IL State Board of Investment cancels quarterly meeting in response to rising divestment movement

Chicago IL – On Friday afternoon, September 19, over 50 people gathered outside the Illinois State Board of Investment (ISBI) office in downtown Chicago to hold a press conference to declare a small victory. The ISBI quarterly meeting was abruptly cancelled just two days before, proving that Illinois State Treasurer (and ISBI Vice Chair) Michael Frerichs and the rest of the board are feeling the organized pressure from the Illinois Divest from Genocide Network.

Co-led by Anti-War Committee-Chicago (AWC) and Boycott Divest Sanctions-Chicago (BDS), a project of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)-Chicago, the press conference took place in an atmosphere of unprecedented global condemnation of the Israeli regime.

As Israel’s criminality and instability becomes increasingly impossible to ignore, the Illinois Divestment Network continues to grow, now encompassing 50 organizations from across the entire state.

“We know that the main reason for the [meeting] cancellation is fear of facing the people of Illinois, and the embarrassment of having to sit through dozens of public comments calling them out on their hypocrisy and complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people. We claim this as a small victory, our pressure is working, our network is ever-growing and more organizations and individuals from all over the state of Illinois are joining. And we promise the entire board that we will not stop until there is full divestment from companies who do business with Israel, and that Michael Frerichs abandon and publicly commit to never renewing Israeli Bonds ever again.” said Husam Marajda of USPCN.

Marajda continued, “There is mounting pressure and precedent for divesting from Israeli bonds and companies that do business with Israel. The country of Colombia has abandoned energy trade with Israel. Spain has committed to stop trading arms with Israel. And Norway’s two trillion dollar sovereign wealth fund has also divested from Israel as well. All of this shows not only that it is possible to divest from the genocidal Israeli government, it is also the correct thing to do.”

Armed with well-researched facts, Elinor Keener of Anti-War Committee Chicago lambasted the board: “The Illinois pension code is clear: ISBI’s job is to grow state worker’s pension funds through ethical and sustainable investment decisions. Instead, they burn millions of taxpayer dollars on companies that profit from Israel’s genocide, including weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin, Moog and Teledyne that operate within the deadly F-35 supply chain. According to their economic interest disclosures, some of ISBI’s board members also own public stocks in several of these companies, meaning, they get richer while tens of thousands of innocent people, including children, are murdered, imprisoned, tortured, sexually assaulted and systematically erased. Shame! Gambling public funds away on unimaginable destruction is irresponsible, embarrassing and shameful!”

“Oppressed people all over the world share a common struggle. This was made clear by Black revolutionaries like Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, Nelson Mandela and Fred Hampton. Today we must also clearly understand that our fight against police crimes and mass incarceration is connected to the fight of the Palestinians against genocide, apartheid and settler-colonialism. Our freedom depends on unconditional solidarity with Palestine and liberation movements worldwide,” declared Alec Ozawa, a co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR).

Ozawa continued, “We want Palestine to win because a victory for them is a victory for us. When Nelson Mandela said, ‘Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians,’ he was not speaking metaphorically. We quite literally have the same enemy. We uplift the demand that State Treasurer Michael Frerichs and ISBI divest from Israel and reinvest those funds in places of moral consciousness.”

Labor allies from SEIU Local 73 for Palestine and GEO Local 6300 were also present. Underscoring a key strategic point: labor solidarity is the most crucial ally in a divestment campaign. This was proven by the historic success of the movement to divest from apartheid South Africa. Joe Iosbaker from 73 for Palestine drove this lesson home, leading the assembled crowd in a powerful call-and-response chant borrowed directly from that victorious struggle: “No business! No business! No business with genocide!” This moment powerfully connected the past fight against apartheid to the present one, reminding everyone that economic pressure, backed by organized labor, is the most effective path to victory.

Husam Marajda again spoke to close out the press conference: “I once again want to reiterate that we all are winning. The board and Michael Frerichs cancelled the meeting because they’re afraid to face us. That means that our pressure is working. Our network is now over 50 organizations and continues to grow.”

He encouraged organizations to endorse the campaign to divest Illinois from genocide. “We need to continue pressuring Michael Frerichs and ISBI. All power to the people!”

#ChicagoIL #IL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #USPCN