{"id":1084,"date":"2012-05-03T07:40:40","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T14:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/gc2012\/?p=1084"},"modified":"2012-05-03T07:40:40","modified_gmt":"2012-05-03T14:40:40","slug":"delegates-reject-divestment-from-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/delegates-reject-divestment-from-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Delegates reject divestment from companies"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rev. We Hyun Chang, a delegate from the New England Annual (regional) Conference, holds a map of illustrating Israeli expansion into the West Bank during the May 2 session of the 2012 United Methodist General Conference in Tampa, Fla. Chang presented a motion favoring divestment from corporations profiting from the Israeli settlement of occupied Palestinian territories. The petition was defeated. A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Tita Parham* | May 2, 2012<\/em><\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. (UMNS)\u2014Delegates to The United Methodist Church\u2019s top lawmaking assembly approved petitions dealing with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but they did not approve a measure to divest from specific companies.<\/p>\n

Delegates instead approved a report calling on the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits to explore \u201cserious peace-making strategies in Israel and Palestine, including positive economic and financial investment in Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Israeli-Palestinian issue dominated the May 2 afternoon plenary at General Conference. Nearly 990 delegates from around the world are gathered through May 4 for the assembly, held every four years.<\/p>\n

The petition originally called for divestment from Motorola Solutions, Hewlett-Packard and Caterpillar, which provide products that are used by the Israeli military in the occupation of Palestinian lands. The Finance and Administration Committee instead substituted language urging \u201cpositive, rather than punitive options,\u201d according to Jessica Vargo, East Ohio delegate and committee chairperson.<\/p>\n

The petition also asked United Methodist general agencies and boards to ask companies to adopt United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and to consider economic sanctions with companies that refuse.<\/p>\n

Vargo noted this petition did not mean that divestment from companies would not be considered. Rather, the petition placed the decision to divest into the hands of the Board of Pension and Health Benefits, as has been historically done, not General Conference.<\/p>\n

A minority report urging divestment and calling on United Methodist boards, agencies, annual conferences and local churches to take into consideration a company\u2019s involvement in Israeli occupation when making investment decisions was rejected.<\/p>\n

Those opposed to the committee\u2019s recommendation said it did not go far enough in helping end the struggles of the Palestinian people and that past efforts encouraging companies to change their behavior had not worked.<\/p>\n

Arguments for change<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robert Lee, 19, a student at Appalachia State University, Boone, N.C., and a delegate from the Western North Carolina Annual (regional) Conference, said he was moved by stories about those who were injured or killed when Palestinian homes were bulldozed to make way for settlement building.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re trying to show this a conference of change, it\u2019s time to put our money where our mouth is,\u201d he said, advocating for divestment.<\/p>\n

Sarah Ann Swenson, a delegate from Minnesota, said the lack of concrete action on the issue is one reason \u201cpeople between the ages of 18 and 21 are missing\u201d from The United Methodist Church. They see the church as \u201csmall-minded and hypocritical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis petition is devoid of any possible way to put our dollars to good work,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we can\u2019t take action, let\u2019s at least stop hiding behind pretty rhetoric.\u2019<\/p>\n

Those opposed to the minority report said targeting specific companies blames the companies for making the products, rather than citing the people who use the products, and it might set a precedent for divestment from other companies related to a myriad of social issues.<\/p>\n

Opposing settlements<\/strong><\/p>\n

Delegates also approved a petition calling for opposition to Israeli settlements on Palestinian land through nonviolent responses, but the petition did not specify what those responses would be.<\/p>\n

A rejected minority report did note specific actions: encouraging Palestinians and Israelis to engage in direct negotiations toward a two-state solution \u201cand an end to the Israel occupation and settlement building,\u201d calling on the U.S. government to renew negotiations, and committing to study and make concrete recommendations for action by the church that do not include boycott of any party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am encouraged; this was an educational session,\u201d said Tracy Smith Malone, chair of Church and Society Committee A. \u201cI think we opened the eyes of delegates, and now they will have conversations in their local churches and annual conferences about aligning investments with our values. I think our Christian friends in Palestine will hear we stood in solidarity with them. We could not have even had this conversation four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Parham is a freelance writer, editor and communications consultant based in Apopka, Fla., and serving as part of the United Methodist News Service team at General Conference 2012.<\/em><\/p>\n

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Tampa, Fla., (813) 574-4837 through May; after May 4: (615) 742-5470 ornewsdesk@umcom.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rev. We Hyun Chang, a delegate from the New England Annual (regional) Conference, holds a map of illustrating Israeli expansion into the West Bank during the May 2 session of the 2012 United Methodist General Conference in Tampa, Fla. Chang presented a motion favoring divestment from corporations profiting from the Israeli settlement of occupied […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-umns"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/no-divest.jpg?fit=640%2C397&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-hu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1084"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1087,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1084\/revisions\/1087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}