Caterpillar

$287,216726*
* out of which over $24 million are invested
in socially responsible investment funds
as of June 30, 2010.

UPDATE: Temporary suspension of bulldozer deliveries to Israel; CAT policy unchanged.

Cindy and Craig Corrie, are bringing a civil suit against the government of Israel in a court in Tel Aviv. Their daughter, Rachel, was a 23-year-old American peace activist killed under under a CAT bulldozer when she tried to protect the home of the Nasrallah family in Gaza from an Israeli army demolition.

According to news reports, the deliveries of Caterpillar bulldozers to Israel have been suspended during the length of the trial. We take this as an indirect admission by the company that these bulldozers are being used to violate human rights and to violate the law. Caterpillar, however, denies any shift in policy.

What does Caterpillar do?

Caterpillar bulldozers are fully connected to the uprooting of olive trees and the demolishing of Palestinians homes, the construction of Jewish-only settlements and the Apartheid Wall, and the killing and maiming of activists that stand nonviolently in the path of the destruction.

The use of Caterpillar equipment to violate Palestinian human rights has been extensively documented in a good number of human rights reports. It is striking how Caterpillar chooses not to listen.

Back in 2004, Amnesty International asked Caterpillar to take measures to guarantee that its bulldozers are not used by Israel to commit human rights violations.  That same year, Human Rights Watch recommended that Caterpillar suspend the sales of D9 bulldozers, parts, or maintenance services to the Israeli army. A year later, War on Want recommended a boycott of Caterpillar products, including construction equipment, footwear, clothing, as well as other merchandise such as miniature Caterpillar vehicles, watches, mugs, bags and stationery. Caterpillar has been the target of shareholder resolutions and protests every year since 2004.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights sent a letter to Caterpillar warning the company that the sale of its bulldozers to Israel “might involve complicity or acceptance on the part of your company to actual and potential violations of human rights, including the right to food.”

Caterpillar has been the target of a lawsuit on behalf of the family of activist Rachel Corrie — who was killed by a D9 bulldozer — and four Palestinian families whose homes were demolished.

Back in 2008, both Methodists and Presbyterians in the U.S. considered divesting from Caterpillar.

In 2010 the Presbyterian Church USA chose not to divest from
Caterpillar at that time, but rather it issued a statement of condemnation against the corporation. The students at Evergreen College voted overwhelmingly to make their campus CAT-free, and other campuses are likely to follow suit.

And yet Caterpillar does not get the message.

Caterpillar itself has acknowledged that it sells bulldozers under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales Program–in other words, it sells these bulldozers as weapons. Caterpillar claims that it does not manufacture or sell weapons. This is not true. After all, the company acknowledges that it sells “a limited quantity of commercial equipment, as well as commercial equipment that has been modified for military purposes (Modified Equipment), to foreign governments predominantly under federally sponsored programs — most notably the Foreign Military Sales Program (Program)” in its Notice of Annual Meeting to Stockholders.

Caterpillar’s sale of bulldozers to Israel have negligible economic value to the company. This makes its refusal to heed the call of human rights activists and people of conscience throughout the world all the more unnerving.

Caterpillar’s outgoing CEO went as far as to recommend divesting to those shareholders not satisfied with the company’s policies. The time has come to take him at his word.

Where is Caterpillar?

• The company is headquartered in 100 NE Adams Street
  Peoria, Illinois 61629

• Caterpillar has dealerships all across the United States. You can find a list here.
• Caterpillar has offices and facilities in 23 countries around the world.
• Shareholder meetings are held annually in early June in Chicago.