This article was written by London CND Vice Chair Christine Shawcroft.
At a full Council meeting on 22nd January, Tower Hamlets Council voted for a complete audit of its pension fund investments and declared its intention to divest funding from arms companies in particular. This was the culmination of many months’ hard work by members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and CND, leafletting and petitioning for divestment. Many thousands of signatures had been gathered on the streets for the petition, which was also placed on the Council’s website.
“I am pleased that the current Council has agreed to divest from companies assisting in Israel’s genocidal policies. This decision can only be activated if still more other London Boroughs do the same as pension funds are invested jointly, but this is a significant step forward" says Phil Sedler of Tower Hamlets CND.
The BDS campaigning is getting results across London, with Tower Hamlets being the fourth council to commit to divestment. Local campaigns in other boroughs are still very active. The impetus for BDS is, of course, the war crimes and plausible genocide taking place in Palestine, despite a recent negotiated ceasefire. There have been numerous breaches of the ceasefire by the Israeli government, and a stepping up of military action in the illegally occupied West Bank. It is being said locally that ‘ceasefire’ means ‘you cease, and we fire’ to the government. It has also been reported that Trump ‘sold’ the ceasefire agreement to the government by assuring them that they could break it and suffer no sanctions from the US.
However, the recent divestment decision taken in East London came just a few days after Bristol City Council voted to call on Avon Pension Fund to divest from companies supplying weapons or weapons components to Israel, as well as companies doing business in the illegal settlements. Other local authorities have already voted for divestment, with more resolutions to councils in the pipeline.
The horrors unfolding in Gaza are concentrating activists’ minds on stopping the complicity of our government and British firms with the actions of the right-wing Israeli government and calling for international law to be obeyed. However, stopping investment in arms companies would also affect other conflict zones around the world, and would be a major step towards peace in many areas. Many companies involved in the production of ‘conventional’ weapons are also involved in the production of nuclear weapons or of components for them. BDS campaigns can therefore also be part of our campaigning for a nuclear-free world.