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[PCUSANEWS] MRTI staffer to be featured at Toronto conference on
From
PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>
Date
Wed, 26 Oct 2005 15:32:28 -0500
Note #8993 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
05581
Oct. 26, 2005
Power of the purse
MRTI staffer to be featured at Canadian conference on 'responsible investing'
by Toya Richards Hill
LOUISVILLE - The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be represented this week
at an ecumenical conference of church-related organizations interested in
using economic pressure to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and
Gaza and to achieve a "just peace" for both Israel and Palestine.
A conference titled "A Call for Morally Responsible Investment: A
Nonviolent Response to the Israeli Occupation" started Wednesday in Toronto,
Canada, and runs through Saturday. The host for the event is Canadian Friends
of Sabeel, a group that supports the work of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation
Theology Center in Jerusalem through education, advocacy and financial
support.
One of the featured speakers will be the Rev. Bill Somplatsky-Jarman,
the PC(USA)'s associate for Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI)
and Environmental Justice.
Somplatsky-Jarman is guiding MRTI as it responds to an order from the
216th General Assembly to begin a process of phased selective divestment from
multinational corporations with business practices believed to contribute to
violence in Israel and Palestine.
The aim of the Toronto meeting is to reach out to churches and other
groups "interested in learning about economic strategies as they pertain to
ending the Israeli occupation and promoting a just peace." Its sponsors
include the American Friends Service Committee, the Baptist Peace Fellowship
of North America, Jewish Voice for Peace, Pax Christi U.S.A and the United
Church of Christ.
Somplatsky-Jarman said Wednesday that conference planners "asked me
to basically cover our experience since the General Assembly adopted the
resolution in 2004" and "how the MRTI committee is approaching the
assignment."
The conference will feature international speakers - including
Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who will appear by video - and panel
discussions, networking and small-group workshops. The idea is to explore the
potential economic impact of "morally responsible investing."
The conference is "a positive development to allow people to get
together and explore economic strategies that are aimed at ending the
occupation and stopping violence," Somplatsky-Jarman said.
MRTI is currently "engaging" five multinational companies -¾
Caterpillar, Citigroup, ITT Industries, Motorola and United Technologies - in
an effort to get them to change business practices believed to contribute to
violence in Israel and Palestine.
During the MRTI's scheduled meeting next month in Chicago, members
will meet with officials of Great Rivers and Chicago presbyteries to discuss
their relationships with two of the companies under scrutiny.
The headquarters of Caterpillar, a manufacturer of heavy equipment
used by the Israeli military and firms that contract with the Israeli
government, is in Peoria, IL. Motorola, a large electronics and
telecommunications company with a wholly owned subsidiary in Israel with
extensive ties to the Israeli military, is based in Schaumburg, IL.
"We're going to be meeting with the presbyteries for sure, and
working on arrangements to see if we can meet with some of the companies,"
Somplatsky-Jarman said.
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