Dear Friend,
The Pacific Mountain Regional Council and PMR Justice Ministry are thrilled to be launching our UnSettling Hewlett Packard campaign as part of the PMR Justice Week of Solidarity with Palestine.
This campaign truly began at the PMR Annual General Meeting in May 2023. At that meeting, PMR voted YES to the proposal “UnSettling Hewlett Packard” brought forward by Rev. Keith Simmonds. This proposal builds on decades of United Church of Canada action, advocacy and policy in solidarity with Palestine and her people, and is the latest step for our region in faithful service and witness to justice.
Importantly, this campaign also builds on Kairos Palestine’s “Cry for Hope” publicly launched July 1, 2020 which calls to the global Christian community for action, advocacy and solidarity. At the 2021 AGM, PMR also voted YES to the Proposal “A Living Commitment to the Kairos Palestine Cry for Hope Action” which echoes the actions set out originally by Kairos Palestine including:
- Recognizing the urgent requirement for decisive action regarding the denial of Palestinian rights and the misuse of the Bible
- Engage in study and discernment with respect to theologies and understandings of the Bible that have been used to justify the oppression of the Palestinian people
- Affirm the Palestinians’ right to resist the occupation, dispossession, and abrogation of their fundamental rights, and join the Palestinians in their creative and nonviolent resistance
- Demand also that governments and world bodies employ political, diplomatic and economic means to stop Israel’s violations of human rights and international law.
- Oppose anti-Semitism by working for justice against anti-Judaism, racism and xenophobia; oppose the equating of criticism of Israel’s unjust actions with anti-Semitism
- Support initiatives between Israelis and Palestinians and interfaith partnerships that combat apartheid and occupation and create opportunities to work together for a common future of mutual respect and dignity
Below you will find information on the UnSettling Hewlett Packard campaign, how you and your community of faith can participate, and further information on boycott and divestment strategies. PMR Justice Ministry is continuing to work on the regional and national elements of UnSettling Hewlett Packard, and we are looking forward to sharing more with you in the future.
In solidarity,
Kendra Mitchell-Foster
Regional Minister: Justice, Pacific Mountain Regional Council
KMitchellFoster@united-church.ca
1-800-934-0434 (within BC) or +1-604-431-0434
Lheidli T’enneh Territory
Prince George, BC
PacificMountain.ca/Justice-Network
UnSettling Hewlett Packard
At the 2023 Annual General Meeting of the Pacific Mountain Regional Council voted YES to approve the proposal “UnSettling Hewlett Packard” which calls on the Pacific Mountain Region and its member faith communities divest from or cease any activity/investment/purchase agreements that support Hewlett Packard. Further, the proposal asks that Pacific Mountain Region request that the General Council of the United Church of Canada add Hewlett Packard specifically to the UnSettling Goods Campaign of the United Church of Canada. You can find the original approved proposal here.
This most recent effort continues a long-standing solidarity of the United Church of Canada (UCC) with Palestine and the people of Palestine. This justice work spanning decades seeks to align UCC policy and practices with the conditions necessary for peace in Palestine and Israel, including rejecting violence and incitements of violence, identifying the end of the occupation of Palestine as necessary for peace, addressing critically that some forms of problematic and violent Christian theology have played in legitimizing the occupation, and to take concrete actions to support the end of the occupation through:
- Campaigns for education and building awareness regarding the occupation, illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory
- Economic action directed against settlement products that can be identified as produced in or related to the settlements or the occupied territories
- Divestment from companies that are profiting from or supporting the occupation
Divestment from and UnSettling Hewlett Packard is another step in this justice work.
The Who Profits Research Centre, an Israeli independent research center dedicated to exposing the commercial involvement of Israeli and international corporations in the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land and population. In their December 2011 report “Technologies of Control: The Case of Hewlett Packard” , Who Profits details that:
“The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is maintained and preserved by daily practices of surveillance and control. In recent years, those practices have been increasingly relying on technological mechanisms provided and managed by international and local corporations. Among those is Hewlett-Packard (HP), one of the world’s biggest IT companies.”
HP both profits from and supports the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, as well as the system of apartheid and oppression operating against the Palestinian people through:
- Providing technological solutions supporting surveillance and identification systems, specifically used at checkpoints which were declared as illegal by a 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice
- Providing technology to the Israeli military, specifically to the Israeli Navy’s IT infrastructure which is used to enforce a naval blockade on the Gaza strip
Purchasing products from Hewlett Packard, investing in Hewlett Packard and staying silent on Hewlett Packard enables and supports the physical, emotional and spiritual oppression of Palestinians. It is time, in line with existing United Church of Canada policy, to insist that Hewlett Packard withdraw from any provision of technology that subjugates Palestinians. To let them know that what they earn from Palestinian oppression will be lost as people around the world refuse to purchase their products.
What Can We Do?
Boycott – Create and sign a pledge to boycott HP products and divest from HP companies. This includes personal computers, phones, printers, tablets, ink cartridges and other HP products. This does not mean that if you already have an HP product that you must get rid of it in exchange for another brand, but the boycott pledge would mean it is your last HP product. When your current HP technology needs to be replaced, that it would be replaced by technology from a company that does not support or profit from the occupation of Palestine. The PMR Justice UnSettling HP pledge can be found here. This immediate or short-term action is a hopeful step that invites all within the community of faith to consider extending this boycott to their own lives and homes as well.
There are “This is my last HP” stickers and printable labels available from our ecumenical siblings in the United Methodist Church at their Kairos Response website. United Methodists are responding to the Kairos Palestine call to action from Christians in Palestine. UMKR seeks, through nonviolent means and in partnership with Palestinian Christians, freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis.
Divest – Work together as a community of faith to form a divestment plan, faithfully discerning when, how and to what extent withdrawing involvement in investments that support HP companies and the production of HP technologies. Often, communities of faith will have investment portfolios as part of faithful stewardship of resources. These investments can be examined and alternative funds to those supporting HP can be found. This mid-to-longer term action supports sustainable solidarity with the boycott/divestment movement. Members of your community of faith may be encouraged by this action to examine their own investments and discerning a path forward without investing in HP companies or technology.
More information, advocacy tools and actions can be found at the BDS website.