Haywardistes Get City To Defund Apartheid Israel
In a split vote, Hayward becomes first City to divest from apartheid Israeli government since October 7th.
The Community Demands Divestment
Over a month and a half ago, more than 100 people packed the City Council chambers and demanded a ceasefire. “I am ashamed,” said Andrea V., “that our Council did not listen to its constituents, unlike San Francisco.” On Tuesday they returned to ask what Council had accomplished over the winter break. The open public comment period included multiple members of the public calling in to, once again, ask Council to write a ceasefire resolution. Children and parents and educators called in, asking again and again like they did before in December.
It became clear that the City Council wasn’t going to write a Ceasefire Resolution. During the 45 days that had passed since the last public turnout Mayor Salinas had met with Eric Swalwell in DC and not mentioned Gaza, Councilmember Bonilla turned down the opportunity to sign a letter calling for a ceasefire, and the Hayward City Council continued to hide behind a 50-year-old policy that allegedly prevents them from issuing a resolution. But the Hayward community wasn’t going to let Council forget.
After the City Manager’s comments1, Councilmember George Syrop pulled an item concerning the City’s investment portfolio. But before he could explain the reason, the audience—with Palestinian flags waving—stepped up to deliver over an hour of public comments. Organized by the Hayward Community Coalition, children and educators and students and grandparents and business owners and commissioners and lifelong Hayward residents called for the City to divest from companies linked to the Israeli government and its apartheid regime.
Pulling from the BDS Movement’s Divestment and Exclusion Targets, the community demanded that the City liquidate bond investments in Caterpillar, Chevron, Hyundai, and Intel worth over $1,650,000. They, once again, cited the 1985 resolution from the Alex Guilliani Council which called for comprehensive divestment from apartheid South Africa. The 1977 Policy, the community knew, didn’t apply because the City has direct control over how it invests its own tax revenue.
“By the people who showed up here,” said Mt. Eden Student and Hayward Youth Commissioner Cliantha G., “I think it’s clear that the community demands that we stay consistent and divest from apartheid Israel.” As commenters lined up, they stacked their signs and flyers and even phones under the document camera to highlight their demands. “I don’t want to pull on your heartstrings,” said one resident who had recently gained full citizenship, “we all wish that you did pass a resolution for a ceasefire, but honestly the divestment piece would mean much more.”
Former students of Mayor Mark Salinas spoke out against his inaction. “I knew you first as my professor,” said Lala De La O, “and you taught a class on the Chicano Movement that talked about sit-ins, that talked about walk-outs, that talked about community organizing. That is how you first stood in front of me. Now you sit in front of me as somebody that has taken three months with no action.”
“Most of my relatives actually reside in Gaza. It’s been extremely painful,” said Akmehd S., “to watch my family struggle to survive [in Gaza] and dozens have not won that struggle. It’s inhumane to make me pay for it. Please, let’s put our money in places that don’t involve erasing my lineage.”
Over the course of an hour and fifteen minutes, the community made comments like these; citing the thousands of lives lost since the December meeting, the complicity our community would have if Council did nothing, and the obvious ability to enact meaningful change at that meeting. But some members of City Council remained unmoved.
When it was his moment to speak, Councilmember Syrop took the Council’s behavior to task. “How can we say this has nothing to do with us when our own residents are losing family members?” he asked, “I believe that we have a moral responsibility as leaders in our community to draw these connections [between global and local issues] for our community and also signal to our state and federal representatives that we’ve had enough.”
He highlighted the stakes of the evening. “If we fail to act tonight,” he said, “it will be a stain on our city’s history. …And every time we pass by our signs that say ‘No Room for Racism’ it will also be a joke because we hid behind a 50 year old policy that we had the power to change. So tonight we have a chance to redeem ourselves after 45 days of inaction.”
“This is not rash,” he said, perhaps anticipating the reaction of many Councilmembers, “it’s overdue. And any delay, no matter how well intentioned, is complicit.”
He ended by moving to change the investment policy to include: “The City shall be prohibited from investing funds in any person, private corporation, institution, or other entity identified on the BDS Divestment and Exclusion List.” Councilmember Francisco Zermeño seconded the motion almost immediately.
After asking about the implications—mostly increased management fees, which are already a scam, and $40,000/year in current returns—Councilmember Zermeño said “I think the idea is a good one, I think it should be done by every city in the United States.” He then asked Councilmember Syrop “Could we add divesting from other companies that deal with fossil fuels?”
However, City Manager Kelly McAdoo pushed back “There would need to be additional research and conversation with the staff, the Budget and Finance Committee, with the Council before we expanded what we’re taking off the table in terms of investment opportunities.” She also worried that there wasn’t clarity about whether they could, for example, accept a loan from Barclay’s or if they could invest in something that Barclay’s had also invested in.
Councilmember Zermeño agreed to withdraw his amendment, though there’s a good chance it’ll show up at the next Budget and Finance Committee meeting.
Councilmember Angela Andrews attempted to turn the conversation down a different path. “Would it be possible that we look at a Socially Responsible Investment Strategy as a whole for our investments and, not necessarily just do this tonight, but as a whole.” She then called out Councilmember Syrop for not pushing the idea in the lower committee, “You had a meeting in November. We saw nothing. We’re seeing it tonight. I’m asking if we can at least have someone get the modelling and the risk tolerance to have a total, holistic, Socially Responsible Investment Model.”
Councilmember Syrop explained that he had brought it up at the last meeting and it will be coming forward in the future. But Councilmember Andrews attempted to push the vote off until after the next Budget and Finance Committee meeting, which meets once a month and which would not arrive on a council agenda until the middle of February, almost another month later.
“There’s a motion on the table,” Councilmember Syrop responded.
Councilmember Julie Roche was openly hostile to the motion, “We don’t have [an analysis]. This wasn’t discussed at the last Finance meeting in November.” She later continued, “I just think that, based on the conversation, we obviously don’t have the full set of facts to make such a decision. I think it’s irresponsible policymaking to make this kind of decision on the fly.” She then said, attempting to set the timetable for another person’s freedom, “And while I understand the sentiment behind it, I don’t think doing it this way is the proper way to do it, so I won’t be supporting the motion.”
“I don’t think that tonight is the night to be making any sort of legislative decisions,” Councilmember Ray Bonilla Jr. said, “I think we should be recommending to staff what kind of research we need brought back in front of us so we can make the appropriate decisions that benefit all of us.” Being more concerned about the size of investment returns over what those investments are funding is a hallmark of late-stage capitalism.
Councilmember Dan Goldstein, however, expressed his support for the idea. He suggested changing the amendment in a minor way, “I wonder if we can scope this now for those four companies that we know about and then give the city some time to do the research and see what else we can do.” He continued, “Can we do something now and then do the responsible thing, which is to give the City some time to research further?”
Councilmember Syrop then amended the original motion to be limited to Chevron, Hyundai, Intel, and Caterpillar. This approach both addresses the BDS list as it currently stands, and allows for future action to be taken in a more holistic and cautious way. Councilmember Goldstein showed that it’s possible to take immediate and deliberative action at the same time.
“We’re listening, but we’re also trying to do the responsible thing up here. Okay?” Mayor Mark Salinas said, “And I have to agree with my colleagues Councilmember Bonilla, Councilmember Roche, and Councilmember Andrews. …It is irresponsible. I cannot stress that enough.” He then countered that, should the motion fail, he would entertain a referral from Councilmember Syrop to direct Staff to research and develop a Socially Responsible Investment Policy. A process which would, at best, take months. “I think that’s what we’re after here,” he said.
Councilmember Andrews then interjected, after uproar from the crowd. “I’m trying to save this, as much as I can,” she said. She asked Staff about what could be done, and City Manager McAdoo essentially said that they’ve said all they can say. Councilmember Andrews seemed desperate to get some analysis from Staff before making a decision.
Councilmember Syrop asked about the process and found out that, because of some technicalities, the bonds can’t be liquidated for several weeks. “I’m just seeing that this is going to take some time anyway if we say ‘go ahead with it.’ And so that’s why I’m thinking we should just go ahead with these four companies and see what the end result is. And then we can develop it further.”
“Where I am going to stand tonight on this,” Councilmember Bonilla Jr said during his final comment, “is asking staff to do more research on this. I’m not going to be making this kind of financial decision on the dais—in fact I think it’s irresponsible for us to be doing this tonight. So I will not be supporting this motion tonight either.” He joined Councilmember Roche and Mayor Salinas in characterizing the divestment as irresponsible, perhaps attempting to seem like even-headed adults.
After over half an hour of discussion between Councilmembers, the Mayor finally called the vote. The first to vote was Councilmember Angela Andrews. After her name was called she remained silent for ten full seconds. One and then another cry of encouragement broke from the crowd and just before the tension became unbearable, she voted Yes. She was joined by Councilmembers Goldstein, Syrop, and Zermeño.
Councilmember Angela Andrews was the deciding vote in a historic move to make Hayward the first city in California, if not the country, to enact a divestment strategy in response to the genocide in Gaza. This landmark moment was only possible by combining community organizing, community action, and the courage of a few elected officials.
If you’d like to comment to your elected officials on their actions, I encourage you to reach out to them via email:
Mayor Mark Salinas: Mark.Salinas@hayward-ca.gov
Councilmember Angela Andrews: Angela.Andrews@hayward-ca.gov
Councilmember Ray Bonilla Jr.: Ray.Bonilla@hayward-ca.gov
Councilmember Dan Goldstein: Daniel.Goldstein@hayward-ca.gov
Councilmember Julie Roche: Julie.Roche@hayward-ca.gov
Councilmember George Syrop: George.Syrop@hayward-ca.gov
Councilmember Francisco Zermeño: Francisco.Zermeno@hayward-ca.gov
She announced that the City had finally completed the street and sidewalk projects in the Old Highland Neighborhood after 50 whole years of work. In case you want to know something about the kind of people who live up there.