Global outcry over Darfur genocide spurs Mass. action

Patricia Weinthal

“I speak for those who can’t speak for themselves,” explained Alicia Hopkins.

She wears a black T-shirt. One side features a question, printed in white letters: “Are You Making a Killing With Fidelity?” The other makes a plea: “Fidelity: Divest for Darfur.”

The South End resident has greeted T riders at Park Street Station morning, noon, and night since the beginning of May. The cards she passed out ask the public to “Tell Fidelity to stop investing in companies that fund genocide in Darfur.”

Hopkins is a foot soldier in the month-long publicity blitz organized by the Save Darfur Coalition. The mission: to alert the public that their savings might be funding genocide in the Darfur province of Sudan. The target: mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments, headquartered here in Boston. The ultimate objective: to convince Fidelity to sell its holdings of PetroChina (NYSE: PTR), a Chinese-owned oil company in Sudan.

The oil revenue paid to the Sudanese government underwrites the militias who have killed over 400,000 people and forced 2.5 million off their lands. The Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur contends that China sells arms to the Sudanese government despite an embargo and uses its clout to prevent intervention by the United Nations.

Why the focus on Fidelity? Fidelity Investments was the largest shareholder of PetroChina in 2006, owning $1.3 billion of stock. Fidelity rebuffed private overtures to discuss divestment, according to David Rubenstein, executive director of the Save Darfur Coalition. Fidelity maintains that it follows the letter of the law and has a fiduciary obligation to maximize its shareholders’ returns on investments.

Because of the genocide, Americans are prohibited from direct investment in Sudanese government-controlled companies. Stock ownership, however, is not illegal.

To get Fidelity’s attention, the Save Darfur Coalition rented every billboard within Park Street station for the month of May. Gone are the usual ads for snacks, products and events. Instead, stark black-and-white photos of Sudanese refugees alternate with the statements “Filthy Rich” and “Tell your mutual fund company genocide is a bad business.” Above ground, signboard trucks thread the narrow streets around Post Office Square, targeting the heart of Boston’s investment and banking community.

In TV spots, a woman — a Sudanese refugee — reads aloud Fidelity’s impersonal response. But perhaps the most visible element of the campaign is the black-shirted leafletters who personally greet passersby daily.

“We gave out over 7,000 cards in the first week,” said Hopkins, nodding towards the cadre of T-shirted leafletters scattered around the Commons. “This strikes a chord in people. Many adults like me have savings and pension funds. It matters where our money goes. Fidelity is not the only company invested in Sudan, but it is the largest and should set an example.”

Momentum to resolve the Darfur crisis is building. Over 100 U.S. congressmen recently signed a petition demanding China use its influence in Sudan to end the conflict. On May 10, concerned by international threats to boycott the Beijing Olympics, China appointed a special envoy to Darfur.

On May 17, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology staged a “die-in,” in which protesters laid on the ground pretending to be dead, to demand the university divest its endowment, one of the largest in the country. The state Senate Ways and Means Committee is considering Bill S.1474, which would direct the state pension fund to divest its holdings of companies doing business in Sudan. Gov. Deval Patrick said he would gladly add Massachusetts to the growing list of states that have passed “targeted divestment” laws.

It is clear that Fidelity has heard the public outcry. On May 16, SEC filings revealed Fidelity quietly sold off 91 percent of the PetroChina shares held by its U.S. funds. The remaining 9 percent is now gone. That leaves the Hong Kong-listed shares, worth $472 million, held by Fidelity International Ltd., the London-based affiliate that serves clients outside the U.S.

Today, Hopkins smiles as she hands out a yellow flyer headlined, “Fidelity: A Step in the Right Direction.”

“I’m concerned about problems in my own backyard, too,” she said, citing Boston University’s plans to build a biohazard research facility in the South End. “My life is busy with many responsibilities. I have to pick and choose where to put my time. But this is a good cause. Those people in Africa can’t help themselves. Not much I can do about it here, half a world away. But if Fidelity selling off its Sudanese oil stock will help save even one life, then I’m for it. I’m for the underdog. I will speak for those who can’t speak for themselves.”