You know, it is hard to believe that the student politicians at the University of California who sit on the Board of Directors of the University of California Student Association (including UC Berkeley) could out-radical themselves, but they have. The student Board recently passed this mind-bending resolution Resolution Toward Socially Responsible Investment at the University of California demanding that the University of California Board of Trustees "...refrain from making further investments, and to advocate that the University of California not make further investments, in any governments engaged in the violation of human rights or other behavior that fails to adhere to the University of California endorsed Principles of Responsible Investment".
Hey, and guess what country made their list as one of the "governments engaged in the violation of human rights"?
Yeah, the United States. I am wondering if the student association really understands where a public University like UC gets their funding for all of those Women's Studies programs? Oh, and then there's those hefty government ("tax-payer") funded student loan programs, buildings, electricity and running water.
Well, at least they give the US a few crumbs of gratitude for not being the worst violator on the list...
I say let's give them what they want...good and hard. Or maybe we can just roll our eyes, pat them on the head, and remember that these are the children of '70's and '80's wanted-to-be hippie radicals who missed out.
Oh, yeah, a few years earlier, this same august body of students passed a similar resolution to demand divestment of all investments specifically related to issues of corporate complicity in human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and elsewhere..." Though they do not specifically name "Israel" as their target for boycott, divestment in this earlier resolution, that's what they were going for. [Hey, at least in the newest resolution they actually name Israel]
Oh, the irony...I guess those bombs raining down on Israel from the "Palestinian Territories" are not "human rights violations" too.
Any comments?
[Revised at 11:40am to correct title...hey, that's what Brian Williams would do, right?]
Hey, and guess what country made their list as one of the "governments engaged in the violation of human rights"?
WHEREAS, The governments of Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Sri Lanka and the United States have violated the universal right “to life, liberty, and security of person;” “to education;” to “privacy, family [and] home;” “to own property, and …[not to] be arbitrarily deprived of property”
Yeah, the United States. I am wondering if the student association really understands where a public University like UC gets their funding for all of those Women's Studies programs? Oh, and then there's those hefty government ("tax-payer") funded student loan programs, buildings, electricity and running water.
WHEREAS, The government of the United States of America is engaged in drone strikes that have killed over 2,400 people in Pakistan and Yemen, many of them civilians. The government oversees, by far, the highest rate of imprisonment in the world, and racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement agencies, particularly for drug-related offences. 400,000 undocumented immigrants are held in detention centers every year, and millions have been deported since the current Administration took office, and the government is directly supporting and propping up numerous dictatorships around the world with weapons sales and foreign aid.
WHEREAS, The University of California conducts research and accepts funding from the United States Department of Defense and the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), institutions actively involved in the United States’ military actions worldwide, on its Los Angeles, Berkeley, Irvine, Davis, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Diego, San Francisco, and Merced campuses, thereby furthering and enabling military agendas..."
Well, at least they give the US a few crumbs of gratitude for not being the worst violator on the list...
WHEREAS, All of the above mentioned governments except for the United States are ranked low in terms of freedom, human rights, and democracy according to independent monitoring organizations including Freedom House and The Economist...
I say let's give them what they want...good and hard. Or maybe we can just roll our eyes, pat them on the head, and remember that these are the children of '70's and '80's wanted-to-be hippie radicals who missed out.
Oh, yeah, a few years earlier, this same august body of students passed a similar resolution to demand divestment of all investments specifically related to issues of corporate complicity in human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and elsewhere..." Though they do not specifically name "Israel" as their target for boycott, divestment in this earlier resolution, that's what they were going for. [Hey, at least in the newest resolution they actually name Israel]
"THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, That the Board of Directors of the University of California Student Association calls upon the University of California to dissociate itself from companies that engage or aid in systematic prejudiced oppression, whether this system targets people based on their religion, nationality, gender identity, race or orientation, by divesting from companies that participate in or profit from human rights violations.
Oh, the irony...I guess those bombs raining down on Israel from the "Palestinian Territories" are not "human rights violations" too.
Any comments?
[Revised at 11:40am to correct title...hey, that's what Brian Williams would do, right?]
12 comments:
Pretty much every country in the world (including but not limited to developing countries) is harder on illegal immigrants than the United States so its hilarious that UC's clowns are taking shots at US policy.
Still, activists on the left and the right tend to focus on their homelands and not look at the broader context. In a way its funny, but its also sensible because the public does the same thing. Pointing abroad (Hey, Italy and North Korea do it!) has never helped an American politician get out of a controversy.
they take themselves so very seriously don't they. I'm with you, cut off their funding
Just wait until these masters of the future universe discover that their treasured electronics (and a lot of other stuff they love) are manufactured by slave labor. Ooooh, are they are gonna be mad and aschew all electroni...nah, slaves okay as long as they are only making Iphones. And Israel has nothing whatsoever to do with it either...
Bev,
I'm sure IPod manufacturing conditions/worker pay are crappy by American standards, but I'm just as sure that they are quite high by local standards. That is the normally the way export oriented businesses in low wage countries (where the cost of living is a lot cheaper) roll.
I can't even.
"That is the normally the way export oriented businesses in low wage countries (where the cost of living is a lot cheaper) roll."
And I expect that is exactly the way that Northern cotton mill owners justified buying cotton grown on Southern plantations. I used to buy that line of thinking too, until I realized that Bill Gates and Steven Jobs (and all the other manufacturers with offshore factories) are actually no different than Southern plantation owners of the 19th Century. They have made their billions off the back of slave labor too.
I wouldn't classify people who voluntarily report to work and get paid for doing so as slaves. I agree that working conditions at say, Foxconn are crappy.
Anthony - I actually agree with you, however since the Occupy Wall Street protests, I have taken a different approach. Each one of the protesters was well equipped with all of the requisite electronic devices that were made possible by Wall Street investments. It was kind of strikingly ridiculous. These kids truly have no idea where their stuff comes from.
The point is that those who scream the loudest about "fair wages", "equality" and "human rights" are sometimes the same people who ignore slavery/poor wages when they are benefitting from it.
Where are the "life, liberty, and security of person;...[not to] be arbitrarily deprived of property” folks when people are living in a factory working 14 hour days and getting paid $5 a day?
Btw, I own an Ipad, so I am not any better at standing up for freedom of slave labor in China. But I also acknowledge where my stuff comes from and by whom it is built...
Hmm. Well. Um. Yeah....retards.
So Brian Williams is being suspended without pay for 6 months and Jon Stewart is leaving the Daily Show. Related?
Bev, I see the 6 month suspension as NBC hedging their bets. If the replacement(s) don't work out, NBC can go back to Williams after 6-9 months... "Williams has learned his lesson!" But if one of the replacements does work out, then they can let him go quietly after 6 months with the public having long moved on and no longer needing to worry that Williams' conduct will reflect on them.
I agree-good and hard.
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