About Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions

THE PAST:  SOUTH AFRICA- A DIVESTMENT SUCCESS STORY

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against apartheid South Africa was one of the most
significant international pressure campaigns of the 20th century. Beginning in the 1960s and gaining
momentum through the 1980s, it involved a coordinated effort by governments, organizations, and activists
worldwide to isolate South Africa economically and culturally in protest of its apartheid system. 

The movement called for companies to withdraw their operations from South Africa, for consumers to
boycott South African products, and for institutions, local, and state governments, to divest from companies
doing business with the apartheid regime.

  • The campaign proved effective for several reasons. First, it targeted South Africa's key economic
    vulnerabilities, particularly its dependence on foreign investment and international trade. Major
    companies' withdrawal dealt significant blows to the economy. When companies like IBM, General Motors,
    Coca-Cola, and Barclays Bank pulled out in the mid-1980s, it sent both a powerful symbolic message and
    created real economic pressure.

  • The economic pressure had major success on university campuses, with institutions like Columbia, Harvard,
    and the University of California pulling billions from companies doing business in South Africa. 

  • Banks and financial institutions also faced especially intense pressure. In particular, Barclays' withdrawal
    in 1986 after 150 years in South Africa was seen as a watershed moment.

In the United States, the movement achieved significant victories when states and cities passed divestment
legislation. California's $11 billion divestment was particularly impactful. More than 1,200 city
governments, including Portland, passed resolutions condemning apartheid in South Africa and pledging
not to buy Kruggerrands, the gold coins minted by the South African government and mined by exploited
black workers. The Oregon state legislature also divested from South Africa in 1987.

  • This is part of the inspiration for the Oregon Human & Environmental Rights bill we are proposing. These
    economic pressures, combined with internal resistance and diplomatic isolation, played a crucial role in
    eventually bringing the apartheid government to negotiations and helping end the apartheid system in the
    early 1990s. The movement also succeeded in making apartheid a mainstream international issue, shifting
    public opinion and making it increasingly difficult for Western governments to maintain normal relations
    with the apartheid regime. The cultural and sports boycotts, which banned South Africa from international
    competitions including the Olympics, helped reinforce the country's pariah status.

The success of divestment in South Africa offers several key strategic insights that can be analyzed when
considering any modern divestment effort:

  • Institutional leverage points are crucial. The South African campaign succeeded by identifying key
    economic pressure points - major banks, universities, pension funds, and multinational corporations
    whose withdrawal would have maximum impact. Any modern divestment effort needs to similarly map
    out where institutions hold meaningful economic leverage.

  • Public messaging and narrative-building were essential complementary tactics. The anti-apartheid
    movement effectively communicated clear moral arguments alongside practical economic ones. They
    built broad coalitions including religious groups, universities, labor unions and civil rights
    organizations. This created the social pressure that made institutional divestment politically feasible.

  • The movement combined divestment with other forms of pressure. Divestment worked in tandem with
    consumer boycotts, cultural isolation, diplomatic pressure, and crucially - internal resistance
    movements. Modern movements need to consider how divestment fits into a broader strategy rather than
    viewing it as a standalone solution.

  • Credit must also be given to the Black liberation struggle in the United States, which was just coming
    off major victories with the passage of civil rights legislation. Black activists helped lead the anti-
    apartheid movement, and one of the first significant actions came when Black workers at Polaroid
    called for a boycott of Polaroid cameras, which helped South Africa employ its draconian pass laws.

THE PRESENT: THE STATE OF OREGON TREASURY

There is precedent for an Environmental Screening for fossil fuels in Oregon. We are leveraging this legacy
and our organizing is having an impact!

The Oregon for Human Rights Coalition has identified the following as perpetuators of human and
environmental rights violations:

ISRAEL BONDS - $1.7 million

Israel Bonds are loans from individuals and institutions directly to the Israeli treasury that help sustain
the Israeli state economy. As such, Israel Bonds provide critical financial support for the Israeli military
and government–including the Israeli military’s genocidal war on Gaza, as well as forced displacement of
Palestinian families from their homes, and the Israeli government’s separate-and-unequal system of
apartheid.

Funds from these loans are unregulated: as with US taxes, they go straight into the Israeli Treasury and may
be allocated as that government sees fit, including for illegal military activities. Halting the flow of
money to the Israeli military and government deprives these institutions of the material resources that
power violence against Palestinians and sends a clear message: until Israel follows international law byending its illegal apartheid system, illegal military occupation of Palestinian lands, immoral and unlawfulattacks on Palestinian civilians, and theft of Palestinian lands–the international community will continueto advocate against investment in the Israeli military, government, and Israeli corporations that enableand profit off of this suffering.

From the earliest days of their invention in 1951, Israel Bonds were systematically marketed to US-basedJewish communities as a material investment in Jewish safety and a Jewish future. Since then, all kinds ofpublic and private institutions have invested $55 billion this way. By campaigning to divest from IsraelBonds, we affirm that Jewish identity and collective safety have absolutely nothing in common withsustaining the State of Israel, its apartheid system, and the dispossession of Palestinians.

CATERPILLAR- $88 million

Caterpillar, Inc is a U.S. based corporation. The company primarily manufactures heavy machinery forconstruction. Caterpillar is heavily involved in Israeli military operations targeting Palestiniansthroughout the Occupied Territories. Caterpillar sells bulldozers to Israel where they are retrofitted andweaponized and then used to demolish Palestinian homes, infrastructure (such as sewers, water supplylines, agricultural land, and roads), and for Israeli construction of the illegal separation wall in the WestBank, settlements and checkpoints. Caterpillar bulldozers have been used extensively in Gaza during the2023-34 genocide to demolish vast areas of civilian infrastructure.

The retrofitting of the CAT D9 bulldozers includes gunner positions, a bulletproof driver’s cabin andunmanned robot bulldozers that are used in combat. Caterpillar executives have been repeatedly madeaware of the ways their equipment is retrofitted and used by the Israeli military and they have refused tocease their very profitable sales to Israel. Due to the company’s ongoing relationship with the Israelimilitary, Caterpillar is on the international BDS list.

In 2003, a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer driven by the Israeli military crush to death, Olympia WA nativeRachel Corrie, as she stood clearly visible in a fluorescent vest to non-violently protect the home of aGaza pharmacist and his family from demolition. The family of Rachel Corrie sued Caterpillar for “aidingand abetting war crimes and other serious violations of human rights.” Although the suit did not succeeddue to jurisdictional grounds, it served to notify the company and the world of the serious human rightsviolations in which Caterpillar is complicit.

References: Investigate, International Crimes Database,‍ ‍The Guardian.

CHEVRON - $45 million

Chevron owns and operates the largest natural gas fields in Israel. The company is a major energy supplierthroughout Israel–including to illegal settlements, Israeli prisons, police stations, and to the military.Energy from Chevron owned natural gas fields enable Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.Chevron profits in millions of dollars within the Israeli Apartheid system. Chevron operates offshore gasfields in Palestinian territory claimed by Israel, The company manages a pipeline that runs from Israel toEgypt off the coast of Gaza and is responsible for encroaching on Palestinian natural gas reserves.

Chevron is also failing to align with international commitments to phase out fossil fuels and limit globaltemperature rise. Among all investor-owned companies, Chevron has produced the most cumulative climatepollution in history. If the company were held partially accountable for the climate loss and damagecaused by its pollution, it would owe $900 Billion. Chevron has been found liable for tens of Billions ofdollars that they refuse to pay for their ecological destruction and human rights violations.

Chevron is feeling the heat. The corporation recently suspended work on the Leviathan gas field off thecoast of Gaza, highlighting the volatile nature of its investments. It’s also under financial strain. It’salready announced it will incur up to $1.5 billion in fourth-quarter charges related to job cuts and a dropas major investments end.

BOEING - $17 million

Boeing is one of the world’s largest war profiteers, currently ranked the fifth largest weapons

manufacturer in the US by revenue and fourth largest by size of contracts with the US military. In 2022,Boeing made $66.61 million in total revenue, with approximately 44% of that coming directly from armssales. Boeing sells weapons to states guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including Israeland the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)uses Boeing’s missiles and Apache helicopters to carry out regular indiscriminate bombings of thePhilippine countryside to run indigenous people and peasants off their lands. These bombings traumatizethe people, and severely devastate the land, soil, and livestock, leaving the peasant farmers with nolivelihood. The OIC has over $7 million OPERS funds invested in Boeing.

TESLA - $90 million

Tesla sources nickel for car batteries from mines in the Philippines that displace indigenous people andcreate environmental health hazards, including deforestation, pollution of waterways, destruction of arableland, and displacement of local residents. One such mine, the Rio Tuba mine in Palawan, has cut miles intoa rainforest that is home to over 105 endangered plant and animal species and is a central part of theindigenous Palawan people’s culture, spirituality, and livelihood. Similarly, Tesla’s cobalt supply comesfrom inhumane and environmentally destructive mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Half ofthe world’s supply of cobalt is found in the DRC. Chinese investment companies own 70% of the miningcompanies in the DRC and in the past decade have plundered the land to extract cobalt for sale to electricvehicle manufacturers like Tesla. Five out of six batteries that are produced for Tesla’s vehicles contain thenatural mineral cobalt. The OIC is invested in Tesla at .096%, a market share value of $90+ million.

JP MORGAN CHASE - $600 million

Mega banks like JP Morgan Chase are among the largest investors in holdings that linked to human and
environmental rights violations. Although the company has made statements promising to take

administrative action against any companies in their dealings that violate human rights abuses, there islittle to no follow through, leaving room for JP Morgan to continue to conduct business under the guise of areputable international lender. For example, in 2019 JP Morgan Chase became the main investor in Israelbonds, and remained invested throughout Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people that began in late2023. JP Morgan also finances major arms dealers and war profiteers such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing.They also finance numerous companies running environmentally destructive campaigns and mines globallyand in the Philippines, like Tesla and San Miguel Corporation’s Global Power. In fact, JP Morgan Chase isthe largest fossil fuel financier in the world.The OIC is currently invested in JP Morgan at a market valueof $102+ million.