Schwarzenegger Divests From Sudan
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BURBANK, Calif. — Governor Schwarzenegger, accompanied by activist actors George Clooney and Don Cheadle, yesterday signed legislation to end investment in Sudan by California public-employee pension funds and a university system.
Speakers at the Burbank signing ceremony recalled the Holocaust and the vows of “never again.”
The legislation prohibits the California Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System from investing in companies with active business in Sudan and indemnifies the University of California system from liability that might result from divestment from Sudan.
Schwarzenegger recalled his youth in Europe after World War II and said he remembers what he called “the dark and heavy shadow cast by the Holocaust.”
The governor said, “We cannot turn a blind eye to any genocide.”
Messrs. Clooney and Cheadle, nominated for a best-actor Oscar for his role in the genocide story “Hotel Rwanda,” have been outspoken on Darfur.
Mr. Clooney said, “There are no Democrat or Republican sides to this. There is only right and wrong.”