Educators Take a Stand: Teachers Overwhelmingly Vote to Divest from Genocide

Last month, UTLA’s membership urged the California State Teachers’ Retirement System or CalSTRS, in an open letter to divest from companies and bonds linked to Israel’s military actions in Gaza, accusing them of complicity in war crimes and apartheid. Additionally, the union called for reinvestment in socially responsible assets that reflect educators’ commitment to justice and children’s rights globally.

Political allies, including political activist Marcy Winograd, praised the union’s call in a Facebook post on the eve of May Day, highlighting the 90% support and that the $352 billion pension fund is the one of the largest in the world to “divest from war, occupation, apartheid, surveillance and genocide.”

In a related story find a CODEPINK article on West Ed report on Holocaust and Genocide Education.

Long-time anti-war activist, Marcy Winograd, is a very busy and engaged reformer. Among her many activities she volunteers as the coordinator of CODEPINK Congress and a co-producer of CODEPINK Radio. Marcy also volunteers as co-chair of the Peace in Ukraine Coalition, advocating for a ceasefire and diplomatic resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war. She is a Los Angeles Democratic Party activist and is a member of Santa Barbara Democratic Socialists of America. She is also the co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Progressive Democrats of America.

In 2010, she even ran for Congress. Marcy mobilized 41% of the vote in her primary congressional peace challenge to then incumbent Jane Harman. In 2020, Marcy served as a CA DNC delegate to Bernie Sanders.  

The genesis of her activism began in high school when Marcy marched against the Vietnam War and later, joined the defense team of Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. 

A retired English and government teacher, Marcy blogs about militarism and foreign policy at Common Dreams, CounterPunch, Salon, LAProgressive and Responsible Statecraft. 

On April 1, CODEPINK reported that “rank and file teachers in the United Teachers of Los Angeles or UTLA are mobilizing to demand their pension fund–CalSTRS– divest from Israel’s genocide in Palestine, sell off investments in immigrant surveillance, and quit the war economy altogether.”

  Find Marcy’s post below, along with an attachment at the end to endorse the motion.

UTLA Urges CalSTRS Divest from Genocide!

What follows is the text of the motion that passed:

I move that UTLA join fellow California Alliance for Community Schools (CACS) locals and the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) in publicly calling on CalSTRS to immediately adopt and abide by an Ethical Investment Policy Statement that guides CalSTRS to divest from assets and companies that consistently and directly profit from, enable or facilitate human rights violations, violations of international law, prolonged military occupations, apartheid, or genocide, including weapons manufacturers and companies that build technology such as artificial intelligence and surveillance technology for military use;

Additionally, UTLA will call on the California Teachers Association (CTA), National Education Association (NEA), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to support this call for divestment. These public calls will be made through a direct letter published on social media accounts and sent out through UTLA chapter chair talking points before May 5, 2025.”

Scroll for a list of some of the currently posted CalSTRS investments. https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSd5rZmk0JmS0L…/viewform

THE BOEING COMPANY

CalSTRS investment: $198, 608, 000

Boeing manufactures F-15 fighter jets and Apache AH-64 attack helicopters, for Israeli Air Force bombardment of Gaza and Lebanon.

CATERPILLAR INC.

CalSTRS investment: $213,827,000

For decades, Caterpillar has been supplying Israel with giant armored bulldozers, which the Israeli military operates to illegally demolish thousands of Palestinian homes and civilian infrastructure in the occupied West Bank and to enforce the blockade of water, food, fuel, and medicine to the Gaza Strip.

ELBIT SYSTEMS

CalSTRS investment: $3,992,000

Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems supplies weapons and surveillance systems to the Israeli military, including large missile-carrying drones to attack Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. Designed for use in “densely populated urban warfare, Elbit’s 500-pound multi-purpose bombs contain 26,000 controlled fragments for “high kill probability.

*L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES

CalSTRS investment: $70, 843,000

The world’s ninth largest weapons manufacturer, L3Harris manufactures components that are integrated into multiple weapons systems used by the Israeli military in Gaza, including Boeing’s JDAM kits, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 warplane, Northrop Grumman’s Sa’ar 5 warships

LOCKHEED MARTIN

CalSTRS investment: $176, 868, 000 in stocks; $24 million in bonds.

The world’s largest weapons manufacturer, Lockheed Martin supplies Israel with F-16 and F-35 fighter jets to bomb Gaza. Israel also uses the company’s C-130 Hercules transport planes to support the ground invasion of Gaza

MAERSK

CalSTRS investment: $22, 316,000

Maersk transports military cargo to Israel and is the target of the Palestinian Youth Movement’s Mask Off Maersk campaign.

NORTHROP GRUMMAN

CalSTRS investment: $108, 705,000

The world’s sixth largest weapons manufacturer, Northrop Grumman supplies the Israeli Air Force with the Longbow missile delivery system for its Apache attack helicopters and laser weapon delivery systems for its fighter jets. Northrop Grumman also contracts with the U.S. government to build nuclear weapons at least 20 times more lethal than the atomic bomb.

PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES

CalSTRS investment:$44,875,000

Palantir supplies AI systems to Israel to track and strike targets in Gaza.

According to Amnesty International, Palantir also supplies ICE with technology to arrest caregivers of unaccompanied minors, leading to detentions and harming children’s welfare. “Similarly, ICE relies on Palantir technology to plan mass raids that lead to prolonged detention.

RTX (RAYTHEON)

CalSTRS investment: $219, 660,000

The world’s second-largest weapons manufacturer and largest producer of guided missiles, RTX supplies the Israeli Air Force with guided air-to-surface missiles for its F-16 fighter jets, as well as cluster bombs and “bunker buster” bombs.

VALERO ENERGY

CalSTRS investment: $95,000,000

Valero supplies jet fuel to Israel for military use.

A knock on the door – Know Your Rights

Seventy-three percent of the students in the Los Angeles Unified School District identify as Latino or Hispanic and, according to UTLA, 30,000 students are immigrants with one in four undocumented–data not lost on district educators whose students dread a knock on the door from ICE. In response, UTLA offers resources for the immigrant community, including Know Your Rights advice such as “Stay calm–Do not open the door–Do not sign any documents–Ask to speak with your lawyer or loved one.” The next step, say LAEJP teachers, is to remove the teachers’ monetary complicity with Palantir, Trumpian Peter Thiel’s data-analysis company that has raked in over a billion dollars in federal contracts for immigration enforcement.

“It is unacceptable to invest in institutions that have historically separated and attacked our Latino immigrant communities,” said one Los Angeles teacher who preferred to remain anonymous. “These companies are the same entities that pride themselves in decision dominance or superior decision-making, all the while executing decisions to undermine our student community–tearing children apart from their parents and criminalizing immigrant workers.”

Divest from settlements and Israel Bonds

Rank and file teachers also call on CalSTRS to sell off $22 million in stock in Israel’s Bank Leumi, which has branches in a number of illegal West Bank settlements and provides private loans and mortgages to settlers. CalSTRS has held this stock since the spring of 2024 when the Biden administration, three years into its term–still arming Israel’s slaughter in Gaza– imposed sanctions on illegal settlers, noting their settlements violated international law.

Details: To endorse CalSTRS: https://tinyurl.com/Divest-Apartheid-and-Genocide