Gaza protesters chanting and throwing ‘blood-stained’ money with the leader’s face on it interrupted a council meeting last week.
The protest, led by Shut BAE Down and the Revolutionary Communist Group, was staged to get Southwark Council to ‘divest millions from its pension fund’ over Israel ties.
They are asking the council to divest £55m from companies including BAE Systems, Boeing and Caterpillar. However, the council said it ‘does not recognise this figure.’
This was just one of the demands put forward by the campaign group to the council.
Others included a ‘denunciation of Israel’s genocide’ and urging them to call for sanctions on Israel.
One campaigner, Alex, spoke to this paper to explain the group’s position.
He mentioned that 45 days after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022, Southwark Council agreed to review its pension fund and ‘divest Russian holdings’ at the earliest opportunity.
Alex said: “The council does have the power to divest its pension fund from companies complicit in genocide and apartheid, and can also call for sanctions, condemn Israel and so on.”
He said although they make ‘similar demands’ of MPs, they are focusing their attention on Labour councils – who he called ‘hypocritical.’
At the same meeting, Southwark Council put forward a ceasefire motion. The group claimed that this was only done ‘as a result’ of their list of ‘radical demands’ and said that other than this motion, the council ‘avoided discussing Palestine’ all evening.
As a result, they chose to interrupt the meeting by throwing ‘blood-stained’ money with the faces of the council leader Kieron Williams and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. The group added: “We aim to target all complicit parties, councils and businesses with the demands of full divestments and sanctions.”
The protesters claim they were ‘forcefully removed’, whilst the council told us the group just left after expressing their views.
A Southwark Council spokesperson said: “On 20 March 2024, Southwark’s Council Assembly unanimously passed a cross-party motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Around 30 members of the public attended the meeting, in relation to the motion and a deputation about this issue. After the members of the public had a chance to express their views, they left and the meeting continued as normal.
“We do not recognise the investment figure being claimed nor is it clear what criteria was used to reach this. We have £4.9m of investments within companies on the United Nations-approved database.
“These are pooled funds which have multiple investors and are not possible to separate from the rest. Our fund managers regularly engage with the companies on the list and report back to us, as investors, on any contentious issues.
“We expect all companies to follow best practice on environmental, social and governance grounds.”
Last year, two Labour-run councils – Leicester and Lancaster – received criticism for ‘boycotting Israeli goods.’ In response, a bill was proposed by Michael Gove which, if passed, would ban public bodies from being able to do this. The bill has not yet passed.
Southwark Council’s investment policy is available here: Agenda Document for Pensions Advisory Panel, 27/09/2023 10:00 (southwarkpensions.co.uk)