April 04, 2005
( Washington , DC ) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) hailed news that Harvard University will sell $4.4 million of stock in PetroChina because of the company’s ties with the Sudanese government, who Congress and the Bush administration say is actively involved in the ongoing genocide in Darfur.
“This is a small, but important victory in the national effort to remove the blood of Darfur from our pension funds and endowments,” said Lee. “No one should have to worry that their education or their retirement was financed by genocide.”
Lee has played a leading role in the effort to get the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the nation’s largest pension fund, to divest from companies doing business in Sudan . According to independent reports, CalPERS holds $7.5 billion of investments in 44 companies doing business in Sudan .
California Assemblymember Merv Dymally (D-Compton) introduced legislation in February that urges CalPERS to divest from such companies.
Harvard’s move highlights the growing national movement to divest university endowments and state pension funds from companies doing business in Sudan . In February, the New Jersey state Assembly approved divestment legislation. Similar legislation has been introduced in Illinois , Arizona , Maryland and Texas and is being considered in Tennessee , Vermont , Connecticut , Louisiana and Massachusetts .
Lee stated that CalPERS has a financial responsibility, in addition to having a moral responsibility, to divest from such companies, pointing out that companies run a significant financial risk by associating with governments such as Khartoum, and that that risk is assumed unnecessarily by pension funds.
“It’s against our values and it’s bad business,” said Lee. “Californians don’t want blood on their pensions, and they don’t want their pensions assuming these risks.”
Lee is the most senior Democratic woman on the House International Relations Committee, where she serves on the Africa Subcommittee. In late January she visited refugee camps along the Chad-Sudan border as part of a Congressional delegation that included actor Don Cheadle, who was nominated for an academy award for his role in the film Hotel Rwanda.
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Barbara Lee Hails Harvard PetroChina Divestment
National Movement for Genocide Divestment Gains Momentum
( Washington , DC ) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) hailed news that Harvard University will sell $4.4 million of stock in PetroChina because of the company’s ties with the Sudanese government, who Congress and the Bush administration say is actively involved in the ongoing genocide in Darfur.
“This is a small, but important victory in the national effort to remove the blood of Darfur from our pension funds and endowments,” said Lee. “No one should have to worry that their education or their retirement was financed by genocide.”
Lee has played a leading role in the effort to get the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the nation’s largest pension fund, to divest from companies doing business in Sudan . According to independent reports, CalPERS holds $7.5 billion of investments in 44 companies doing business in Sudan .
California Assemblymember Merv Dymally (D-Compton) introduced legislation in February that urges CalPERS to divest from such companies.
Harvard’s move highlights the growing national movement to divest university endowments and state pension funds from companies doing business in Sudan . In February, the New Jersey state Assembly approved divestment legislation. Similar legislation has been introduced in Illinois , Arizona , Maryland and Texas and is being considered in Tennessee , Vermont , Connecticut , Louisiana and Massachusetts .
Lee stated that CalPERS has a financial responsibility, in addition to having a moral responsibility, to divest from such companies, pointing out that companies run a significant financial risk by associating with governments such as Khartoum, and that that risk is assumed unnecessarily by pension funds.
“It’s against our values and it’s bad business,” said Lee. “Californians don’t want blood on their pensions, and they don’t want their pensions assuming these risks.”
Lee is the most senior Democratic woman on the House International Relations Committee, where she serves on the Africa Subcommittee. In late January she visited refugee camps along the Chad-Sudan border as part of a Congressional delegation that included actor Don Cheadle, who was nominated for an academy award for his role in the film Hotel Rwanda.
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