Minnesotans go to the SBI’s doorstep to demand divestment from Palantir and Israel
St. Paul, MN – On Tuesday, February 24, 15 activists led by the MN Anti-War Committee (AWC) confronted the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) to demand that the Board divest Minnesota public pension funds from Palantir, a Peter Thiel-founded tech company that works directly with ICE and the IDF.
The action was organized as part of an ongoing campaign to pressure the SBI to divest Minnesota state pension funds not just from Palantir, but from all companies complicit in the apartheid state of Israel.
It was a cold and slippery morning, but energy was high as the dedicated crowd shouted slogans like “No more money for Israel's slaughter!” and “All they sell is death and fear: divest from Palantir!” 148 paper poppies covered the snow in front of the office, each representing 1000 of the roughly 76,000 people held in ICE detention in the U.S. and the minimum estimate of 72,000 Palestinians murdered by the Israeli regime during its ongoing genocide.
A major theme of this action was “hypocrisy.” In the wake of the notorious ICE murder of Renee Good, Tim Walz initially had some harsh words for the agency. But, according to AWC member Yossi Aharoni, this raises questions: “if Walz really believes the things he said on his national press tour, then why is he investing 55 million taxpayer dollars in Palantir, the company that designed ICE's surveillance infrastructure?”
Aharoni continued, “Israel's attacks across the Middle East, and ICE's occupation of the Twin Cities, would be unthinkable and impossible in their scale and horrific efficiency without Palantir.”
Walz has not addressed the board's investments in Palantir. In fact, the SBI has been stifling public comment, or avoiding it entirely, for over a year now. At this time, the board has not even announced if or when it will hold its next mandated quarterly meeting.
AWC organizer Andrew Josefchak stated, “How many people, and which people, are the board members willing to sponsor the execution, illegal detainment, and surveillance of?”
Josefchak continued, “Minnesota is just getting the barest taste of what it's like in Palestine – the barest taste of what Palestinians have been dealing with for decades – and we're discovering how absolutely fucking wretched it is. People are standing up in droves saying 'This must end. This is completely unacceptable!'”
It is in this spirit that, despite any obstacle, the fight to divest Minnesota from apartheid Israel will continue.