Search Results for "fidelity"
Daily Darfur: Divestment Advocates Target Fidelity
Published June 10, 2009 @ 06:59AM PT
"There has been so much violence they don't even know what safety is anymore."
--- A Darfuri refugee in Cairo, from an interview by Bec Hamilton
Divestment advocates have turned their attention to Fidelity once again: Customers of the nation's largest mutual fund now have the option to vote to divest from companies that substantially contribute to the Sudanese government. In 2007, under activist pressure, Fidelity sold most of its holdings in a Chinese company linked with oil trade in Sudan.
Voting is also still underway for Vanguard funds --- help spread the word to possible Fidelity or Vanguard customers you may know. Check out Investors Against Genocide for more information.
Putting your money where your mouth is
Published June 30, 2009 @ 07:38PM PT
When I got home from work today I opened up my mail to find a proxy ballot from Fidelity, where I have some retirement funds invested.
Instead of telling me the usual dismal news about the state of my investments, the Fidelity Board of Trustees had a question for me. Well, rather, a suggestion.
After encouraging me to vote for all of them, they recommend, IN LARGE BLOCK LETTERS, that I vote AGAINST a shareholder proposal
concerning procedures to prevent holding investments in companies that, in the judgment of the Board, substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity.
I knew this was coming. But there's something very different about hearing directly from the people with whom you've entrusted your money that they would rather make some more cash (for themselves; from the look of my recent statements it won't be coming my way) than avoid investing in companies that they themselves would decide are substantially contributing to genocide.
Daily Darfur: To Arrest or Not to Arrest - The Uganda Version
Published July 14, 2009 @ 03:18AM PT
An official at Uganda's foreign ministry issued wishy-washy comments regarding a possible visit by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir at the end of the month.
Speaking at a press conference with ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo yesterday, Okello Oryem seemed to indicate that his government will consider defying the African Union and acting on the International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Bashir, should he decide to pay a visit.
Ocampo was in Kampala yesterday, to discuss the cases against Bashir and Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, and urged the government to act on its obligations as a signatory to the Rome Statute. Oryem did not give a definite response, but said that Uganda is committed to its obligations:
"Let's wait for Bashir to arrive here and we see which action will be taken against him by the government of Uganda."
Sounds a bit like a dare. However, Oryem then turned around and told Uganda's Daily Monitor that Bashir will not be arrested:
"Gen. Bashir has been invited here by the Uganda government and he will not be arrested."
So which is it, Uganda? The (very small and often sidelined) optimistic side of me would like to hope that Oryem was backtracking in order to lure Bashir into a trap...but it's just after 5am here in DC, and I'm not known to be optimistic before my second cup of coffee.
(For those of you interested in the ICC, tune into the broadcast of "The Reckoning" on PBS tonight.)
Daily Darfur: Games of all kinds
Published July 03, 2009 @ 09:47AM PT
Political Games
The Justice and Equality Movement rebel group signed a deal with a Sudanese opposition party to "push for a new transitional government," according to both sides.
The opposition Umma party is an Islamic party led by Sudan's last elected leader, former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi (deposed just over 20 years ago by Sudan's current leader, Omar al-Bashir). As Reuters notes, this move is sure to "infuriate Khartoum".
It will be interesting to see how they proceed.
Umma and JEM leaders said Sudan's government would become "illegitimate" on July 9, the date that national elections were originally due to start under the CPA.
That will leave a "constitutional vacuum that can only be addressed through a national government," Umma vice-president Fadlalla Burma Nasir told Reuters.
The question is how they plan to set up that national government. JEM's attempts at taking over in Khartoum sure haven't gone well for them in the past.
Poker Games
