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The Sisters of ICCR: Genuine Faith in Action May 7th, 2012
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a shareholder coalition celebrating over 40 years of social justice advocacy, released a statement on Friday acknowledging the vital role of Catholic women religious in transforming corporate policies and practices in order to create a more just and sustainable world.
Read the statement here… (Download PDF)
Impacts of Mining Exhibit at the UN hosted by VIVAT International May 1st, 2012
The Missionary Oblates and VIVAT International will host a multi-media exhibit on the impacts of mining operations on people and ecosystems around the world on May 8th at the United Nations. This unique exhibit will be up for viewing from 11:00-3:00 pm in the Chapel at the Church Center for the United Nations. May 8th is the second day of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the theme of which is the Doctrine of Discovery. The exhibit organizers have reached out through their global faith-based networks for stories and images from local communities affected by mining operations. If you are in New York on May 8th, please attend!
Goals of the exhibit include:
- Bearing witness to the suffering of the Earth and its peoples as a consequence of extractive industry abuses;
- Underscoring the necessity of industry standards in preventing mining abuses; and
- Revealing the courageous resistance of peoples all over the world to inadequate extractive industry standards.
At 2:30, there will be a special 15 minute commemoration of those who have been murdered around the world as a result due to their community resistance against the consequences of extractive industry on their communities.
Banks Targeted in Divestment Campaign and by Faith-Based Shareholder Activism April 29th, 2012
Churches and faith-based shareholders alike have been taking action against big banks that have failed to respond to the plight of homeowners and others seriously affected by the financial crisis. The Missionary Oblates have been actively engaging the big banks and financial institutions in an effort to deal with some of the underlying problems that have caused so much pain to so many.
Recently, members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) facilitated the participation of VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement) in the Detroit AGM of GE Capital. VOICE is a faith-based community organization representing people who have lost their homes or whose houses are threatened by the on-going foreclosure crisis. GE Capital holds some of these mortgages and has been resistant to negotiation of the mortgage terms.
See our related post on the demonstrations outside the recent Well Fargo AGM in San Francisco.
Angry Homeowners, Community Groups Protested at Wells Fargo AGM April 29th, 2012
Thousands of angry homeowners, immigrants, union members, Occupiers and community groups converged on the annual shareholders meeting of Wells Fargo Bank. In a carefully choreographed protest, simultaneous marches left Justin Herman Plaza on the city’s waterfront, site of the Occupy San Francisco encampment last fall. Demonstrators walked up parallel streets into the financial district, where they encircled the block in which the meeting was set to take place, in the Julia Morgan ballroom of the Merchant’s Exchange Building.
A group of religious, union and community representatives had purchased shares of stock in the bank beforehand, supposedly allowing them to attend the shareholders meeting. Some even held proxies, allowing them to vote the stock belonging to others. As the rally swirled outside, and speeches and songs filled the streets now vacant of their normal traffic, the police closed off the building and refused to let the shareholders inside:
Wells Fargo blocked over a hundred legitimate shareholders from entering the meeting, saying that the room had reached maximum capacity. About 20 shareholders inside took turns interrupting the CEO while he tried to give his speech. They were escorted out of the meeting. The meeting ended in 37 minutes (compared to 2.5 hours in previous years), with not a single question, largely due to the turmoil both outside and inside the meeting and the fact that Wells packed the room with their own employees.
While the media coverage portrayed the events as part of the Occupy movement, PICO groups in the Bay Area, SEIU, NPA, ACCE, AJS, NBL and other organizing groups provided the core leadership for the event.
Developing a Multi-Faith Global Statement on Extractives Industries April 27th, 2012
On April 24, Philippine Bishop Dinualdo Guttierez, D.D. and Bishop Bejoy D’ Cruze OMI from Bangladesh joined the JPIC staff in attending a conference designed to develop a multi-faith global statement on extractives industries. The meeting was held at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C.
Participants came from major faith groups and leading international NGOs from all continents. A multi-faith global statement on extractives will serve as a shared common document that people of faith can use when dealing with issues of extractives. The meeting was initiated and facilitated by the Bank Information Center and the Oblate JPIC office.
Participants in the April 2012 Multifaith Conference on Extractives Industries
