Fidelity has thrown up a successful smokescreen. It argues that it has special, socially conscious funds for altruistic investors. That’s great. But what does that have to do with its past and/or present holdings in PetroChina? And why will it neither confirm nor deny whether it continues to hold it? It’s conceivable that when the SEC releases its latest reports, Fidelity will have reduced its PetroChina holdings. But will it commit to stop investing in other companies that do business in or with Sudan and thus fund genocide? Harvard, the world’s richest university, is backing away from Sudanese investments. And a move is afoot to bar such holdings from Massachusetts’s state-pension funds.
Publications and broadcasters have every right to accept or reject advertisements as they see fit, just as they have the right to determine what news stories and commentary they publish. But it is indeed a bitter irony that the New York Times, which, by sponsoring the reporting and commentary of Nicholas Kristoff may have done more than any other media outlet to bring the plight of Darfur to the public’s attention, won’t accept ads that could lead to the slaughter’s end. It’s understandable to give a big customer such as Fidelity a break or the benefit of a doubt. But what sort of break do the victims of genocide get?
It may be hard to find people who defend genocide, but it is even harder to get anyone to do anything about it. The genocide of the Armenians, European Jews, Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge, and Rwandans are testimony to that. Governments everywhere have failed in their moral obligation. It’s time for people to act.
Act Now
To find out more about divestment efforts on the federal level, go to http://www.darfurscores.org/blog/2007/03/22/697. For state-by-state efforts, check out http://www.sudandivestment.org.
For information about State Senator Harriette Chandler’s divestment bill, S2217, click here.
For an S2217 fact sheet, click here.
To support the campaign for divestment in Massachusetts, contact Daniel Millenson at massachusetts@sudandivestment.org.
