To W Mids Pension Fund Committee

Dear Councillor - REPLY, REBUTTAL, REASONS ARE REQUIRED, out of sheer courtesy, please.  Thanks.  Tim Weller

I am writing to you as a member of the committee of the West Midlands Pension Fund, which has its next meeting on Wednesday 11 December.  Item 5 on the agenda refers to a report on Responsible Investment Activities, which contains negotiations regarding climate change, resource efficiency and social equality.  Clearly the Fund is concerned that its investments are used in a socially responsible manner, but weapons and particularly nuclear weapons are not mentioned, even though the manufacture of all weapons contributes massively to the carbon footprint.

Should we be investing in companies whose products are going to the IDF to kill murder and maim, mainly children and women in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon?  Especially when our Top Man in the Middle East, "Benjamin Netanyahu has become the fourth world leader to be issued with an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC). It puts him alongside Vladimir Putin of Russia, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.

The warrant relates to Israel's military actions towards the Palestinians from the day of Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October onwards. It includes allegations of starving civilians as a method of warfare, murder, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and extermination."

This week, Amnesty International has concluded that our friend and ally is committing genocide:

" (It) concludes that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

A stand-alone executive summary is available in English and other languages: ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza: Executive Summary (Index: 15/8744/2024)."

Nuclear weapons programmes divert public funds from health care, education, disaster relief and other vital services. The nuclear-armed countries spend more than $173,000 per minute on their nuclear bombs, over $90 billion each year. Meanwhile, the companies producing these weapons of mass destruction and their investors make billions in profit. Nuclear weapons affect all of us, so it’s up to all of us to push back against the absurd sums of money wasted on them.

One year of nuclear weapons spending could…..

• Convert more than 16.5 million homes to solar power
• Secure a year of clean water & sanitation for 1.2 billion people
• Hire 1.5 million high school science teachers
• Vaccinate 2 billion people against coronavirus
• Pay for ⅓ of the costs for climate change adaptation in developing countries 

I understand that the Pension Fund has investments in firms that make nuclear weapons or their components, including Lockheed Martin, BAE systems, General Dynamics and many others.  Nuclear weapons could kill millions of people, and built up areas such as the West Midlands would be particular targets.  It should be part of the responsibility of local councils to try and prevent nuclear bombs falling on the West Midlands.  It is therefore important that the Pension Fund stops investing in nuclear weapons manufacturers and in all armament manufacturers.

I would be grateful if you could convey my views as a council tax payer in Dudley and a beneficiary of the Pension Fund to the committee next Wednesday, and report back to me on any discussion.