Demonstrators target Fidelity over Sudan

Thousands of protesters – some bearing signs asking “Is your Fidelity 401(k) funding genocide?” — gathered in Boston’s Government Center Sunday to protest Fidelity’s investment ties to Sudan.
Fidelity has “massive holdings” in oil producer PetroChina Co. Ltd. of Beijing, and could use that to “publicly engage PetroChina to effect a change in the government [policies] of Khartoum,” Eric Cohen, co-chair of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur and chair of the Fidelity Out of Sudan! campaign, said.

Fidelity’s holdings in PetroChina are worth about $1.3 billion based on PetroChina’s Feb.14 share price, Fidelity Out of Sudan’s website said.

“Fidelity has chosen to neither engage nor to divest,” Mr. Cohen of Lexington, Mass., told the crowd at Government Center, which he estimated at 2,000 to 3000 people.
“So join me in telling Fidelity that Americans don’t want their savings used to fund genocide.”

In a statement issued today, Fidelity spokesman Vin Loporchio said it’s important to note that Fidelity is managing not its own money, but the money of many investors.
Investors who choose Fidelity funds rightly expect that they will be run in a way that seeks to achieve each fund’s investment objectives and complies with all governing laws, he said in the statement.
Fidelity strives to comply fully with all applicable laws when its buys or sells securities on its funds’ behalf, including laws the U.S. government has put in place that effectively prohibit U.S. investors from investing in companies that are owned or controlled by the Sudanese government or any of its instrumentalities, the statement said.
“Were our government to decide to enact new laws or regulations to broaden restrictions on investments, the Fidelity funds, of course, would comply with those laws as well,” Mr. Loporchio said.
In the crowd was William Rosenfeld of Lexington, a former Fidelity investor who is now field operations director for Fidelity Out of Sudan!.
“I’ve been working very hard to get Fidelity to change its mind about funding the genocide in Darfur,” said Mr. Rosenfeld, who had been a Fidelity customer for 30 years and moved his money elsewhere earlier this year.
“They are the largest holder of PetroChina, which is one of the worst companies doing business in Sudan.”
A Boston Police Department spokesman said there were no arrests during the demonstration.