[Peace-discuss] 4/14: News article on CAT Shareholder Meeting action in Chicago! (fwd)

[sara zainab bokhari]

Allo All,

I thought AWARE folks might be interested in this...also, Kevin Clark (who
is one of the organizers of the Peoria CAT protests) is coming down to
campus to speak on April 29....here are details on that:

 Thursday April 29 - The Occupation: A Personal View 7pm @ 196 Lincoln
    Presented by Kevin Clark, founder of the Chicago Chapter of the
    International Solidarity Movement.  Kevin recently returned from a
    ISM delegation to Palestine in January 2004 where he served as a
    street medic.  He is also a key organizer in the statewide April CAT
    bulldozer protests.


peace
sb




***************************************************************************
*If you go to one demonstration and then go home, that's something, but
the people in power can live with that. What they can't live with is
sustained pressure that keeps building, organizations that keep doing
things, people that keep learning lessons from the last time and doing it
better the next time...*
                                              *Noam Chomsky*
***************************************************************************

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 20:11:47 EDT
From: ISMinChicago at aol.com
To: boston at adc.org, bostontopalestine at palsolidarity.org, cpt at igc.org,
     campus_peace at yahoogroups.com, ceppal at palestinemail.com
Cc: ccmep_organizer at yahoo.com
Subject: 4/14: News article on CAT Shareholder Meeting action in Chicago!

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This is one of several articles that have appeared thus far as a result of
our Chicago action earlier today. We had a great turn-out in the street out=
side
the Northern Trust Building with about 60-70 Palestine solidarity activists
and six of us spoke inside the meeting. We hope that you plan to join us in
Peoria on Friday, April 23 for the "International Day of Action Against
Caterpillar"! Visit www.stopcat.org for further details now.
In Struggle,
Kevin Clark


Protesters disrupt Cat meeting
>From the AP Newsroom
Shareholders reject resolution to stop selling to Israeli army
April 14 17:10:00, 2004
-----
(AP) =E2=80=94 As Caterpillar Inc. shareholders met in Chicago on Wednesday=
, a few
dozen protesters gathered outside demanding the company stop selling bulldo=
zers
to Israel because that nation's military uses them to destroy Palestinian
homes.

     "They say they are a global citizen (but) I don't think a
global citizen sells the tools that people use to destroy the lives
of other human beings," said Cheryl Brodersen, whose niece, Rachel
Corrie, was killed last year in the Gaza Strip when she was crushed
by an Israeli bulldozer that protesters said was made by
Caterpillar.

     A spokesman for the Peoria-based company did not immediately
return a call from The Associated Press for comment. But the
company has repeatedly disputed protesters' argument that it should
stop selling its equipment to Israel.

     "We have neither the legal right nor the means to police
individual use of that equipment," the company has said in a
prepared statement when asked about the issue by The Associated
Press.

     Protesters, who said using bulldozers to destroy homes violates
international law, said two groups of nuns who are Caterpillar
stockholders introduced a resolution Wednesday calling for the
company's board of directors to evaluate whether selling them to
Israel violates the company's code of conduct.

     The board of directors voted down the resolution, said Kevin
Clark, a Stop CAT Coalition member who attended the meeting.

     Clark also said he presented Caterpillar CEO Jim Owens with a
letter asking that he meet later this month with activists,
including Corrie's parents, to discuss their concerns about
bulldozer sales to Israel.

     "He said he'd consider it," Clark said.

     Matt Gaines of the Stop CAT Coalition disputed Caterpillar's
contention that it can't control how its equipment is used, saying
the company has "full and advanced knowledge that the equipment is
going to be used for illegal purposes." Further, he said that
corporations such as Caterpillar, while they insist such issues are
better left to government leaders, have an obligation to see that
their products are not being used in an illegal or immoral manner.

     "In South Africa, divestiture brought down apartheid," he
said. "Businesses do have a role to play."



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