[Peace-discuss] St. Louis anti-Veolia BDS campaign enters Mayoral campaign

Wed Jan 23 20:14:06 UTC 2013

*Mayoral Candidates Take Sides over St. Louis Veolia Contract:*

*BDS Campaign Enters Mainstream Political Discourse, Prompts Public Hearing*

January 21, 2013

Posted at: http://mondoweiss.net/2013/01/slpsc.html

On January 16, 2013 at City Hall in St. Louis, Missouri, a diverse group of
60 Palestinian rights organizers; environmental activists; workers; civil
rights leaders; veterans; local business owners; students; members of the
local Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities; and other concerned
citizens packed a meeting of the St. Louis Board of Estimate &
Apportionment (E&A) to show opposition to a proposed city contract with
Veolia Water.  Two mayoral candidates on the 3-person board, which
considers public contracts, took opposite sides over the contract,
prompting the third member to call for a public hearing for testimonies
from local citizens regarding Veolia.

Contract opponents lined the halls leading to the mayor’s office,
citing Veolia's
abysmal record <http://www.stl-psc.org/?p=375> of poor environmental
standards, labor abuses and involvement in human rights abuses in
Palestine.  Each held a sign stating “Say No to Veolia” followed by their
personal reasons, which included: “I can’t ride their buses because I am
Palestinian,” “I think all people deserve equal treatment,” “My tax dollars
are not for corporate profit,” “*They* don’t have to drink *our* water,” “I
love coffee.” The mayor’s office had to change the meeting venue at the
last minute to accommodate the large public turnout. [Click here for
photos.<http://www.flickr.com/photos/62645835@N05/sets/72157632575788674/>
]

The St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee
<http://www.stl-psc.org/>(PSC) learned of the proposed $250,000 Veolia
contract for a four-month
consultation for the St. Louis Water Division in December 2012 after the
story was leaked<http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2012/12/veolia_water_st_louis_water_division_contract.php>to
the
*Riverfront Times*.  When the contract came up for approval, PSC organized
in less than 24 hours a grassroots effort to tell the E&A Board, which is
comprised of St. Louis City Mayor Francis Slay, Comptroller Darlene Green
and President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed (running for mayor
against Slay), not to approve the contract without investigating Veolia's
record.  At the December 19, 2012 meeting of the
Board<http://www.stl-psc.org/?p=385>,
the Board agreed they could not in good conscience vote to approve a
contract with so many allegations outstanding.

Immediately, the PSC reached out to diverse communities to join the fight
against Veolia, all under the coalition St. Louis Dump
Veolia<https://www.facebook.com/StLouisDumpVeolia>
.

The contract was reintroduced last-minute to the January agenda by Mayor
Slay, the contract’s chief proponent.  Slay had received a trophy and award
check<http://www.usmayors.org/usmayornewspaper/documents/09_24_07/pg10_St_Louis_water.asp>for
$15,000 from the President of Veolia Water in 2007, on behalf of the
City.  Following mass mobilization by the coalition, Mayor Slay decided one
day before the January meeting to remove the contract from the agenda,
delaying the vote for a second month.

In the presence of an uncharacteristically large audience and media
presence, the two mayoral candidates Slay and Reed came head-to-head in
tense disputes regarding agenda items, transforming the meeting into what
some coined an “ad-hoc mayoral debate.”  President Reed ended by praising
the public showing and affirming his opposition to the Veolia contract,
while Slay stressed that the public had misconceptions about the company.

Comptroller Green, who holds the deciding vote, said she hoped the public’s
voices could be heard and asked for a public hearing.  The PSC delivered
and posted letters to Comptroller Green asking her to reject Veolia
from the Palestinian
Freedom Riders <http://www.stl-psc.org/?p=389>, Boycott from
Within<http://www.stl-psc.org/?p=396> and
the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in
Jerusalem<http://www.stl-psc.org/?p=394>
.

 Veolia has been a major focus of the global Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian freedom and equality.  The St.
Louis campaign against Veolia may be the first time that a BDS campaign has
entered mainstream political discourse and, perhaps, a mayoral race.  Media
coverage in the *St. Louis
Post-Dispatch*<http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/nick-pistor/article_20ca3e1e-bfa9-5a42-be78-728372f30fd3.html#.UPdPG0v2l9M.twitter>,
the *Riverfront
Times*<http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2012/12/committee_halts_veolia_water_contract.php>
and St. Louis Public
Radio<http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/concerns-over-veolia-corporate-behavior-delays-city-water-contract>
acknowledge
that Veolia's contracts in Israel/Palestine have been instrumental in
bringing the controversy out in the open.

The nationwide We Divest Campaign <http://wedivest.org/> targets Veolia for
divestment from the holdings of financial services giant, TIAA-CREF.  St.
Louis-area resident and PSC member, Steve Tamari, is the lead filer for a
nationwide, broad-based shareholders' resolution calling for divestment
from Veolia and other companies that profit from Israel’s human rights
abuses. Individuals holding a CREF account are encouraged to sign on
to the shareholders'
resolution<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=7245>and
to vote in support of the resolution before
or at the July 2013 annual meeting.

St. Louis Dump Veolia is committed to keeping up the pressure on City Hall
until the Veolia contract is rejected once and for all. The PSC will be
mobilizing residents to testify at the hearing, putting the Israeli
occupation, and its corporate enablers, on trial for all to see.

The next E&A meeting will occur on Wednesday, February 20 at 2pm in St.
Louis City Hall.

To follow developments and action items on the campaign, join the St. Louis
Dump Veolia <https://www.facebook.com/StLouisDumpVeolia> and Palestine
Solidarity Committee<https://www.facebook.com/groups/stlpsc/?ref=ts&fref=ts>Facebook
pages, and follow
@stlpsc <https://twitter.com/stlpsc> on Twitter.

 *Photos attached:
*

   - *PSC members and legendary civil rights activist Percy
Green<http://www.rivercityexaminer.com/percy.html>at St. Louis City
Hall, protesting Veolia's involvement in apartheid and
   segregation in Palestine
   *
   - *Palestinian rights organizers; environmental activists; civil rights
   leaders; local business owners; students; members of the local Muslim,
   Christian, and Jewish communities; and others gathered at St. Louis City
   Hall to protest Veolia.*

Click here to share this announcement on Facebook and
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-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
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