Divest from Israel’s occupation Boycott SodaStream, an illegal settlement product!

We will no longer remain silent We are the 99% Strength in Solidarity

Join the national day of action, Tuesday, July 16, to:
• Demand that TIAA-CREF divest from Israel’s occupation of Palestine;
• Ask CalSTRS to use its influence to push TIAA-CREF;
•Tell Macy’s and other stores to stop selling SodaStream, which is made in an illegal Israeli settlement on land stolen from Palestinians.

TIAA-CREF, the mega-pension fund for many public employees and academics, is holding its annual meeting July 16 in Charlotte, N.C. But shareholders will not be voting on a resolution put forth by the national We Divest coalition asking the fund to end all investment in companies that “substantially contribute to or enable egregious violations of human rights, including companies whose business supports Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.” TIAA-CREF rebuffed a petition submitted by hundreds of shareholders; and the federal Securities and Exchange Commission ignored established law to allow the fund to keep the resolution off its agenda.

Around the country, activists are protesting at TIAA-CREF offices or other sites. In Sacramento, we’ll deliver a letter to the State Teachers’ Retirement System, one of the nation’s largest pension funds in its own right, which offers TIAA-CREF to its members as an option for retirement savings. We’ll ask CalSTRS to pass the message on to TIAA-CREF that it shouldn’t invest in occupation and other human rights violations.

While we’re at it, we’ll remind CalSTRS that some of its members are asking it to take a look at its own stock and bond portfolios, and to divest from companies guilty of complicity in the same acts. See http://www.israeldivestmentcampaign.org/

11 a.m.: Meet at the Macy’s mall entrance on Level 1 of Downtown Plaza (extension of K Street), the women’s clothing store just west of 5th Street (not themen’s/furniture store at the east end of the mall). Parking is free for three hours below the mall with validation from any business. We’ll proceed past the SodaStream display in Macy’s and give the store manager a letter asking Macy’s to stop selling the tainted fizzy water gizmo. We will then proceed across the river to the CalSTRS building, a few blocks away at 100 Waterfront Place, West Sacramento.

Noon: Assemble in front of the CalSTRS entrance (river side, between E and F streets) for a news conference and to deliver a letter to the fund’s CEO.

4:30-6:00 p.m.: Boycott SodaStream bannering at 16th & J. (Part of the 18-month+ local effort to ask stores to stop selling SodaStream and educate the public bybannering and leafleting Macy’s, Target, Costco, Walmart, Kohl’s, Staples, Bed Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, JC Penney, Sears, Emigh Hardware and Williams Sonoma.

Sacramento Jewish Voice for Peace and other supporters of the We Divest campaign: [email protected]

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