I swear to God this is true and shocking…and if I could get my scanner to scan I would show the actual document.
This comes from Fidelity Investment Trust: that asks you to vote on the proxy statement and this is how it reads (I’ve shortened the full proposal).
Get this “THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES RECOMMENDS A VOTE AGAINST THE FOLLOWING:”
“…and Fidelity Overseas Fund concerning Board oversight procedures to screen out investments in companies that substantially contribute to genocide.”
In other words the board of trustee’s would rather make money then be socially responsible for the Genocide in Darfur.
In the pamphlet that accompanied the proxy vote it stated that Fidelity was one of the largest holders of PetroChina which is a parent to China National Petroleum Company which is providing funding to the Government of Sudan’s military. The Sudan military has been reported to be supporting the Genocide of the Fur’s by supporting the Janjaweed’s with ammunition, guns, and vehicles.
So the board of trustees wants you to vote against being socially responsible in the name of profit. I can say that for me, I would rather have no retirement money left and die knowing I didn’t contribute to the slaughter or genocide in Darfur, or humanitarian violations in China…for that matter any country that violates what the UN considers ethical means of warfare and imprisonment!
I hate (like I hate racism) the fact that the board was AGAINST this measure, that they would rather make money then check facts leading up to the genocide of human beings. What if tomorrow all the poor went and slaughtered all of the rich CEO, trustee’s and Board Members families, what if they raped their wives and children, cut off their limbs, left them for dead, humiliated and degraded them just because they were rich and the others were poor? Would they then know how horrible it is to be segregated and killed? Would it be worth the profit to lose the ones they love?
This angers me greatly! If you have the oppurtunity to vote on the proxy for Fidelity please vote FOR this check and balance to investing. This is one of those small things you can do. One of those times when you are sitting around with friends and families and you say “but what can we do to help them?” this is it – this is the one thing you can do to help.
