How To Help YOUR State Divest From Terrorism (and choke off money from terror-sponsoring states)

SCHWARZENEGGER SAYS California is going to do it. And you can urge your state to do it too. Four identifiable states sponsor terrorism outright: Iran, Sudan, Syria, and North Korea. The U.S. forbids American companies from investing money in these countries, but many foreign companies have no such rule.

The problem is, people in the U.S. use investment companies for investing stocks, for mutual funds and pension funds, etc. And those sometimes invest in companies outside the U.S. — companies that invest in the terror-sponsors.

But a non-profit organization is out to choke off this vital source of funds to terror-sponsoring countries.

Most Americans would be horrified to know they are indirectly sponsoring terrorism, and DivestTerror.org is helping them find out where their money goes.

To "divest" means "to get rid of, to dispose of." DivestTerror.org is on a campaign to make sure any investments made by Americans have divested terror.

If you invest money, if you have a 401k or a pension plan, or invest in stocks, or have a mutual fund, you can use their information to make sure your money isn't supporting terror.

Your broker or fund manager may not know which of your holdings has ties to terrorism. Sometimes this information isn't easily had. But you can motivate them to find out by threatening to move your funds elsewhere. Money talks. Use the forces of free enterprise in favor of this worthy cause.

If you do not invest money, you can still help the campaign: You can promote this idea. Let people know about it in whatever way you can. And you can help get petitions signed and write letters to state legislators, governor, treasurer, and local officials to make sure your state investments aren't providing money for companies doing business in terror-sponsoring countries.

The goal of the DivestTerror.org campaign is to force governments to choose between their sponsorship of terrorism and important partnerships with publicly traded firms.

This idea has a history of success. A similar campaign helped end apartheid in South Africa. People demanded to know where their money was being invested, and withdrew it from organizations investing in South African companies. The campaign had a strong influence in the ultimate change in South Africa's national policies.

Investors have used this kind of financial leverage against environmentally damaging companies, tobacco companies, and gambling concerns.

The DivestTerror.org web site says:

"The economies of terrorist-sponsoring states are almost entirely dependent on the revenues, expertise and advanced equipment and technology provided by global publicly traded companies in which millions of Americans own stock. Accordingly, a basic premise of DivestTerror.org is that some, if not all, of these governments would likely choose to end their support of terrorism before suffering an economic collapse catalyzed by the withdrawal of these public companies."

Several companies have deliberately divested themselves of all terror-sponsor-related investments and they've actually made more money than they did before. So this won't harm your investments, and may even personally benefit you. It will only take some effort on your part to change your funds over. But you get the satisfaction of denying resources to the enemies of the free world.

This is a worthy campaign, and I urge you to participate.

More information: Terror-Free Investing

Divesting terror is one of the 7 practical things an ordinary citizen can do to help defeat terrorism.