SPECIAL EVENT: Day of action on Caterpillar and human rights

Friends of Palestine,
The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice,
and the Corrie Family

Call for Courtroom Support and a Vigil Presence
For Oral Arguments in the Case Corrie, et al., v. Caterpillar

Come for the whole morning or any amount of time

• 9:30 – 10:30 am: Silent Vigil and Informational Flyering
• 10:30 am: The approximate time that the oral arguments will be heard by the Court of Appeals. People are needed in the courtroom to show that the outcome of this case has broad importance to people’s lives, and the struggle to limit corporate abuse of power around the globe.
• 12 pm: A press conference outside the Courthouse will follow the hearing, coordinated by the Center for Constitutional Rights (representing the Corrie family and four Palestinian families)

Information about the lawsuit, from the Center for Constitutional Rights:
Caterpillar has supplied bulldozers used for house demolitions to the IDF since 1967. Caterpillar has sold D9 bulldozers to the IDF knowing they would be used to unlawfully demolish homes and endanger civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Caterpillar continued to sell D9s directly to the IDF even though it knew that the bulldozers were being used to commit war crimes and other serious violations of law. The Caterpillar D9 bulldozer is over 13 feet tall and 26 feet wide, weighs more than 60 tons with its armored plating, and can raze houses within minutes.

Plaintiffs allege that Caterpillar has had constructive notice of the human rights violations committed with its bulldozers since at least 1989, when human rights groups began to publicly condemn the violations. Since 2001, human rights groups have sent over 50,000 letters to Caterpillar, Inc. executives and CEO Jim Owens, decrying the use of Caterpillar bulldozers to carry out human rights abuses.

For further information about the lawsuit, click here.

A message from Cindy Corrie:

“This is a rare opportunity to demonstrate with our presence our opposition to corporations benefiting from people’s homes being demolished on top of them, which is what happened to some of the Palestinians whose families have joined the case. I think it provides a rare opportunity to send the message that we oppose U.S. corporations knowingly engaging in human rights violations. We need to get the message out that what happens in a case like this one can have enormous impact on how all U.S. corporations behave in the world. This lawsuit is a call for corporate accountability for past actions, and a call for responsible corporate behavior in the future.”

For information or updates:
Contact the Seattle Palestine Solidarity Committee
at [email protected] or (206) 633-1086.

Getting there:
If you’re interested in carpool options from Olympia,
contact Alice Zillah at (360) 357-7705.