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For a genocide-free investing
By Jirair Ratevosian and Eric
Cohen
Many would suppose that today, 93 years after the start of
the Armenian genocide and 63 years after the end of the
Holocaust, no company that values the public trust would
attempt to profit from connections to genocide. Looking
back, who would support the idea of investing in firms that
sought to profit by selling Zyklon-B gas to the Nazis or
machetes to the Ottoman Turks? Looking forward, who wants
their savings invested in companies that help fund genocide?
Sadly, as we mark the beginning of the sixth year of the
genocide in Darfur, Sudan, we are faced with the problem of
ordinary investors having their hard-earned savings invested
by mutual fund managers in companies that fund genocide. For
example, Fidelity has been one of the largest holders of
PetroChina, which, through its closely related parent China
National Petroleum Company, is providing funding that the
government of Sudan uses to conduct genocide in Darfur.
Thus, ordinary individuals, through their investments in
Fidelity mutual funds, inadvertently invest in companies
funding genocide. Since no policy prevents these
investments, holdings in these problem companies may
increase or involve additional funds in the future. Mutual
fund investors cannot practically avoid investing in
genocide, unless the fund makes a commitment to
genocide-free investing.
Few of us are in a position to set foreign policy, and fewer
yet are individually positioned to stop a genocide. Yet,
each of us is responsible for doing that which we are able.
Each of us can and must speak out. We can and must recognize
genocide as the horror that it is and as a grave affront to
humanity. Each of us can and must take responsibility for
how we invest our family savings.
Can we influence mutual fund companies such as Fidelity to
make a commitment to genocide-free investing? Yes, we can,
through shareholder action. The Boston-based non-profit
group, Investors Against Genocide, has submitted shareholder
proposals to 56 mutual funds, giving hundreds of thousands
of mutual fund shareholders the opportunity to cast a vote
for genocide-free investing. Once the proposal passes, the
mutual fund industry can become a bulwark against genocide,
rather than one of its major financial supporters.
Fidelity shareholders now have the opportunity to vote on
this unprecedented shareholder proposal concerning
“oversight procedures to screen out investments in companies
that substantially contribute to genocide.” Fidelity is
recommending that shareholders vote against the proposal.
However, we know that ordinary Americans, once they learn
the facts, will vote to make their mutual funds
genocide-free.
We cannot advance our interests by compromising our values.
The true danger to our interests comes from failing to stand
up for our values. Therefore, we must stand against
genocide.
If you own mutual funds in your retirement plan or your
savings account, you have a vote in the way your money is
managed, just as you have a vote in a presidential race.
Votes are being cast now for eight Fidelity funds with a
shareholder meeting on April 16 and eleven more funds that
will meet on May 14.
If you are a Fidelity shareholder, don’t discard your proxy
ballot without checking it carefully. If there is a proposal
referencing genocide, read the detail and vote “FOR” the
proposal to make your mutual fund genocide-free. If you have
discarded the proxy materials, or have already voted and
want to change your vote, you can. You can revise your vote
until the day of the meeting.
Votes with additional Fidelity funds and other major fund
companies, including Vanguard, Franklin Templeton, and
Barclays, will follow.
Even if you are not a mutual fund shareholder, you can help
support genocide-free investing. You can help spread the
word by telling your family, friends, and co-workers,
writing letters to the editor, and helping leaflet at
upcoming events in the Armenian community. If your employer
has a Fidelity 401K or 403B plan you can help spread the
word at your office about the opportunity for shareholders
to vote.
Ethical investing may mean different things to different
people. However, surely there is a minimum standard upon
which nearly everyone agrees. We draw the line at investing
in genocide. The shareholder proposal on genocide-free
investing sets this minimum standard for all mutual funds.
Fidelity sought to prevent this proposal from coming to a
vote, but its efforts to block the issue failed. Fidelity
continues to oppose the proposal, and its opposition will
also ultimately fail. As shareholders become increasingly
aware, we are confident that the proposal will pass in the
future. The reason Fidelity will fail is simple: Fidelity’s
customers do not want their family savings and pension funds
invested in companies that help to fund genocide, whether
that genocide is occurring today in Darfur or somewhere else
in the future.
Armenians, Jews, and unfortunately now Darfurians know the
horrors of genocide well. From the first genocide of the
20th century to the first genocide of the 21st, we are
obligated to act, lest we stand with the deniers. By voting
for genocide-free investing, we can take a principled stand
against genocide and genocide deniers to help ensure that
such a human tragedy is never repeated.
Whether you own one share, no shares, or thousands, we hope
you will become a voice for genocide-free investing. For
more information on ways to help, visit www.InvestorsAgainst
Genocide.org.
Jirair Ratevosian is the director of event planning at
the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur. Eric Cohen is
the chairperson of Investors Against Genocide.
Investors Against Genocide is a non-profit organization
dedicated to convincing mutual fund and other investment
firms to change their investing strategy to avoid complicity
in genocide. The organization works with individuals,
companies, organizations, financial institutions, the press,
and government agencies to build awareness and to create
financial, public relations, and regulatory pressure for
investment firms to change. Investors Against Genocide is a
project of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur, an
alliance of organizations from across Massachusetts working
to stop the genocide and protect civilians in Sudan.
For more information, visit www.InvestorsAgainstGenocide.org.
For more information on the Massachusetts Coalition, visit
www.SaveDarfurMA.org.
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