December, 01 2015, 07:45am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Clemence Dubois, clemence@350.org +33642713175Â
Lindsay Meiman, lindsay@350.org, +19148444950
Divest for Paris
350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Stephen Heinz, Pascal Canfin former Minister of Development of France and Senior Advisor for the International Climate Affairs at the World Resources Institute, and other divestment leaders will announce the new tally of divestment commitments and total money under management that's gone fossil free.
WASHINGTON
350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Stephen Heinz, Pascal Canfin former Minister of Development of France and Senior Advisor for the International Climate Affairs at the World Resources Institute, and other divestment leaders will announce the new tally of divestment commitments and total money under management that's gone fossil free.
Le Bourget, Paris -- 350.org and partners will make a major new fossil fuel divestment announcement this Wednesday, unveiling the new sum total of institutions and assets under management that are committed to the cause.
This September, divestment advocates announced that over 400 institutions representing over $2.6 trillion in assets under management had made some form of divestment commitment. In just a matter of weeks, that number has grown significantly, as cities, universities, foundations, faith communities, and other institutions "Divest for Paris." Institutions are modeling the type of commitment they'd like to see politicians make here at COP21, moving money out of fossil fuels and into climate solutions.
This Wednesday, December 2, 350.org will unveil the new commitments at two events at COP21:
Divest-Invest Press Conference
When: Wednesday 2nd of December, 12.30pm - 1.00pm
Where: Press Conference Room 3, Media Center, Hall 5, Le Bourget
Speakers:
May Boeve, Executive Director of 350.org: May Boeve is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of 350.org, a global grassroots movement working to solve the climate crisis. 350.org has helped lead the fossil fuel divestment movement, the fastest growing such effort in history, according to Oxford University.
Stephen Heintz, President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund: As President of Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Stephen Heintz divested one of the original fossil fuel fortunes and has become a leading advocate for divesting from fossil fuels and investing in climate solutions.
Kevin De Leon, President pro tempore of the California State Senate: De Leon led the effort in the California State Senate to pass a resolution to divest two of the world's largest pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, which together represent nearly $500 billion in assets.
Noelie Audi-Dor, President of London School of Economics (LSE) Divest: After a long running student campaign, the LSE announced this November 26th that it would divest its PS97.2 million endowment from coal and tar sands companies and not invest directly in any fossil fuel companies. Students are still pushing for full divestment.
Jacqueline Delia Bremond, Co-founder and Co-Chair of the Ensemble Foundation: Delia Bremond will be announcing a new divestment commitment as part of the growing European Divest-Invest movement of foundations divesting from fossil fuels.
Momentum for Divestment Side Event
When: Wednesday 2nd December, 1.00pm - 2.30pm
Where: Le Bourget, Climate Generation Areas, Room 4, Green Zone.
Momentum for Divestment will feature speakers from across the global divestment movement who will speak to the growing momentum for change. Representatives will include faith groups, cities, universities, foundations, and more. In the last year alone, the movement has seen a 50-fold increase in the amount of assets under management from funds who have committed to some level of fossil fuel divestment. Divested assets under management are well over $2.6 trillion. Together, institutions are modeling what we need to see from governments: clear commitments to move money out of fossil fuels and into climate solutions.
May Boeve, Executive director of 350.org
Bill McKibben, Co-Founder of 350.org
Pascal Canfin, Senior Advisor for International Climate Affairs at the World Resources Institute
Jeremy Leggett, from Carbon Tracker Initiative
Stephen Heintz, President of the Rockefeller Brothers foundation
Jacqueline Delia Bremond, Co-founder and Co-Chair of the Ensemble foundation
Clara Vondrich, Global director of Divest / Invest philanthropy
Kevin De Leon, President pro tempore of the California State Senate
Jesse Bragg, Media Director at Corporate Accountability International
Noelie Audi-Dor, President of LSE Divest
Jess Worth, from "BP or Not BP?"
Kathy Jetnil- Kijiner, Poet and a Pacific Climate Warrior from the Marshall Islands
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
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The prominent free expression group PEN America announced Monday that it has canceled its 2024 literary awards ceremony amid growing backlash over the organization's response to Israel's assault on Gaza and alleged attempts to suppress dissent among its employees.
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I look forward to offering amendments tomorrow to cut billions in offensive military funding to Israel from the proposed national security supplemental package and protect essential humanitarian operations. We cannot continue to fund this horrific war. pic.twitter.com/8JpxpT7IX2
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 23, 2024
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Over 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by U.S.-backed Israeli troops, and Columbia University students have been suspended and arrested by New York Police Department officers in recent days for protesting the slaughter—which led to a walkout by the Ivy League institution's faculty on Monday.
The Guardian reported that "hundreds of members of the teaching cohort at Columbia walked out in solidarity with the students who were arrested" while "students put protest tents back up in the middle of campus on Monday after they were torn down last week when more than 100 arrests were made."
Yonah Lieberman, co-founder of IfNotNow, a Jewish-led U.S. group that organizes against Israel's apartheid, declared: "Solidarity with these faculty members. Shame on establishment politicians and agitators who are smearing the anti-war protest at Columbia as anything other than what it is: a courageous stand for freedom and peace."
Naureen Akhter, a founding member of the New York-based group Muslims for Progress, said: "Thank you to the professors who stood in solidarity with student protestors, who didn't give into instigators who are fanning flames of hate and division. Remember the calls are for transparency, divestment, and amnesty for students!"
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)—a critic of Israel's war on Gaza whose own daughter, Isra Hirsi, was suspended from Columbia's Barnard College last week for "standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide," as the 21-year-old junior put it—also noted the faculty walkout and "nationwide Gaza solidarity movement."
"This is more than the students hoped for and I am glad to see this type of solidarity," said Omar. "But to be clear, this about the genocide in Gaza and the attention has to remain on that."
Summary of events from the last day not related to Columbia:\n\n- Israel has not provided evidence that UNRWA staff are part of Hamas\n- A mass grave, including women/children was discovered\n- Doctors did an emergency c-section, saving a baby after an airstrikes killed her mother— (@)
The walkout in New York City followed 54 Columbia Law School professors sending a letter to administrators that states, "While we as a faculty disagree about the relevant political issues and express no opinion on the merits of the protest, we are writing to urge respect for basic rule-of-law values that ought to govern our university."
"Procedural irregularity, a lack of transparency about the university's decision-making, and the extraordinary involvement of the NYPD all threaten the university's legitimacy within its own community and beyond its gates," they wrote. "We urge the university to conform student discipline to clear and well-established procedures that respect the rule of law."
In a statement early Monday, several hours before the walkout, Columbia University president Minouche Shafik—who last week enabled NYPD arrests of students at the encampment—announced in her first statement since the sweep that all classes would be virtual "to deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps."
"Faculty and staff who can work remotely should do so; essential personnel should report to work according to university policy. Our preference is that students who do not live on campus will not come to campus," Shafik said. "During the coming days, a working group of deans, university administrators, and faculty members will try to bring this crisis to a resolution."
The national group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) on Monday accused Columbia of creating "a climate of repression and harm for students peacefully protesting for an end to the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza" over the past six months.
"Columbia University has actively created a hostile environment for students who are Palestinian or who support Palestinian freedom. Additionally, the administration's actions have made the campus much less safe for Jewish students," JVP said.
According to JVP:
Instead of listening to the calls of Columbia and Barnard students to divest from the genocide perpetrated by the Israeli government, the university has called in the NYPD to arrest students, suspended them, and even expelled them. At present 85 students, 15 of whom are Jewish, are suspended.
Yesterday's statement by the White House, like the administrators of Columbia University, dangerously and inaccurately presumes that all Jewish students support the Israeli government's genocide of Palestinians. This assumption is actively harming Palestinian and Jewish students.
The administration has not only harassed Jewish students and failed to ensure their safety and well-being, it has also obstructed their religious observances during Shabbat and prevented them from accessing their Jewish community on the eve of Passover.
While President Joe Biden's Sunday statement was officially about Passover—a Jewish holiday that begins at sundown on Monday—and not the protests at Columbia and other campuses across the country, it was widely received as a response to the latter.
Biden said in part that "we must speak out against the alarming surge of antisemitism—in our schools, communities, and online. Silence is complicity. Even in recent days, we've seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous—and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country."
Jonathan Ben-Menachem, a Ph.D. student at the university, toldCNN that "Columbia students organizing in solidarity with Palestine—including Jewish students—have faced harassment, doxxing, and now arrest by the NYPD. These are the main threats to the safety of Jewish Columbia students."
"On the other hand, student protesters have led interfaith joint prayers for several days now, and Passover Seder will be held at the Gaza solidarity encampment tomorrow," he added. "Saying that student protesters are a threat to Jewish students is a dangerous smear."
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said in a lengthy statement that "we are student activists at Columbia calling for divestment from genocide. We are frustrated by media distractions focusing on inflammatory individuals who do not represent us. At universities across the nation, our movement is united in valuing every human life."
"As a diverse group united by love and justice, we demand our voices be heard against the mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza," the statement continues. "We've been horrified each day, watching children crying over the bodies of their slain parents, families without food to eat, and doctors operating without anesthesia. Our university is complicit in this violence and this is why we protest."
The Columbia Spectator reported Monday that Columbia College passed a divestment referendum that "asked whether the university should divest financially from Israel, cancel the Tel Aviv Global Center, and end Columbia's dual degree program with Tel Aviv University," with respective votes of 76.55%, 68.36%, and 65.62%. However, a statement from a university spokesperson signaled the referendum would not lead to any shift in campus policies.
Beyond Columbia, there are ongoing demonstrations at institutions including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, the University of Michigan, and Yale University, another Ivy League school, where at least 47 peaceful student protesters were arrested on Monday.
Those arrested were "charged with class A misdemeanors, which is the highest class of misdemeanors in Connecticut—the same degree applies to third-degree assault," according to the Yale Daily News. Citing a university spokesperson, the student newspaper added that they "will be referred for Yale disciplinary action—which could include reprimand, probation, or suspension."
Pushing back against some administrators' statements, journalist Thomas Birmingham, who was with the Yale protesters overnight, said on social media: "Here's some things I saw... 1. Repeated and loud calls to remain peaceful. 2. Students locking arms, teaching Arabic and Hebrew, and passing around pizza and water. 3. Lots of singing."
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