Divestment: Will California Take On the Mullahs?
The divestment tool, often used by enemies of the state of Israel, may now be used by the state of California against Iran's mullahs. Iranian-American filmmaker Ardeshir Arian has the story direct from "Tehrangeles" for Pajamas Media.
MARCH 28 – Today California will become the first state to decide whether or not it will continue to do business with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The State Assembly will hear proposed legislation (AB-221) by Republican Joel Anderson of El Cajon, and Democrat Jose Solorio of Anaheim that will require state pension funds to divest from companies that do business with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Iranian-American community and many exiled Iranians are supporting this legislation. Several prominent Iranian-American activists have announced they will testify in support of AB-221, and Iranian groups as far away as Sweden and Turkey are backing the measure. Support for the bill has also come from the Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi but it is opposed by William Reinsch, Undersecretary of Commerce during the Clinton administration, and IRI promoters and apologists like the NIAC. (National Iranian American Council).
The California initiative is the nation’s first, and has inspired similar action in Massachusetts, Maryland, Georgia, Ohio and Missouri.
CBS “60 minutes” stated on January 4, “Just about everyone with a 401(k) pension plan or mutual fund has money invested in companies that are doing business in so-called rogue states”. California’s colossal state pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, have invested about $24 billion in hundreds of companies doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to figures released by private consulting group Conflict Securities.
On a federal level, Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R – FL), and Tom Lantos (D – CA) introduced legislation a few weeks ago that would require all U.S. government pension funds to divest stocks of companies that have invested more than $20 million in the Islamic Republic’s oil and gas sector.
UPDATE: The bill easily passed its first hurdle in the California legislature.
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3 Comments
1. Firouzeh:Thank you Ardi , on time and to the point as usual. What we should point to the State of California is ; the other States in US ( as you mentioned) , and the rest of the world will learn a lesson from this rightful act. We should give a lesson to the world that dealing and doing business with IRI is not in the profit of Iranian people and it just fill up the Mullahs and and their clans Foreign bank accounts .!! People of Iran will not forget those who turned their back to them and those who supported them in these critical historical days.
Mar 29, 2007 - 5:01 am 2. Yari:We should show those who gain profits from our nation*s blood that they will not be able to pretend and lies any mote. They can fool for a time not for ever !!!
State of California will be a good example for every one and other places, we should support it all the way and do not let the IRI *s agents do any damage to it..
Noor Bar Tariki Pirooz Khahad Shod
Firouzeh, Sweden
Yar Azziz Arian,
Thank you so much for your support and Nationalist stand about our home land.
God Bless you and all of our compatriots, fighting to free our land.
Very truly yours,
YARI NATIONAL GROUP OF NATIONALISTS
Mar 29, 2007 - 9:17 am 3. Peyman DOUSTI:UNITED WE STAND. DIVIDED WE FALL
Thank you for not allowing the IRI to make investment in the US.
Mar 29, 2007 - 10:09 am