Darfur Soon

Santa Fe stands up; PERA does not.

"It's sort of like being punched in the stomach."

So reacted City of Santa Fe Public Information Officer Laura Banish when SFR informed her in October that a portion of her paycheck could be supporting the Darfur genocide in western Sudan. ***image1***

"I'm 28 years old, so I haven't really spent that much time thinking about my retirement other than the fact that money's taken out of my paycheck. I'm shocked," she said at the time.

Since late September, SFR has revealed dozens of local investments in foreign corporations conducting oil and gas business in Sudan. Subsequently, on Nov. 9, Gov. Bill Richardson ordered the State Investment Council to liquidate its holdings in seven "highest offender" companies identified by the nonprofit Sudan Divestment Task Force.

Mayor David Coss also will declare Dec. 1 "Act for Darfur Day" to recognize a three-day local effort (Nov. 30–Dec. 2) to bring attention to the Darfur region of western Sudan, where, since 2003, more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced. Five tents, sponsored by the Darfur Action Committee, Amnesty International and United World College, will be erected on the Plaza to highlight documented genocides from the last 100 years, starting with the Holocaust and leading up to Darfur.

"We're a group of citizens who just want to awaken the Santa Fe community to the genocide going on," Darfur Action Committee organizer Helenty Homans says. "There's so little publicity about it and most people feel terrible about it but don't know what to do."

So far, the Public Employee Retirement Association, which manages government employee pensions, has taken no action regarding the $28.3 million it has invested in seven "highest offender" companies [

]. PERA's Board of Trustees has yet to broach the subject of divestment, according to Executive Director Terry Slattery, who also says the state's Uniform Prudent Investor Act does not authorize PERA to use social concerns to make investment decisions.

Initially, leaders of the state's two largest public employee unions-Communication Workers of America and AFSCME-expressed alarm at PERA's investments and suggested they would advocate for divestment. This week, however, AFSCME Council 18 Executive Director Lawrence Rodriguez is now urging PERA not to divest but instead engage in dialogue directly with the companies.

To date, 22 states, including New Mexico, have implemented divestment schemes. Typically, these involve dialogue with "offending" corporations, with divestment on the table as a final measure. However, according to the Sudan Divestment Task Force, many corporations, including China-based PetroChina and Sinopec Group, have so far ignored engagement attempts, while others, such as Canada-based La Mancha Resources, have responded by proposing humanitarian solutions.

Robin Gould, president of CWA, disagrees with AFSCME's stance, saying she plans to ramp up efforts to sway the PERA board to act. The mayor also is advocating divestment.

"I've been learning a lot from the work that [SFR] and local activist groups have been doing," Coss, a former state employee currently living on his PERA pension, says. "I believe the PERA board should divest itself of those holdings. I think ultimately it's not going to be good for the investors."

The Darfur Action Committee plans to officially recognize the State Investment Council for its divestment. Homans says she hopes to hear from PERA, so the committee can add its name to the thank-you list.

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