Camden Council: Funding Genocide?
'Of its £2bn in holdings, Camden Council currently invests £83m in allegedly complicit companies, including weapons manufacturers Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and Elbit Systems'
by Sarah Cotte, Creative Director, BSc PPE 03/02/2025
On Monday 19th of January over 200 people gathered outside Camden Town Hall - a mere 15-minute walk from SOAS, and in the heart of Kier Starmer’s constituency - to call on Camden Council to divest from weapons manufacturers and other companies complicit in Israeli apartheid and the genocide of the Palestinian people.
After months petitioning for divestment, Camden Friends of Palestine (CFOP) reached the four-thousand signatures required to have the petition debated by the full council. Councillors reacted to the petition with skepticism about the feasibility of pulling out of investments in Camden Council’s pension fund or concerns about being perceived as being ‘one-sided’.
Councillor Anna Burrage’s made a statement that put forward the need to follow the government’s ‘balanced approach’, stating that the demands of the petition 'inadvertently undermine Labour’s broader commitment to dialogue and peace’, and that Chancellor Reeves’ had put economic growth as a priority, thus it was not the time for councils to jeopardize that with ‘blanket divestment’. A member of the audience yelled ‘blood on your hands’ in response.
Of its £2bn in holdings, Camden Council currently invests £83m in allegedly complicit companies, including weapons manufacturers Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and Elbit Systems, and 18 Israeli companies involved in the development, funding and running of illegal settlements, arms production and surveillance.
Amidst heavy policing and opposition from Zionist counter protesters, the demonstration carried on without significant disruption, with members of different organisations, including the SOAS Palestine Society, taking turns to speak on the main soundsystem after the livestream of the council meeting ended. The petition shall now be sent to the council’s pensions committee, who shall vote on it.
Since the outbreak of renewed conflict in Palestine in October 2023, Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and CFOP have led a campaign against Camden Council’s investments in over 70 companies they deem to be complicit. Multiple protests have been staged outside of Camden Townhall, without any success, and often attracting the ire of councillors - such as when the use of the term of ‘genocide’ was objected to. The petition which was put forward to the council has been the biggest step in forcing the Labour led council to end its funding of Israeli genocide.
