International Attention Focused on ASUC Divestment Vote

Allie Bidwell
Contributing Writer
Wednesday, April 14, 2010

International attention will descend on the ASUC Senate meeting tonight as senators consider upholding the passage of a controversial bill urging the student government and the University of California to divest from two companies that have provided war supplies to the Israeli military.

The bill names two companies-United Technologies and General Electric-as supplying Israel with the technology necessary to attack civilian populations in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The bill originally passed the senate March 17 by a 16-4 vote following about six hours of discussion. A two-thirds majority, or 14 votes, is needed in order to override the veto.

Senators have received more than 13,000 e-mails, roughly split between both sides of the controversy.

Prominent figures including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, activist Naomi Klein and leftist MIT professor Noam Chomsky have spoken in support of overriding ASUC President Will Smelko's March 24 veto of the bill. Local and national pro-Israel groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)-an influential Washington, D.C. lobby organization-Berkeley Hillel and the Anti-Defamation League have each stated the bill is divisive and unfairly targets Israel.

Supporters of the bill say divesting from the two companies would make a powerful statement against Israeli actions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which supporters have compared to apartheid-era South Africa.


http://www.dailycal.org/article/109056/international_attention_focused_on_asuc_divestment

They needed 14 votes to override the veto, but there were only 13 (with 1 abstention). One of the senators who wanted to override the vote switched to the "no" side so that they could propose a motion to table the bill until next week's meeting.

The debate leading up to last night's (this morning's) vote lasted well into the wee hours of the morn with a variety of speakers from inside and outside the UCB community.

Here are two from opposing perspectives:

http://twitter.com/ysalahi

http://twitter.com/buberzionist

Edit to add one more:

http://twitter.com/isaacnoah

By Allie Bidwell and Nick Myers
Contributing Writers

Date Added Thursday, April 15, 2010 | 9:27 am
Last Updated Thursday, April 15, 2010 | 10:24 am

Following a nearly nine-hour discussion that began at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday evening and lasted into Thursday morning, ASUC senators have yet to reach a decision on whether or not they would uphold or override President Will Smelko's March 24 veto of a controversial bill urging the student government and the UC to divest from two companies that have supplied Israel with materials for alleged war crimes.

After an initial 12-7-1 vote to uphold Smelko's veto, the senate tabled the bill and will reconsider it next week. Several senators said they would work to alter the bill.

The one abstaining vote made by Student Action Senator Minji Kim resulted from what she said was a lack of sufficient qualifications to vote on such an issue.

CalSERVE Senator and Academic Affairs Vice President-Elect Viola Tang, who voted to uphold the veto, motioned to reconsider the vote to override the veto an hour and a half after senate discussion initially began.

http://www.dailycal.org/article/109089/asuc_senate_still_undecided_on_vetoed_divestment_b