L.A. BOYCOTTING FIRMS WITH BUSINESS IN SUDAN.Byline: RICK ORLOV Staff Writer Comparing the humanitarian crisis A humanitarian crisis (or "humanitarian disaster") is an event or series of events which represents a critical threat to the health, safety, security or wellbeing of a community or other large group of people, usually over a wide area. in Darfur to the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. , Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. officials announced plans Wednesday to halt investments with firms doing business with Sudan. During a City Hall news conference, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) is the mayor of Los Angeles, California. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872. and the City Council announced that Los Angeles would join with California and 16 other states in boycotting business with the African nation. Villaraigosa estimated the city has $27 million of its $40 billion pension fund invested with firms doing business in Sudan. "Today, the city is adding its voice to the international outcry over the genocide in Darfur," Villaraigosa said. "With the hope of saving lives, the city is divesting its holdings from Sudan. We must stand for freedom and basic human rights." The situation in Darfur has been condemned by the United Nations, with the death of an estimated 400,000 people and the displacement of 3.5 million. Lists of companies that do business with the Sudan is available from the Sudan Divestment Task Force at www.sudandivestment.org. City Council President Eric Garcetti Eric Garcetti (born 1971) is the son of former Los Angeles county district attorney Gil Garcetti, and was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2001. He was reelected in 2005. said the city's action is similar to what it did nearly two decades ago, when it divested from firms doing business in South Africa to protest apartheid. The campaign to divest from Darfur is being organized by a number of local groups, including Jewish World Watch The Jewish World Watch is an NGO based out of Southern California, a coalition of synagogues and Jewish groups with the objective of educating, advocating, and donating in order to combat genocide and other human rights violations all over the world. , a coalition of more than 50 synagogues started by Rabbi Harold Schulweis of Valley Beth Shalom Valley Beth Shalom is a Conservative Synagogue in Encino, Los Angeles, California. With over 1,800 member families[1] it is one of the largest synagogues in Los Angeles and one of the largest Conservative synagogues in the United States. in Encino. In addition to its campaign for divestment, Jewish World Watch also has built two medical clinics and 25 water wells in Darfur. Villaraigosa said the city is also urging support of a measure introduced by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, to have the United States also divest itself of investments with firms doing business in the Sudan as well as adopt legislation formally recognizing the killings of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 as a genocide. rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com (213) 978-0390 |
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