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Board should divest from Sudan
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If the State of Wisconsin passes Sudan divestment legislation, it would be much more than a "symbol of political protest." Wisconsin is one of 27 states that have either already divested or are actively considering such legislation. This collective effort amounts to billions of dollars being divested from corporations that support genocide. Already, Siemens and ABB Ltd., two European corporations targeted for divestment left Sudan last month citing divestment as the reason. Regardless of dollar amount or the effect, there is a moral imperative to divest from Sudan. How can we sleep at night knowing that our government is supporting genocide? It should be understood that the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) is using scare tactics and inflated figures to avoid regulation by the legislature, the body that created it. If the handful of companies to be divested from are so profitable and therefore critical to SWIB's statutory purpose, why isn't more than 0.12 percent of its funds invested in them? Shouldn't that number be much closer to 100 percent? The fact is, there are plenty of alternatives to investing in Sudan that will be just as lucrative. Regarding SWIB's statutory purpose, Section IB 2.02(7) also holds the weight of law: "The board believes, however, that an organization, in whatever country it does business, can have a positive influence in support of basic human rights through its conduct in dealing with employees, clients and governments. Therefore, the investment board will seek investments in organizations which respect basic human rights…" More information on why divestment is important, effective, and responsible can be found at http://www.sudandivestment.org Branton Kunz Divestment Director Wisconsin Sudan Divestment Campaign bkunz@wisc.edu The Wisconsin Sudan Divestment Campaign is a project of Action in Sudan, the Darfur Action Coalition of Wisconsin, and the Sudan Divestment Task Force.
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Sure, whatever, Sudan won’t miss it. China is more than willing to pick up the slack. China dosen’t have any moral qualms when it comes to buying countries.
Honeslty who cares about Sudan? Let them take care of themselves. Most of them have AIDS anyways
Brandon, do you realize that divestment without the support of China, Malaysia, Qatar and Russia only helps the Sudanese government? Because Action in Sudan is only picking easy and insignificant targets, you’re artificially lowering the price of shares for these corporations and the aformentioned companies are fighting tooth and nail to buy them back up. In case you haven’t noticed, Khartoum is booming like a young Dubai. ‘Action in Sudan’ is little more than ‘Symbolic-inaction-to-make-ourselves-feel-good-and-add-to-the-resume in Sudan’.
cool
They would have divest companies from China, Malaysia, Qatar and Russia to have any real effect. Fat chance of that!