Minnesota State Board of Investment silences testimony, pro-Palestine activists rally for divestment

St. Paul, MN – On the morning of December 10, 80 members and supporters of the Minnesota Free Palestine Coalition rallied inside and outside the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) meeting. The rally came after the board’s decision to convert their quarterly open public meeting into a small hybrid in-person/online format, without live public testimony.

Protesters demanded the SBI divest taxpayer money from Israel and companies complicit in its apartheid and genocide in Palestine, and that the board stop attempting to silence their constituents.

The meeting also coincided with Human Rights Day, a day meant to affirm all people’s inalienable rights to life, dignity and liberation from oppression. The irony was not lost on observers that the board would choose this day to declare so clearly that they will choose to be accomplices in the deprivation of Palestinians’ lives and rights.

The SBI as an institution is charged with investing Minnesota taxpayer money to fund public worker pensions and other government agency cash accounts, and it is mandated to hold meetings every three months which are open to public attendance and public comment.

Minnesotans have been attending the SBI’s hearings for years, calling on the board to divest from its holdings in Israeli companies and government bonds, weapons and heavy machinery companies whose products are used in Israel’s slaughter and displacement of Palestinians, and other companies which profit from or aid Israel in its crimes against humanity – a sum totaling $5.4 billion, according to research done by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee.

Over the last 14 months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, larger numbers of Minnesotans – including the local Palestinian community, workers whose pensions funds are managed by the SBI, and other taxpayers objecting to the investments – have joined this appeal to the board. The board has staunchly refused to consider the popular demand.

Rather than continue to hear from their constituents, the SBI opted to change the location of the December 10 meeting from a large room in the Senate Building to a small conference room in the Department of Administration Building, where around half attendees could fit and watch on a TV as the board members held a Zoom meeting with each other from their respecting offices. No public testimony would be heard. Governor Tim Walz, who chairs the board, stated that this change – dozens of people placed in a small room while the board was remote in their offices – was due to the delta variant of COVID-19.

As the meeting started, Walz said the meeting would be conducted using interactive technology. However, the Zoom meeting was only between the board members, they couldn’t hear or see the attendees. Recognizing this, the crowd shouted, “You can’t hear us” and “shame!” They chanted, “SBI you can’t hide, we charged you with genocide!” throughout the meeting.

At different times, the audience members walked up to the monitor to speak, in front of the SBI members. Jasper Nordin, member of Students for Democratic Society and MN United Workers, pointed back at the Zoom call as SBI members went on with their meeting and told the crowd, “We’re here to stand in support of the Palestinian people. They deserve liberation. And our leaders don’t even have the decency to be in the same room as us. And listen, as people, we’re saying it’s unconscionable that Minnesota is investing public funds in genocide.”

The remaining half of the Palestine solidarity crowd were not allowed in the building and locked outside. Yossi Aharoni, member of the Anti-War Committee, rallied the spurned crowd, saying they closed the doors because, “they don’t want to hear from their own constituents. Shame! They don’t give a shit what we think. Shame! They don’t care that their bombs kill children every day. They don’t care that it’s our money being used to slaughter civilians in Gaza every day.”

The crowd pressed their signs against the windows outside the meeting room, so those inside could hear them chant “Free Palestine” and “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!”

After the SBI ended its Zoom meeting, the attendees rejoined the freezing protesters outside for a rally with chants and speeches demanding divestment and chastising the SBI for its silencing stunt. “Was this intended to make it hard for the public to participate? If so, you can see from today’s turnout that this was unsuccessful. But even worse, the board mandated that the public’s testimony be in writing only. Who knows if they even read that testimony? There is zero accountability,” said Bob Goonin from MN BDS Community.

The crowd was unanimous that they stood undeterred in the campaign for divestment. As they stood resolute through the shivers, clutching their signs and banners, the crowd affirmed loudly and repeatedly, “We ain’t going nowhere!”

#StPaulMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #Palestine

Source: https://fightbacknews.org/minnesota-state-board-of-investment-silences-testimony-pro-palestine-activists?pk_campaign=rss-feed