On Monday March 7th, the first night of Israeli Apartheid Week 2011, Students Against Israeli Apartheid, at the University of Toronto and York University officially launched a campaign demanding that their respective universities divest from four companies involved in violations of Palestinian human rights and Israeli Apartheid. Investments in BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Hewlett Packard have been found in the University of Toronto's Pension Master Trust, Long Term Capital Appreciation Pool, and Expendable Funds Investment Pool, as well as in York University's Pension and Endowment Funds. The complicit companies create military technologies used in the murder of civilians, the destruction of infrastructure and the daily humiliation of Palestinians. Just under two decades ago York University was one of the first to divest from South African Apartheid; U of T was shamefully one of the last.
The entire week of IAW events, including guest lectures from Judith Butler, Ali Abunimah, Judy Rebick and Riham Barghouti, focussed on institutional complicity and the importance of the campus as a site of resistance. All of the week's speakers have signed on to our divestment campaign in the spirit of holding our universities accountable to their purported commitment to the “vigilant protection of human rights".
Join these renowned intellectuals and social justice activists, in addition to over 100 faculty members who have already signed on, to demand that our universities do the right thing and take action to divest now!
Please sign our petition below and encourage your organization, union or club to stand with us against our universities' complicity in human right's violations against Palestinians.
We thank you for your support.
View Divestment Reports on the SAIA Toronto Website
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