In Darfur, government and rebel groups continue the slaughter unabated, people are suffering as disease ravages the refugee camps, and on Monday Médecins du Monde of France withdrew its workers because of continuing attacks on humanitarian aid groups.
It’s easy to feel helpless.
Scott Wisor sure did.
The graduate student working on his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder had tried writing letters to the U.N., calling congressmen and attending rallies. When nothing worked, he couldn’t bear to stand by as another genocide occurred in his lifetime.
“I was about 13 when the Rwanda genocide happened,” he said.
It affected him deeply, especially when he came to understand how the international community had failed to stop the killing.
Wisor did not want to look back on his life and feel ashamed that he remained silent during a humanitarian disaster.
So he did what any self-respecting 25-year-old would do: He surfed the Internet.
It took only seconds to find information about a nationwide movement to pressure big investors – universities, public pension funds, states and other organizations – to divest their portfolios of stock in corporations that provide revenues that subsidize the slaughter.
“We need to cut the economic lifeline that is supporting genocide,” he said.
The targeted companies are those that have business relationships with the government of Sudan, have failed to support Sudanese civilians and have failed to take action to end the genocide.
No U.S. companies are among them – the government has imposed sanctions that forbid U.S. companies from operating in Sudan – but many foreign corporations whose stocks are traded on the international financial markets are.
Wisor said the divestment movement may not be as viscerally satisfying as sending an international military force to Sudan, but it can be stunningly effective.
The last time the world cut off money to an oppressive regime was in the 1970s and ’80s when the economy that propped up apartheid in South Africa collapsed. Divestment succeeded where decades of attempts at diplomacy had failed.
“It’s a great way to get involved,” he said. “The message is that everyone who’s investing has the power to change what’s happening half a world away.”
Wisor met with one of the founders of the Sudan Divestment Task Force last summer and soon found himself named regional coordinator for the campaign.
Last month, his group managed to persuade the University of Colorado regents to abandon their “neutral investment” policy and screen its funds for investments in companies that contribute to the violence in Sudan. It also got Rep. Andrew Romanoff and 75 co-sponsors to introduce House Bill 1184, which would get public money out of corporations that do business in Sudan.
“The response in Colorado has been really tremendous,” Wisor said. “This kind of activism among young people here is really unprecedented in my experience. It’s absolutely wonderful.”
Even better would be for Coloradans of all ages to join the movement to starve Sudan of the millions needed to buy Chinese weapons and to support murderers and rapists in Darfur. It’s not hard.
After talking to Wisor, I logged on to www.sudandivestment.org and ran my 401(k) through the “screening tool.” I was appalled to find at least one of my funds through work invests in PetroChina, Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.) and Schlumberger Ltd., three companies that generate millions for the perpetrators of genocide in Darfur.
I transferred the money immediately.
Bloomberg News reports the strategy is already working. Siemens AG and ABB Ltd. have terminated business operations in Sudan after pressure from investors.
For all those who’d like to think they would have stopped the Holocaust if they’d had the power, consider this: More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced so far in Sudan. No end is in sight.
This is your moment.
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 303-954-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com.
