Street roots., December 23, 2016, Page 10, Image 10

Street Roots •
Dec. 23-29, 2016
Page 11
Commentary
Along with big oil, city should stop investing in Caterpillar
HRC reported receiving intimidating and
threatening emails and phone calls. Rather
than being supportive of their action,
ore than 50 years ago I walked
leading public officials, including Mayor
down the main street of Selma,
Hales and even Portland State University
president Wim Wiewel, signed a statement
»
S
I
S
Ala., to the jeers of hundreds of
accusing the HRC of being “divisive.” The
angry people. I was one of a small group of
HRC had merely studied the evidence and
college students who had arrived late to the
after a community hearing concluded that
Selma to Montgomery March for Voting
they had heard nothing to dispute the
Rights.
evidence.
Because we were late we brought up the
More than 5 million Palestinians living
rear of the March, and the red-faced crowd
under occupation cannot vote for the Israeli
turned its full-throated fury on us, deterred
government that controls their lives. The
only by the armed federal troops who stood
Israeli government has been systematically
between us. We were about to cross the now
dispossessing Palestinians since 1948 in the
famous Edmund Pettus Bridge. Weeks
pursuit
of a state ideology known as political
earlier on a day known as Bloody Sunday,
Zionism that lifts one ethnic group over all
civil rights protesters had been brutally billy-
others, even though 20 percent of Israel’s
clubbed and attacked
Rod Such is a
citizens are Palestinian Arabs.
by
state
troopers
member o f the
Today an iconic halo has descended over
mounted on horseback
steering committee
the
Selma to Montgomery voting rights
o f Occupation-Free
when they tried to
march. It is as if the whole world crossed
Portland.
cross this bridge.
the Edmund Pettus Bridge that day. Now
There is nothing
even white supremacists cannot openly
like walking a gauntlet
argue against black people having the right
of hate to understand
W IK IC O M M O N S P H O TO
to vote; instead, they try to suppress that
what it means to be divisive. Just a few
A D9 Caterpillar bulldozer outfitted by Israel to withstand confrontation.
right. There were only 3,000 of us that day
weeks ago I was once again accused of being
in March 1965. We were considered divisive
divisive. This time it was because I testified
city’s Do-Not-Buy list. Both of us cited its
country has ratified.
then because many white Americans saw us
along with dozens of other people
We pointed out that Caterpillar bulldozers role in building the Dakota Access Pipeline,
as disrupters of the status quo. They
supporting Occupation-Free Portland (OFP),
razing burial ground sacred to the Sioux
are also used to destroy Palestinian
believed each state had the right to decide
a coalition of peace, faith, and social justice
Nation at Standing Rock, evading $2.4
farmland, razing olive trees and orchards to
its own laws, and if white supremacy was
organizations. We asked Portland’s City
billion in federal taxes by setting up a phony
make way for illegal settlements in the West
invest
a x company
C
o u n c il in to Caterpillar,
s to p u s in g Inc.,
o u r ta
p a y e r d o that
lla r s is
to
enshrined in state law and the social order,
subsidiary in Switzerland and contributing
Bank, also in violation of the Fourth Geneva
complicit in violating the human rights of
then so be i t
to global warming through its Oil and Gas
Convention. Caterpillar equipment was also
the Palestinian people. Since 2014, the city
If we had not been divisive, it would still
Division.
used to help build the Separation Wall on
of Portland has invested $110 million in
be that way today. Every struggle for human
commercial paper issued by Caterpillar.
But we were not being called “divisive”
Palestinian land, a wall ruled illegal by the
rights has been divisive. When any group is
Specifically, we called out Caterpillar for
International Court of Justice at The Hague.
for those reasons. We were labeled
oppressed, there is always an oppressor
selling D9 bulldozers to Israel knowing that
“divisive” specifically because we called
We outlined many other reasons why
attempting to justify the oppression. So
these gigantic two-story militarized weapons
Portland should not invest in Caterpillar.
attention to violations of Palestinians’
many of us have decided to remain divisive
would be used to punish entire families,
Caterpillar violates six of the seven criteria
human rights. Why?
and to wear it as a badge of honor, knowing
sometimes entire neighborhoods and
outlined in Portland’s Socially Responsible
Why should human rights for one group
that one day the world will acknowledge and
villages for any defiance of Israel’s illegal
Investments policy. The city’s advisory body, of people be singled out for disapproval?
help repair the injustice done to the
occupation. This type of action is called
the Socially Responsible Investments
When Portland’s Human Rights Commission
Palestinian people. Unity only comes when
collective punishment, and it’s a violation of
Committee (SRIC), agreed with our findings
(HRC) endorsed our recommendation to
everyone is free. And first you have to cross
the Fourth Geneva Convention, which our
and recommended putting Caterpillar on the stop investing in Caterpillar, members of the the bridge.
BY ROD SUCH
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
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Fermentation agent
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Tree fluid
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Cake ingredient
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Three-ply cookie
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14. The gift o f ___
15
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22 SW 3RD AVE. / 1501 NE DAVIS ST. PORTLAND, OR
Tease or ridicule
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DOWN
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Type of fritter
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Analyze or try
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Cake ingredient
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Très
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