Divestment team heads to capital

After a successful Sudan divestment campaign at the University
of California, members of the UC Sudan Divestment Taskforce plan to
head to Sacramento tonight to begin their next campaign, this time
working alongside influential California politicians.

Over the past several months, California politicians have taken
up the issue of divesting some of the state’s money from
Sudan. The Sudanese government has been accused of conducting
genocide during a three-year conflict that has caused hundreds of
thousands of deaths and many more displacements in the Darfur
region of the country.

Two of these politicians ““ State Treasurer Phil Angelides
and State Controller Steve Westly ““ have encouraged
withdrawing funds from Sudan, and both are planning to run for
California governor in the 2006 election.

The task force’s new campaign comes about three weeks
after the UC Board of Regents voted unanimously to divest from nine
companies with holdings in Sudan.

Members of the task force have worked with the treasurer’s
office, and the students traveling to Sacramento on Thursday were
invited to the capital by Angelides, said task force Co-Chairman
Adam Sterling.

Mike Roth, a spokesman for Angelides, said the bus taking the
students to Sacramento was funded by a committee under the Standing
Up for California Committee, a Web site created by Angelides.

“Certainly Treasurer Angelides has been a strong supporter
of campaign,” said Jason Miller, co-chairman of the task
force.

Separate from the student movement, the two politicians have
encouraged California pension firms to divest from companies
involved with the Sudanese government.

In December, Westly proposed a motion for the California Public
Employees’ Retirement System, a state pension fund, to
reprimand three of its companies with holdings in Sudan and tell
them to withdraw funds from the Sudanese government, said Yusef
Robb, a spokesman for the controller’s office.

The motion was a way of “standing up against the
genocide,” Robb said.

Robb also said Westly proposed a motion passed by CalPERS
calling on President Bush “to increase the American effort to
address the genocide.”

Most recently, Angelides also called on CalPERS to pursue a
divestment policy, but the motion did not pass.

Miller cited the support of California politicians as a factor
in the campaign’s success.

Sterling said the UC’s decision to divest, largely spurred
by the students’ campaign, brought the task force to the head
of the nationwide movement, with the support of Angelides and other
politicians.

He said the effort is moving along “with the treasurer
being on board,” and he hopes it will gain momentum with
“the fact that the treasurer is actively leading
it.”

Members of the task force plan to travel to Sacramento tonight
to meet with policy-makers Thursday and discuss the possible
reallocation of various state funds that are invested in companies
involved with the Sudanese government.

They also plan to lobby for a proposed bill that would prohibit
the two largest pension funds in the state ““ CalPERS and the
State Teachers’ Retirement System ““ from investing in
companies associated with the Sudanese government.

The event Thursday in Sacramento will include a rally to
encourage the teachers’ retirement fund to consider
divestment, and task force members said they will have the
opportunity to meet with policy makers to discuss divestment.

With reports from Sara Taylor and Jennifer Mishory, Bruin
senior staff.