Since November 2024, City Council has received over 1,700 emails demanding divestment from Israel and the expansion of our city’s investment policy to not include companies that facilitate human rights and state repression. Despite emails, phone calls, and meetings with council members, none of our representatives are willing to come forward as sponsors of this legislation.

While witnessing City Council’s stalling, we’ve seen the genocide in Palestine reach new levels of horror, with Israel extending its violence to Syria, Lebanon, and now Iran. While our East Bay neighbors in Richmond, Albany, Hayward & Dublin, responded to these atrocities by divesting city assets from the Zionist project, Oakland’s City Council has instead vacillated and dodged all opportunities to take a material stand.

We’ve heard a series of bad faith arguments and excuses, but none as frustrating as “the people of Oakland are not interested in global issues.” In response, we’ve drafted legislation and plan to introduce it ourselves to show them we DO care about human life and ending systems of oppression! We, the people of conscience in Oakland, are moving forward with a people’s introduction of our ethical investment policy.

To prepare for the people’s introduction, we want to remind City Council of widespread support across Oakland for ethical investment. Please join us in demanding our city representatives divestment from companies that enable genocide and human rights violations. Send our email to show your support for this resolution and demand your CM vote YES to pass this resolution throughout every step of this process.

***This is a new email campaign as of September 1st, 2026. Even if you’ve previously sent an email in support, we ask that you send this latest version! It has significant, updated information. For other up-to-date information and more context on the Oakland Divest campaign, visit tinyurl.com/oaklanddivest***