Policy Matters' comment on calls for divestment
Posted on 05/01/24 by Hannah Halbert (she/her) in Revenue & Budget
Policy Matters Ohio stands with peaceful demonstrators occupying campuses around the state. Students are coming together to form the kind of movement Ohio needs: one that includes members of all faiths, races, classes, and genders, standing in solidarity to demand better from our leaders.
As a fiscal policy think tank, we encourage people to engage with their governments and institutions, especially when it comes to how they spend our shared resources. Doing so helps ensure public dollars are directed where they are most needed — and it is critical to our democracy.
Students calling for divestment are engaging in vital grassroots advocacy, starting a public conversation about state, local, and institutional investments in Israel Bonds, which have increased in recent months. The state of Ohio holds at least $262.5 million in Israel Bonds, among the largest investments by any state in the nation. Cities, counties, and institutions around the state also pour public money into these bonds, often while at the same time cutting funds for crucial public services here at home. The fact that some of these resources may have been used to punish or disrupt the activities of a terrorist group cannot justify the civilian toll and spreading famine.
Ohio’s Revised Code includes language that has been interpreted as preventing divestment from these bonds. The state should reject this reading of the law, not use it to stifle debate about how it invests public resources.
At Policy Matters we are working toward an Ohio that works for everyone, where the government serves the people. Restrictions on speech and the ready use of police violence against peaceful multi-faith demonstrators on Ohio campuses make it clear we have a long way to go.
As a research institute, we focus on things we know, especially how people can use government as a tool to make everyone’s lives better. What we don’t know is how to live in a world in which everyday people of all races and faiths are forced to live with violence — from governments, police, from the military, and from terrorists. We don’t know how to fix the unfathomable harm done by people in power to people just trying to live their lives. We don’t know how to do any of that, but we know we have to do it together.