After months of advocacy by pro-Palestinian protestors, the Arcata City Council voted last night to publish a letter urging CalPERS to withdraw its investments from companies profiting from “weapons manufacturing, human rights violations, for-profit prisons, and immigration detention centers,” and to use that money in more “ethical and socially responsible” ways. 

They also adopted a resolution asking for “Immediate, safe, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid” into Gaza.

“CalPERS has the opportunity to lead by example and align its investments with values of justice, equity, and responsibility,” the letter reads. “We urge you to act promptly and responsibly.”

About 25 people showed up to the special meeting of the city council, with another 20 or so on Zoom. Demonstrators have been calling on Arcata’s City Council to divest from CalPERS for almost two years, and last month were part of a group that shut down several city council meetings. The city council did adopt a resolution calling for a general end to war in the Middle East in March of 2024.

City councilmember Stacy Atkins-Salazar said at a city council meeting last month that she’d written a resolution advocating for the free and unhindered flow of aid into Gaza, and that it’d be on an upcoming city council agenda. Councilmember Meredith Matthews said at that meeting that she did not support a proposal to withdraw Arcata’s pension funds from CalPERS because of the fiscal harm it might cause the city and the employees whose retirement packages are bound to it, but this letter instead simply puts the onus on CalPERS.

Eureka’s city council approved a similar letter last month, although they were more explicit about the relation to the “genocide of the Palestinian people.”

In a phone call today with the Outpost, Arcata Mayor Alex Stillman said she didn’t know if adopting the resolution and sending the letter would satisfy people, but hoped it’d do something to bring Arcata together. 

“I hope it makes a difference for people in Arcata,” Stillman said. “…We took action. Some people will be happy; some people won’t.”

Many are not. DivestHumboldt said the city council “needed to change” and they would keep pushing for a more targeted approach. The council received many emails telling them they were going too far, and many emails from residents who said the letters and the resolution didn’t go far enough.

“I support Arcata sending this letter with one important change requested: please be explicit in stating that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians (as agreed upon by all major human rights orgs scholars, and international courts),” reads one. “Using only language of “humanitarian disaster”, human rights violations”, and ‘famine’ obscures the underlying issue: Israel’s intentional and ongoing genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced starvation of Palestinians and illegal occupation of Palestine.”