Hil Aked, from Waltham Forest for a Free Palestine, writes about the group’s disappointment in the council since it first promised to divest its pension fund from arms companies

In late 2023, a group of Waltham Forest residents came together to organise around the genocide Israel is perpetrating against Palestinians in the destroyed Gaza Strip, and British complicity in it.

We continue to organise with hundreds of people locally under the name Waltham Forest for a Free Palestine (WF4FP). In early 2024, we gathered over 3,000 signatures in three months for our petition demanding that Waltham Forest Council divest its pension fund from companies complicit in Israel’s well-evidenced human rights abuses and apartheid system.

Hundreds of residents emailed their councillors and we gained the support of council workers who do not want their pension funding genocide and settler-colonialism.

In July, the pensions committee held a special meeting to discuss the issue and we became the first council in the UK to agree to divest from arms companies and review all complicit investments connected to human rights abuses. They were closely followed by a commitment from Islington Council to divest £2.6 million from unethical companies on a United Nations list.

Initially it seemed that the council wanted to follow through on its promises but, when we filled the public gallery with over 30 people at the last pensions committee meeting in September, we were shocked by their lack of progress. Despite promises of an updated ethical investment policy, the committee gave little time to the issue and chose to focus on agreeing a narrow definition of ‘arms companies’
and ‘controversial weapons’.

We have suggested a simple exclusion criteria of complicit companies based on lists compiled by the UN, Who Profits?, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, the American Friends Service Committee and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement. This would remove current remaining complicit investments in Barclays, Caterpillar, Checkpoint Software, Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard and Palantir, amongst others.

None of these were commented on. The committee had also promised to continue pressuring its biggest fund manager, the London Collective Investment Vehicle (LCIV), who manage 73% of its fund, to divest from complicit companies. At the July meeting, an LCIV representative suggested creating an ethical fund which multiple London Councils, including Waltham Forest, can opt into. But the
council had no update on this possibility.

So, we are monitoring their lack of progress closely. Given that the next pensions committee meeting is on 27th November,
we think there is adequate time for them to answer our demands above.

We must stop funding the war machine. The people of Palestine and Lebanon can’t wait. The people of Waltham Forest demand a timeline. We won’t rest ‘till they divest!

To be added to the WFFP WhatsApp group, email: [email protected]

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