We are holding Caterpillar accountable

We are holding Caterpillar accountable

April 23, 2010

We, Macalester Peace and Justice Committee/Students for a Democratic Society, block Caterpillar's driveway because Caterpillar must be held responsible for the things from which they profit.

Caterpillar bulldozers are used to clear-cut forests and demolish natural habitats, clear out slums that are the homes of millions in brutal "cleaning" operations, and, perhaps most visibly, the Caterpillar bulldozer is the weapon of choice in Israel's systematic assault on the Palestinian people.

Caterpillar executives cannot be divorced from responsibility for the consequences of their profit. Caterpillar executives may not be the ones driving the bulldozers, but they gain directly from the injustice and oppression that their products propagate across the globe.

Specially armored Caterpillar bulldozers are Israel's tools for the relentless, slow-motion destruction of Palestinian lives, homes and livelihoods. Israel uses Caterpillar to demolish Palestinian homes, rip up Palestinian olive groves and build new settler homes with manicured lawns and central air.

Since 1967, Israel has demolished 24,145 Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories; in the same time period, Israel has built 214 settlements and erected a separation wall that cuts deep into the West Bank. Time after time, settlements "spring up" right where they are most disruptive to local economies, while Israel further shatters trade routes and freedom of movement with apartheid walls, Israeli-only roads and pervasive checkpoints.

http://socialistworker.org/2010/04/23/holding-caterpillar-accountable

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was to destroy Palestinian's homes. To support crimes against humanity. They knew it and didn't give a damn.

Money, dirty or not, is money, and for psychopathic entities like corporations that is all that matters. We here all know that. But at least some of us see crimes against humanity for what they are and those who provide support for what they are. Others regard these evils as triumphant moments in their glorious path toward their true and dog-given destiny as the really truly (all the others making that same claim with similar arguments are deluded!!!!!) chosen people.

How effing sick and deluded and pathetic is that.

Holding Caterpillar responsible for the uses of the bulldozers the manufacture makes about as much sense as holing Boeing responsible for 9/11.

Caterpillar knows full well how their armored bulldozers are being used by Israel. They are complicit in Israel's crimes and must be punished!

"They are enabling Israel's crimes and should be made to stop" is a sentiment I could get behind, as is "making an example out of them will put pressure on companies not to do business with Israel, putting pressure on Israel to change" - I'm not sure either is a realistic assessment of the likely consequences, but if they were they'd be good chains of reasoning. But I'm afraid I think "They are complicit in Israel's crimes and must be punished" is just zealotry.