flash” actions on Tuesday, April 12, for those that can join us.
There will be a get together “pay for your own” dinner gathering for activists from outside of Chicago with local organizers. Location and time available via e-mail or phone.
Smaller actions will take place on April 13 prior to the main event at Northern Trust.
While the protest at Northern Trust Bank is intended as a “green” (non-arrestable) action, we support a diversity of tactics by affinity groups. We only ask that they make our local organizers aware of their plans in person on April 12 in order to protect those that choose not to participate in anything other than a “green” action.
Please bring large banners & photos, props with you to the Northern Trust Bank.
We can assist with housing and logistics for those traveling to Chicago
If you can not make it to Chicago, we strongly encourage you to take non-violent direct action at a CAT facility near you. For a directory of CAT facilities please visit: http://www.catdestroyshomes.org/downloads/CatDirectory.pdf
For more information, contact: info@stopcat.org or 773-489-3505
Visit: www.catdestroyshomes.org
Media Advisory: Religious and human rights groups, investors take on Caterpillar in Chicago at April 13 annual shareholder meeting
Related Articles:
Drawing Caterpillar Out Of Its Corporate Cocoon: Company Should Examine Its Role in Mideast Violence
Human Rights Watch: "Caterpillar Should Suspend Bulldozer Sales"
Democracy Now!: Family of Rachel Corrie Sues Israeli Government and Caterpillar Inc. Two Years After She Was Crushed by Military Bulldozer
BBC News: US bulldozer firm in Mideast Row
Caterpillar: The Alternative Report by War on Want [PDF format, 715K] |
This work is in the public domain |
Comments
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Re: 4/13 Midwest Action - International Day of Action Against Caterpillar |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
01 Apr 2005
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I know I'm repeating myself, but protesting Cat was misplaced energy two years ago and it's misplaced energy now. The same arguments that are being used to argue that Cat should stop selling heavy equipment to the Israelis can also be used to argue that they should stop selling equipment to the Palestinians -- you _do_ know that the PA also uses Cat, right?
Going after Cat has always struck me as going after the wrong end of the chain. There are considerably more effective ways to protest the Israeli use of house demolitions.
It's also worth pointing out that there doesn't seem to be any acknowledgement here that Israel recently changed its demolition policy drastically only a month and a half ago; maybe that news hasn't filtered through the community yet. Here's the abstract of the NYTimes article from Feb 18:
"ABSTRACT - Israel orders halt to policy of demolishing homes of Palestinian militants, step welcomed by Palestinian and human rights groups; decision, made by Defense Min Shaul Mofaz, suspends practice that country has employed on and off for decades despite harsh international criticism of it as collective punishment; Maj Gen Udi Shani, who heads committee reviewing matter, reportedely concluded that policy caused Israel more harm than good by generating hatred among Palestinians; typically, Israel has responded to major Palestinian terror atttack, like suicide bombing, by sending armored bulldozers to flatten house in which bomber lived, giving relatives only minutes notice to leave; Israel has destroyed 675 Palestinian homes as punishment for Palestinian attacks since latest round of Israeli-Palestinian fighting began in Sept 2000; decision to halt practice is latest in series of good-will gestures recently announced by two sides, although Israeli military says house demolition policy has been under review for four months"
In other words, the anti-Cat protests seem even more wrong-headed and guaranteed ineffective now than they were in the past.
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Re: 4/13 Midwest Action - International Day of Action Against Caterpillar |
by marat
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
01 Apr 2005
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The question of corporate responsibility for war crimes was resolved in international law
years ago, Gehrig.
But just in case you've forgotten - IG Farben and it's subsidary Degesch, manufactured a commercial form of hydrocyanic acid widely used for pest control fumagation.. In their defense in front of the Allied war crimes tribunal, IG Farben executives claimed that they could not have known how their product was being misused. - and could not be held accountable. The court fortunately, didn't buy it.
But the product did have a pithy brand name. It was called - Zyklon B. |
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Re: 4/13 Midwest Action - International Day of Action Against Caterpillar |
by ari
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
01 Apr 2005
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Actually Gehrig - you should try reading the Israeli press more often than every two months or so.
While it's true that the IDF has announced its halt its policy of demolishing Palestinian houses either as punishment for acts of violence or as a deterrent measure,
it is important to point out that punitive demolitions represent only a small part of house demolitions. The IDF claims to have demolished 270 Palestinian homes under this policy; B’tselem reports 672 homes. This type of demolition, then, represents only 5-15% of the 4000-5000 Palestinian homes demolished during the four years of the Intifada – only 3-5% of the 12,000 homes demolished in the Occupied Territories since 1967.
Fully 60% of the Palestinian homes demolished during the Intifada were destroyed in military operations according to B’tselem; this type of demolition, too, will hopefully stop as military operations cease. The other 25% of homes demolished – more than 1000 homes of innocent Palestinian civilians with no connection to violence or resistance – were demolished by court order because the families were unable to obtain building permits.
This last type of demolition, intended to confine the Palestinian population to small enclaves in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, continues apace.
The decision to halt a particular form of house demolition, then, derives from a purely tactical evaluation of effectiveness. It does not represent a gesture of reconciliation towards the Palestinians, or even an implicit recognition of international law. |
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Re: 4/13 Midwest Action - International Day of Action Against Caterpillar |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
01 Apr 2005
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That's okay, I didn't expect you to concede the point, although you win bonus points for the tastelessness of your carefully chosen analogy.
So the scenario plays out like this:
A) You miraculously manage to convince Caterpillar to refuse to sell to Israel.
B) Israel finds another manufacturer -- of which there are no shortage worldwide.
C) Net accomplishment: American jobs lost. Absolutely nothing else.
So knock 'em dead. So to speak.
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Re: 4/13 Midwest Action - International Day of Action Against Caterpillar |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
01 Apr 2005
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"Actually Gehrig - you should try reading the Israeli press more often than every two months or so."
Actually, Ari, you should be more careful with your assumptions. But speaking of the international press:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4401921.stm
But go ahead. Have a nice rah-rah. Wave your hands and stomp and shout.
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Re: 4/13 Midwest Action - International Day of Action Against Caterpillar |
by marat
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
02 Apr 2005
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Well, Gehrig - as the old saying goes, opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one.
Nice to know, however just how you stand on questions of corporate accountability. No doubt, the management at Raytheon, Boeing, General Dynamics, Halliburton would be equally gratified. . |
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Ahem, Gehrig - CAT is just the beginning. |
by terry
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
02 Apr 2005
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Look what just popped up on Z Net.
A Campaign to Challenge Israeli Apartheid
Targeting Jewish National Fund (JNF) Charitable Status in Canada to be Launched on Land Day
by Kole Kilibarda March 31, 2005
and Hazem Jamjoum
On 30 March 1976, thousands of indigenous Palestinians occupied by Israel in 1948 participated in a mass strike against systematic discrimination triggered by the government’s plans to expropriate 5,500 acres of Arab-owned land. The villages of Arraba, Sakhnin, Deir Hanna and other smaller communities in the Galilee – a region of northern Israel with a Palestinian majority – were particularly targeted. The Israeli police responded to the demonstrations with violence, killing six unarmed Palestinian youths, wounding another hundred activists and arresting over three-hundred people.
In the intervening years, these events have become consecrated in Palestinian memory as Land Day and are celebrated on both sides of the ‘Green Line’ (i.e. the 1949 Armistice Line that separates ‘Israel’ from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip). Just as the Sharpeville massacre of 21 March 1960 served to galvanize a whole generation of anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, the killings of Raja Abu Rayya, Khader Khalayla, Khadija Shawahneh, Khair Yassin, Mohsen Taha and Ra’fat Zuheiri on 30 March 1976 mobilized a sense of community among Palestinians in opposition to the systematic racism they faced within the Israeli state. The demonstrations were an important moment in the re-invigoration of community activism through organizations like the Communist Party and younger groupings of Palestinian activists such as the Abna-l-Balaad movement (or Sons of the Land).
The massacre also highlighted the Israeli government’s strategy of yehud ha-galil, the project of ‘Judaizing’ the Galilee, which remained a clandestine program until 1976 when it was openly adopted as a slogan of the Israeli Housing Ministry. The rationale for this policy was provided by Israel Koenig - the head of the Israeli Interior Ministry’s Galilee Division - in a report drafted for then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. This report was leaked in 1976. It claimed that the Palestinian citizens of Israel were “a cancer in the Jewish body that had to be curbed and contained” and argued for a policy of “terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.” The Koenig report led to a brutal wave of land confiscations and the establishment of Jewish settlements known as mitzpim (‘lookouts’ in Hebrew) in the Galilee, culminating eventually with the general strikes and protests of Land Day.
Uri Davis’ recent book Apartheid Israel: Possibilities for the Struggle Within (2004) helps to underline the on-going colonial and racist nature of the Israeli state itself. Davis’ book argues that a central component of Israel’s colonization project continues to be the so-called ‘redemption of the land’ – read: the forcible expropriation of Palestinian livelihood for the purposes of Jewish-only settlement. The slogan of ‘redeeming’ land was used by early Zionists to highlight one of the central goals of the Zionist movement, which was to acquire lands in Palestine for Jewish-only settlement. This slogan was first adopted by early Zionists and entrusted as a task to the Keren Kayemet LeYesrae’l or Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), which was established during the Fifth Zionist Congress in 1901 as an executive arm of the Congress. Since then the JNF has continued to acquire lands for Jewish-only settlement, often establishing new communities or ‘natural reserves’ over destroyed Palestinian villages.
This land-grab has traditionally focused on areas whose demographic composition remained predominantly Palestinian after the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948 – known to Palestinians as the Nakba (Catastrophe) during which 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed, 220,000 individuals were internally displaced, at least 1,000 civilians killed, over 530 villages and 11 towns were destroyed and millions of acres of land were expropriated. The ‘internal’ colonization that followed this bloody chapter in the establishment of the state of Israel has translated into forcible attempts to ‘Judaize’ the Galilee and the Naqab, in southern Israel, and the further expropriation of roughly another one-million acres of Palestinian land. While prior to 1948 Palestinians owned 94% of the land in what became the Israeli state of today, this number was reduced to 3% of all lands in this polity as a result of successive waves of systematic land-confiscation. By 1993, 80% of the lands that had remained in Palestinian hands after the Nakba were now in the hands of new Jewish settlements or the Israeli state itself.
The practice continues to this day in regions of Israel that are still predominantly inhabited by Palestinians. While international media focuses on the illegal Israeli colonies established in the West Bank and Gaza Strip – which are often euphemistically referred to as 'settlements' - the privately-run JNF, in tandem with other Israeli state agencies, continues to lay claim to Palestinian lands within Israel. Most recently, the JNF has begun targeting the Bedouin populations of the Naqab. This is part of a broader process in which the Bedouin population of the state, numbering some 110,000 people has been systematically separated from its land base over the years. Most recently this process has occurred through government fumigation programs, Jewish settlement activity in the Naqab and the IDF’s expropriation of lands inhabited by the Bedouin for ‘military’ purposes (including the creation of firing ranges, closed military areas, etc)
It should be noted that the JNF manages its lands policy through a range of acquisitions coordinated with the Israeli Lands Administration (ILA). The ILA is responsible for the management of all publicly held lands in Israel and is governed by the Basic Law establishing the ILA (1960); the Israel Lands Law (1960); and the Covenant between the State of Israel and the World Zionist Organization (1960). According to the ILA’s own data it is responsible for managing 93% of all lands in the state (most of which were formerly owned by Palestinians). The JNF holds half the seats in this institution and thus has an important say in the way these lands are managed. According to the JNF’s Memorandum of Association it is responsible for raising funds for Jewish-only settlement.
Despite the racist and colonial nature of the Fund it is nonetheless listed as a charitable organization in most Western countries. In Canada, the JNF raised $15-million in the early 1970s to establish ‘Canada Park’ a ‘recreational’ area built on land-occupied by the Israeli military in 1967 in order to cover-up the destroyed Palestinian villages of Imwas, Yallu, and Beit Nuba. Such a blatant manipulation of historical memory in the name of ‘nature conservation’ highlights the way in which the JNF and ILA are used in an attempt to erase any signs of the indigenous population of Palestine. According to a 1986 UN report prepared by the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories, which dealt, in part, with the situation of those displaced by the hostilities of 1967:
“One particular illustration of this situation is the fate of the inhabitants of Imuas, Beit-Nuba and Yalu, reduced to the state of wandering refugees since their villages were razed by the occupying authorities in 1967. The Special Committee considers it a matter of deep concern that these villagers have persistently been denied the right to return to their land on which Canada Park has been built by the Jewish National Fund of Canada and where the Israeli authorities are reportedly planning to plant a forest instead of allowing the reconstruction of the destroyed villages.”
Spurred by Davis’ work, in the summer of 2004 activists from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) in Scotland launched a campaign to strip the JNF of its charitable status in Scotland. The demand put forward by PSC activists is one that can be produced in other countries were the JNF enjoys charitable status. It allows people to begin challenging the racist policies and institutions upon which the Israeli state and the dispossession of the Palestinian people in 1948 was built. In November 2004, the Scottish parliament’s Communities Committee agreed to take the PSC’s concerns into account in deliberations on the new Charities Bill before the legislature. The successes of the PSC should be built upon in other countries. An international effort to challenge the JNF’s charitable status could form an important component in mobilizing a broader international movement against Israeli apartheid. In 2006, people in Palestine will be marking the 30th anniversary of Land Day. 2006 will also mark the year when the world will observe the 30th anniversary of the entry into force of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (on 18 July 1976) – a largely forgotten convention that was never ratified by Israel (or other settler-colonial states like the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand for that matter), but that clearly outlines the illegal nature of the apartheid policies practiced by the Israeli state and its affiliated agencies. The sections of the convention that apply most directly to the JNF and the ILA are worth quoting here at length (although the entire convention, which can be found at http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/11.htm, is worth reading). The convention states:
Article II
For the purpose of the present Convention, the term "the crime of apartheid", which shall include similar policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination as practised in southern Africa, shall apply to the following inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them:
[…] (c) Any legislative measures and other measures calculated to prevent a racial group or groups from participation in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full development of such a group or groups, in particular by denying to members of a racial group or groups basic human rights and freedoms, including […] the right to leave and to return to their country, […] the right to freedom of movement and residence […]
d) Any measures including legislative measures, designed to divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups, […] the expropriation of landed property belonging to a racial group or groups or to members thereof;
In Toronto, Palestinians and their allies will be launching a campaign to strip the JNF of its charitable status in Canada this Land Day. We hope that it will be a stepping stone in broadening the international struggle against Israeli apartheid and a means of holding our own governments accountable for their obligations under international law.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. Sign the online petition being delivered to Canada Revenue Agency demanding that the JNF be stripped of its charitable status. You can sign the petition at: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/jnfca/petition.html 2. Support the campaign by Calling/Faxing Canada Revenue Agency to demand the JNF be stripped of its charitable status.
Contact:
Elizabeth Tromp, Director General, Charities Directorate, Canada Revenue Agency
In the Ottawa area: (613) 954-0410 (English) or (613) 954-6215 (bilingual)
Toll free elsewhere in Canada: 1-800-267-2384 (English) or 1-888-892-5667 (bilingual)
Fax: (613) 954-2586
3. Join Al-Awda’s JNF Campaign Contact info (at) al-awda.ca URL: http://www.al-awda.ca |
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Re: 4/13 Midwest Action - International Day of Action Against Caterpillar |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
03 Apr 2005
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" Well, Gehrig - as the old saying goes, opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one."
This is true. And on the effectiveness of protesting Cat, yours is wrong. But have a nice party. Shake your signs a lot. Scream a little scream for me.
I've also seen the campus divestment movement -- for a brief moment full of exactly the same rah-rah, built on exactly the same principles -- go down like the proverbial lead balloon. The majority of Americans already support the two-state solution, are encouraged by the plans by the suddenly-reality-facing Sharon to disengage from Gaza even if it means finally confronting the whacks in the settlements who think God gave them the West Bank personally, see the new contacts blooming between Israel and the Muslim states -- I think Chad is the newest on the list -- and decide that it's your street theater that's the sideshow, while the main event -- the coming establishment of a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza -- is now once again within the realm of possibility.
But you can't handle that, because it means that your basic approach to the Israeli-Palestine conflict -- blame Israel for everything and sanctify the Palestinians (even the ones with the belt bombs) -- turns out to have been a cul-de-sac. So instead you have to suggest I'm in the corporate pocket because I recognize your cartoon version of reality for what it is.
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proposal defeated 97% to 3% |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
14 Apr 2005
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A whole lot of good activist energy is being poured down the drain because it's being pointed at the wrong end of the chain.
From the Peoria Journal-Star:
Shareholders nix dozer plan
Activists say sales to Israel Defense Forces violate code of business conduct
Thursday, April 14, 2005
BY MIKE RAMSEY of COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
CHICAGO - For the second year in a row, an overseas controvery upstaged Caterpillar Inc.'s annual stockholders meeting in Chicago's Loop.
Activists held a sidewalk demonstration Wednesday outside the Northern Trust Building, protesting Israel's use of the company's bulldozers in razing Palestinian buildings and homes.
Inside, Caterpillar board members and top executives gathered to conduct largely routine business. But one proposal urged the Fortune 100 company to study whether sales of its bulldozers to the Israel Defense Forces violates Caterpillar's Code of Worldwide Business Conduct.
Shareholders rejected the politically charged measure on a margin of 97 percent to 3 percent, according to tentative vote totals. The proposal failed to earn enough support to be re-introduced next year, a company spokesman said.
Jewish Voice for Peace teamed up with religious orders that hold Caterpillar stock to file the proposed resolution.
The Stop Caterpillar Coalition argues Caterpillar is culpable when the Israeli army displaces Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza using company-made bulldozers that have been armored. The critics say demolitions haven't subsided as diplomatic relations in the region show signs of improving.
"Bad publicity is bad business," Sara Norman, a Jewish Voice for Peace member, told more than 50 Caterpillar shareholders or their substitutes.
Her organization claimed victory Wednesday by saying the "yes" vote minority, even at 3 percent, represented an investment base worth more than $600 million in Caterpillar shares.
Caterpillar Chairman Jim Owens reiterated the company's stance that it feels compassion for people caught up in conflicts but cannot police the use of its more than 2 million pieces of equipment worldwide. He warned against trying to mold the company's ethical code as a "political instrument obliging us to screen and monitor our customers."
"Once the code is viewed as a means to draw Caterpillar into one political debate, it will inevitably be used to draw the company into others as well," he said in prepared remarks. "This goes well beyond any reasonable definition of our business mission . . . and is inconsistent with our commitment to investors."
Caterpillar officials said the company sells 4,000 to 5,000 large bulldozers each year. The U.S. military, not Caterpillar, sells earth-moving equipment to the IDF, Owens said.
The debate didn't end there. Audience members chimed in during an informal question-and-answer session with Owens, who encouraged people to raise other topics of discussion.
Roz Rothstein of Los Angeles, national director for a pro-Israel group, said the Palestinian home demolitions are done for legitimate defense purposes. She said the activists are trying to "use Caterpillar as a political tool to marginalize one little country that's fighting for its survival."
Plenty of blame
Jonathan Buchbinder of Chicago found fault with both Caterpillar and its critics. He said company officials should realize how its products are used in other countries, but he added that activists should broaden their focus to include other nations that may be misusing Caterpillar equipment.
"On both sides, you can't be that naive about it," he said.
The issue of how the IDF uses Caterpillar equipment gained wide attention in March 2003 with the death of American activist Rachel Corrie, who was run over by an Israeli-driven bulldozer in Gaza while she was challenging demolitions there. Corrie's family has sued Caterpillar. Her aunt, Cheryl Brodersen of Iowa, attended the shareholders meeting.
As part of a coordinated effort Wednesday, about 15 demonstrators, holding anti-Caterpillar signs and waving Israeli flags, stood silently in front of Caterpillar's World Headquarters in Downtown Peoria as a smaller number of uniformed police officers watched from nearby. The local Jewish Federation and the Peoria Area Peace Network organized the event.
In Chicago, dozens of protesters held signs and banners, and a few wore elaborate costumes to get the attention of passersby and motorists. They shared the sidewalk with a separate group of demonstrators, about 50 members of a machinists union from Joliet who are negotiating a new contract with Caterpillar.
In other business Wednesday, under a measure that tentatively passed on a margin of 51 percent to 49 percent, stockholders may get a chance to approve the next "poison pill" plan Caterpillar implements. Poison pills, or shareholder-rights plans, are meant to deter hostile takeovers.
The advisory measure had been pushed unsuccessfully for several years by stockholder John Chevedden of California and his representative in Chicago, Martin Glotzer. Glotzer said the proposal would be re-introduced next year if Caterpillar directors ignore it.
Owens said board members would discuss the idea and make an announcement later this year. The current shareholder rights plan expires in 2006, he said.
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