RIGHT TO BOYCOTT PUBLIC MEETING
APRIL 24TH
WEMBLEY PARK
Monday April 24th at 7.30 to
9pm. Chalkhill Community Centre, Welford Centre, 113 Chalkhill Road, Wembley
Park, HA9 9FX 2 minutes walk from Wembley Park tube station and
served by many buses from all parts of Brent and Harrow.
SPEAKERS: Andrew Feinstein, Former ANC
MP in South Africa and Ryvka Barnard, Deputy Director, Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Entry is free but PLEASE register with
Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/595697135167
A public meeting at Chalkhill Community Centre on Monday April 24th will focus on Government plans to limit the right of public bodies to boycott. A Coalition has been formed to challenge the proposed Bill that could affect many campaigning organisations and its declaration has been signed by 60 human rights and environment campaigns, religious organisations and trade unions. Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) have long been an effective and peaceful means of bringing about change.
THE DECLARATION
As a group of civil society
organisations made up of trade unions, charities, NGOs, faith, climate
justice, human rights, cultural, campaigning, and solidarity
organisations, we advocate for the right of public bodies to decide not
to purchase or procure from, or invest in companies involved in human
rights abuse, abuse of workers’ rights, destruction of our planet, or
any other harmful or illegal acts. We therefore oppose the government’s
proposed law to stop public bodies from taking such actions.
The government has indicated that a main intention of any legislation
is to ensure that public bodies follow UK foreign policy in their
purchasing, procurement, and investment decisions, particularly relating
to Israel and Palestine. We are concerned that this would prevent
public bodies from deciding not to invest in or procure from companies
complicit in the violation of the rights of the Palestinian people. We
affirm that it is the right of public bodies to do so, and in fact a
responsibility to break ties with companies contributing to abuses of
rights and violations of international law in occupied Palestine and
anywhere else where such acts occur.
From bus boycotts against racial
segregation to divestment from fossil fuel companies to arms embargoes
against apartheid, boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns have
been applied throughout history to put economic, cultural, or political
pressure on a regime, institution, or company to force it to change
abusive, discriminatory, or illegal policies. If passed, this law will
stifle a wide range of campaigns concerned with the arms trade, climate
justice, human rights, international law, and international solidarity
with oppressed peoples struggling for justice. The proposed law presents
a threat to freedom of expression, and the ability of public bodies and
democratic institutions to spend, invest and trade ethically in line
with international law and human rights.
We call on the UK government to immediately halt this bill, on
opposition parties to oppose it and on civil society to mobilise in
support of the right to boycott in the cause of justice.
Badges from the 1980s
BRENT HISTORY
The presence on the platform of former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein is particularly appropriate as Brent has a proud record of opposing South African apartheid as I wrote in a previous article:
South African fruit was a
particular target and small groups were set up across the country and in
universities with at its peak 140-150 groups. The deaths of two
students in 1976 in the Soweto Students Uprising generated further support for
action against apartheid and in 1984 Brent Anti-Apartheid was working with the
National Union of Students, women's groups and black organisations appealing to
Trade Unions not to handle South African goods.
There were calls for boycotts that have
similarities with those promoted today by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign
with a wider focus targeting sporting links, divest from companies profiting
from apartheid, pension fund divestment, arms embargo and the release of
political prisoners. Barclays Bank, the biggest high street
bank in South Africa,was targeted locally and Brent Labour Party moved its
account to the Co-operative Bank.
The Labour Council at the time was part of a local
authority delegation to Margaret Thatcher to present a petition if favour of
the boycott and the Council stopped contracts with firms with South African
links and councillors took part in pickets of supermarkets urging them not to
stock South African goods.
Reflecting on that history it is to be hoped that the current Labour Council will also stand up for the right to boycott and divest.
Monday's meeting is jointly organised by Brent Friends of Palestine who raise funds for the charity Brent Friends of Palestine, and the Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign. With Amnesty International claiming that Israel is operating a system of apartheid LINK it is telling that two of the 1980s badges above, on ending investment and boycotting Barclay's Bank, apply to current campaigns on human rights in Palestine, the arms trade and investment in fossil fuels.
Ryvka Barnard from Palestine Solidarity will make the links with current campaigns, the situtation in Israel-Palestine and the need to strongly resist the Government's propose new law.
In 2020 when PSC asked Brent Council for details of its Local Government Pension Fund Investments the following companies that they invested in were involved in arms sales etc:
Barclays £1,252,342
Barclays is a British multinational bank and financial services company.
Barclays hold approximately £1,167.6 millions of investments in companies that
are known to supply the Israeli military. This includes Babcock, BAE and
Boeing, Cobham and Rolls Royce. More information available in War on Want’s
2017 ‘Deadly Investments’ report.
BAE Systems £970,233
According to CAAT, “BAE Systems is the world’s fourth largest arms producer.
Its portfolio includes fighter aircraft, warships, tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery,
missiles and small arms ammunition. It has military customers in over 100
countries. BAE has a workshare agreement with Lockheed Martin producing the US
F-35 stealth combat aircraft. Israel, for example, took delivery of its first
F-35 in 2016. According to Investigate, a project by the American Friends
Service Committee, BAE has worked in cooperation with Lockheed Martin and
Rafael to produce and market the naval Protector drone used to maintain the
siege of Gaza along the Mediterranean coast.
Smiths Group £316,811
According to CAAT “Smiths Group is a global technology company with five
divisions: John Crane, Smiths Medical, Smiths Detection, Smiths Interconnect
and Flex-Tek. Smiths Connectors is part of Smiths Interconnect and comprises
Hypertac, IDI and Sabritec brands. Products include connectors used in fighting
vehicles, unmanned vehicles and avionics systems.” They have applied for a
number of military export licences to Israel.
Rolls Royce £294,535
Rolls-Royce is a British manufacturer that produces military aircraft engines,
naval engines and cores for nuclear submarines. Despite arms comprising only
26% of its total sales, it is still the world’s 17th largest Arms trade. In
2014, the year of Israel’s arial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, which
killed over 2,200 civilians, nearly a quarter of them children, Rolls-Royce was
granted export licenses for engines for military aircrafts to Israel
When PSC requested updated information last year Brent Council said they were unable to supply details of individual companies as they were incorporated into various investment funds.
