Groups to demand Champaign City Council to divest from companies ‘profiting from conflict’
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Community organizers are asking the City of Champaign to divest from companies they said are complicit in genocide.
Groups including the CU Muslim Action Committee and UC Jews for Ceasefire are calling for the City of Champaign to ramp up their support for Palestine, and announced in a news release they will be at the next city council meeting.
Among the demands from the group include divesting from funds with companies like Chevron, Intel, and Google, and putting pressure on the federal government to call for a ceasefire and oppose U.S. military funding to Israel.
State representatives visit UIUC pro-Palestine encampment
They also want the city to create a policy to inhibit contracts with companies profiting off conflict, such as buying HP printers and Caterpillar equipment, and ending contracts with Motorola.
The CU Muslim Action Committee said it has had small group meetings with the mayor, city manager, financial advisor to the city and several council members on the matter.
The next city council meeting for Champaign is Tuesday.
After listening to dozens of public comments from pro-Palestine and pro-Israel citizens, the City of Urbana did pass a resolution calling for a “just and lasting peace” between Israel and Palestine in March; however the CU Jewish Federation ended up being against the final resolution.
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