From Common Dreams:
Twice in the last five days, President Barack Obama referred to divestment -- the controversial strategy to bring about social change by pressuring corporations to behave more responsibly.
On Tuesday, Obama mentioned divestment during a major speech at Georgetown University outlining his plan to address climate change. And on Thursday, at a press conference in Senegal, Obama recalled his involvement during college in the anti-apartheid movement, which relied heavily on divestment to push companies to boycott South Africa until it dismantled its racist system.
...
"I'm here to enlist your generation's help in keeping the United States of America a global leader in the fight against climate change," Obama told the Georgetown students, announcing his proposal to cut pollution from power plants, expand renewable energy development on public lands, and support climate-resilient investments. Noting that big corporations will resist calls to reduce their unhealthy practices, Obama urged the students to "Convince those in power to reduce our carbon pollution. Push your own communities to adopt smarter practices. Invest. Divest. Remind folks there's no contradiction between a sound environment and strong economic growth."
http://www.commondreams.org/...
The article describes how President Obama's first foray into political activism was when he was a 19-year old student at Occidental College, and got involved in the anti-apartheid movement. This was the early '80's. You may remember back then, the movement was pressuring universities and other large organizations to divest from South African investments as a way to end apartheid.
Today, the President is recommending divestment as a way to wean the world off of its addiction to fossil fuels. I think it just might work. I also give high praise and thanks to Obama for supporting this tactic.
Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org (and a fellow Kosack), also dug it. Right after POTUS' Georgetown speech, he tweeted:
Um, haven't seen the transcript but Obama sure seemed to give a shout out to divestment. Yikes.
