Holy Land Principles Inc. Makes Final Appeal on Cisco
Last call to action before Shareholders' Annual Meeting
WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An urgent call to action — and to conscience — is being made to Cisco investors in the remaining days before Cisco's Shareholders' Annual Meeting in San Jose, CA. on November 19, 2015.
The huge high tech company has key financial interests and a large workforce in Israel-Palestine. Cisco's shareholders are being urged to vote for a Resolution calling on Cisco to sign and implement the Holy Land Principles — an 8-point corporate code of conduct for American companies doing business in Palestine-Israel.
The Holy Land Principles are modeled on the Mac Bride Principles, which have proved so effective in promoting fair employment by American companies doing business in Northern Ireland. To date, 116 American companies have signed the Mac Bride Principles.
Historic Opportunity
Fr. Sean Mc Manus is the man who launched both sets of Principles: the Mac Bride Principles in 1984 and the Holy Land Principles on International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2012. The Irish-born priest is the president of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus and Holy Land Principles, Inc.
Fr. Mc Manus said: "This is a historic opportunity for Cisco's investors to vote for the Holy Land Principles. It is the first time a Holy Land Principles resolution has been presented to Cisco and its shareholders. They now have the chance to send out a magnificent signal that they will be silent no longer about Cisco's fair employment in the Holy Land. Before we launched the Holy Land Principles, the issue had never been raised before in the boardrooms of American companies doing business in Israel-Palestine — it was the elephant in the (board) room that nobody wanted to recognize. Since the issue had never been introduced before, then perhaps people had some sort of an excuse for ignoring it. But the Holy Land Principles now make it impossible to ignore. The admonishment of Blessed Martin Luther King, Jr. forces us to confront this existential moment: 'It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, 'wait on time.'"
Fr. Mc Manus explained: "Just as was done with the Mac Bride Principles, people from the Right, Left and Center can be produced to give specious arguments against the Holy Land Principles. But we will not be dissuaded by those dreary old ploys, which companies have been attempting from time immemorial. The Holy Land Principles are here for the long haul: they will not disappear, they will not give up and they will not deflected."
Kairos Moment: Moment of Truth
Fr. Mc Manus concluded: "However, to emphasize the positive: The Holy Land Principles are not only a call to action but also a call to conscience — to the better angels of our nature. People of faith will recognize this as a Kairos moment: when God tugs at our hearts, calling on us to do the right thing — providing us with the precious opportunity to take prophetic action on behalf of social justice. And there is nothing more central to social justice than fair employment. Other investors will recognize our Resolution as the moment of truth, an ethical moment, to put their principles where their dollars are: the moment to support the Holy Land Principles, which are pro-Jewish, pro-Palestinian and pro-company."
Barbara Flaherty, Executive Vice President of Holy Land Principles, added: "One hundred and sixteen American companies have signed the Mac Bride Principles. Cisco and all the 545 companies doing business in Israel-Palestine should sign the Holy Land Principles. There should be no double-standard on fair employment by American companies overseas."
[See text of Resolution (if necessary, copy and paste link into your browser): http://www.holylandprinciples.org/holy-land-principles-cisco-systems-inc-resolution]
Fr. Sean Mc Manus
President
Holy Land Principles, Inc.
P.O. BOX 15128
Capitol Hill
Washington, DC 20003-0849
Tel. 202-488-0107
Fax. 202-488-7537
[email protected]
SOURCE Holy Land Principles, Inc.
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