05581
Oct. 26, 2005

Power of the purse

MRTI staffer will be featured at Toronto
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 — 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.