A Publication of NorthStar Asset Management, Inc.

Keeping Our Compassion Alive

Worldwide reaction to the devastating tsunami in December has been as strong and swift as the waters that washed away parts of Southeast Asia. The outpouring of generosity and compassion from individuals, organizations and governments is unprecedented in human history. Technology assisted this lightening speed reaction enabling organizations to raise vast amounts of money, allowing families to search for missing loved ones, and keeping the rest of the world updated to the situation.

It is a tragedy of mammoth proportions with over 150,000 people killed, countless villages flattened, and half a million people left homeless. While our government slowly contemplated how much to give, the American people and people all over the world gave freely. Millions poured into relief efforts in a matter of hours. There was no ambiguity on the part of the response. No one questioned the worth or value of giving. People just gave, gave quickly, and gave a great deal.

Yet, in conflicts across the globe, larger numbers of people have died or been murdered, towns and villages have burned and destroyed, and people search for loved ones. Conflicts like the ones in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Sudan are just as horrific, yet international compassion is not overwhelming. Why?

In Rwanda, 800,000 people died in a matter of weeks. Weeks. Our own government described the mass murders as genocide but did little to halt the violence. Where was the outrage? Ten years too late and then only following the opening of the Hollywood film, “Hotel Rwanda.”

Less than a month ago, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell called the systemic starvation, rape, and killing in the Darfur region of the Sudan a genocide, despite its having been a problem for years. Relief organizations have been on the ground working in the region, just as many were in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India before the tsunami. The devastating effects of poverty and civil war were enough to warrant their presence. And still it’s not page one news in the US.

Are the people who were swept out to sea by the tsunami more precious than the murdered Rwandans? Are the starving Sudanese children less needy than the Indonesian orphans? Is our compassion limited to innocent victims of natural disasters? Is it too complicated for us to be compassionate toward victims of political or religious based wars? Do we simply dismiss the tragedy in the Darfur because we don’t understand why it is happening? Do we assign some blame to the people or political factions for creating the war, the famine, the murders?

The tsunami was a natural disaster. A disaster clearly untethered to complicated political and religious ideologies, detached from human failings. Perhaps it is easier to give freely to tsunami relief because the need and suffering is unambiguous. And, yes, political and religious doctrine, civil wars, and tribal conflicts do cloud our ability to be fully compassionate.

As thoughtful, concerned citizens, we need to find a way to stay present with the struggles in the world. We must not let the passage of time and the absence of news cameras lull us into a peaceful sleep. Creative, systemic social change comes from the intersection of knowledge, compassion, and action.

The following media outlets cover stories the mainstream press overlooks:

• The Pacifica Radio Foundation
• independent media center
• Mother Jones

Sudan Divestment Movement

The Political History

The declining situation in the Darfur region of Sudan is one of the worst human rights crises in the world today. Since the early 1990s, the Sudanese government has engaged in what, long time observers call, “serial genocide.” In the past two years, two million people have been displaced and 400,000 have died, mostly due to famine. Darfur’s villages and crops have been destroyed and water supplies poisoned, and rapes and killings are used to terrorize the people.

Workers for humanitarian organizations fear that as many as 100,000 will die every month if stability is not restored. Moreover, given the extremely bleak predictions concerning food supplies and agricultural production, the actual number of deaths may be much higher. The worsening conditions are likely to intensify the famine.

The political situation in Sudan has so many players that stability is not likely to reign any time soon. Despite a recently signed peace accord between two of the warring factions, the agreement is not a response to the crisis in Darfur. Rather, it covers other political issues between the Christian south and the Islamic north.

“We’re talking about a serially genocidal regime that refuses to make peace, continues to defer a peace process, and is supported by the Asian and European companies that are targeted by the divestment campaign,” says Eric Reeves, a professor at Smith College and one of the key initiators of the Divest Sudan movement.

The Divestiture Movement

Activists in the divestiture movement believe that not until the Sudanese government feels a very significant, financial and economic pressure to stop what it is doing, it will not change. Currently, an executive order signed before the Darfur crisis by President Clinton, bars US companies from operating in Sudan, citing the Islamic government’s support of terrorism, persecution of minority religions, and tolerance of the slave trade. However, Asian and European companies that continue to conduct business in the region are now the targets of a divestiture movement.

Stock in Sudan-active companies worth over $91 billion is held by large institutional investors like university endowments and state pension funds. These endowments and pension funds are the targets of divestment, just as they were during the South African anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s. Bills calling for state pension funds to divest from these companies are moving forward in New Jersey, California, and Illinois.

Mr. Reeves explains, “We need to do everything we can to convince companies to suspend their operations immediately.” He dismisses any call to dialogue with the companies as a distinct waste of time in a place where famine is quickly killing more and more people.

NorthStar does not hold any of the stocks in question. The main targets of divestment are Siemans, Alcatel, ABBLtd, Tatneft and PetroChina. •

You can urge your alma mater, pension fund or state to divest from Sudan-active stock by visiting www.divestsudan.org for sample letters.

Does Gay Marriage Make Domestic Partnership Benefits Obsolete?

SpongeBob and Patrick better get married soon, or they may lose their benefits in Massachusetts. Many employers in the Bay State are ending domestic-partner benefits. The Boston Globe listed IBM, Raytheon, Emerson College, Northeastern University, the National Fire Protection Association, Boston Medical Center, Baystate Health System, and The New York Times, as a few of the large employers ending such benefits. Luckily for SpongeBob, he is a cartoon character who lives under the sea in a pineapple. However, gay and lesbian couples live in
the real world. Massachusetts’s newly minted marriage benefits are still under siege and no one is certain what will happen to them on a state or federal level.
States Ban Gay Marriage

Eleven states passed bans on gay marriage this past election: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah. Two other states (Louisiana and Missouri) already adopted constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. Nine of the 13 state constitutional amendments go beyond banning gay marriage. Some also target more limited versions, such as civil unions and domestic partnerships.

Ohio’s Controversy

The Ohio amendment has been particularly severe in its restrictions. Public or state institutions are not allowed to recognize anything that resembles marriage for lesbians and gays. In response, officials at Ohio State University fear a ban on such benefits will result in a ‘brain drain’ from the University. Concerned it will not be competitive in attracting the best minds, the University
has not, to date, dropped the benefits and risks losing state funding.

Several large, Ohio-based companies have been in the forefront of voices against such discriminatory policies. Proctor and Gamble, Nationwide Insurance, and Limited Brands (which operates The Limited, Victoria’s Secret, and Bath & Body Works stores) have warned the restrictions would be bad for business. Even Ohio’s Attorney General Jim Petro, Governor Bob Taft and the state’s US Senators – all Republicans – argued against the amend-ment, saying the language is too broad, too ambiguous and could harm Ohio’s economy.

The continued controversy over state versus federal regulations leaves many questions unanswered for lesbian and gay employees. A ban on gay marriage, along with any type of civil union is being debated in Kansas. A lawyer from SBC Communications, with a large office in that state, said they will have to review existing benefits to see if the company would be in compliance with state law should the amendment passed. Because the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) allows companies with certain types of insurance to choose whether or not to cover same-sex spouses, FedEx will not provide benefits for married gay and lesbian couples in Massachusetts.

Federal Challenges

Nationally, our esteemed President continues his support for an amendment to the Constitution to ban gay marriage. With a predominately Republican Congress, the threat is real. Regardless of the success of such an amendment, the Defense of Marriage Act, signed by President Clinton, guarantees the exclusion of any same-sex marriages from federal benefits. Unlike opposite-sex married couples, gay married couples have to pay taxes on the fair market value of their benefits to the Internal Revenue Service. They cannot file as a married couple and only one parent can claim the children as dependants on their federal tax returns. Gay couples who marry may be barred from international adoptions and those in the military jeopardize their status (“Don’t ask, Don’t tell”, means “No weddings, No flowers.”)

Corporations Blaze a Path

Even with the negative legislative news surrounding lesbian and gay civil rights, much progress continues to be made on the corporate front. In 2004, Fifth Third Bancorp’s shareholder resolution to amend its nondiscrimination policy, with Margaret Covert of NorthStar speaking at the annual meeting, garnered 63% of the shares voted. Resolutions at Alltel, CH Robinson Worldwide, United States Steel and Carlisle were withdrawn after the companies each agreed to change their policies.

For the 2005 season, at least 26 shareholder resolutions are asking shareholders to change each company’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) standards to include sexual orientation. All but 90 of the Fortune 500 have sexual orientation included in the EEO statements, which represents a major change from 10 years ago. Organizations like the New York City Comptroller’s Office view banning discriminatory practices “as much a bottom line issue as a human rights issue.” We agree. In 2005, NorthStar will continue to vote clients’ proxies in support of important sexual orientation anti-bias resolutions.

Social change is slow, often taking two steps forward before the backlash pushes us one giant step back. We are currently living in a highly volatile time, where cartoon characters are coming under attack not only from right wing zealots like James Dobson of the Focus on the Family but also from the federal government. Newly appointed Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings’s outrage over a cartoon character visiting with kids in Vermont who have two moms is reminiscent of Jerry Falwell’s outing of “Tinky Winky,” (the big, purple, genderless TeleTubby), only Falwell didn’t hold public office.

The new marriage benefits represent another step toward full equality for lesbians and gay men. Yet, Massachusetts is still considered ‘Ground Zero’ to the conservative right, who continue pouring unprecedented resources into banning marriage and its benefits. For now, we need to encourage companies who offer domestic partnership benefits to keep them until there is more clarity and certainty on both the state and federal level.•

“If we can beat that many superheros, surely we can survive the next four years.” – Michael Moore, after Fahrenheit 9/11 was chosen over Shrek2, Spiderman2, and The Incredibles as Best Movie of the Year by the 21 million voters of the People’s Choice Awards.

Written by Margaret J. Covert & Sara Whitman