Croydon Demands Council Divest From Genocide

On 16 July the Croydon Divest Coalition, which includes the Resistance Kitchen, protested outside the town hall, where a full meeting of Croydon Council was taking place.

The coalition is calling on Croydon council to divest from genocide.

Complicit In Genocide

Croydon council has invested over £120 million, through its Local Government Pension Scheme fund, in arms companies and those complicity in genocide and occupation of Palestine. It has investments in 27 arms companies including Israel’s largest arms manufacturer Elbit Systems which describes itself as the backbone of the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza. Elbit produces 85% of Israel’s killer drone fleet responsible for the targeted slaughter of children in Gaza.

Wide Support For Divestment

Apart from the Resistance Kitchen, the Croydon Divest coalition includes Crystal Palace Friends Of Palestine, Croydon PSC, Croydon Trade Union Council, Croydon Green Party and Croydon4Palestine.

Retired council workers from the Unite union and other unions, appalled that their pension contributions are invested in genocide without their consent, joined the protest.

Green councillor Ria Patel, amongst other representatives of the coalition addressed the crowd. It was a great turnout for a weekday.

Cheerleading Genocide

One Tory councillor, Mark Johnson of Shirley North, provocatively tried to disrupt the protest by zigzagging his way through the crowd, whilst verbally abusing people with screams of “long live Israel” with his fist in the air, brazenly brushing past placards showing a Palestinian mother hugging the white burial shroud of her child, killed by Israel. When he reached the top of the town hall steps, he tried to provoke us again by turning and again shouting “long live Israel”. When people did not take the bait, he looked foolish.

His aggressive manner frightened one of the young children, making her cry. Residents will not forget his antics, and it will cost him dearly at the next elections in May.

Chasing The Pension Committee

For 3 months we have been chasing a meeting with the pension committee to discuss divestment.

The meeting was promised in front of the full council back in April by the head of the pension committee Councillor Callton Young.

Despite chasing him countless times to fix a date for the meeting – emails, telephone calls, contacting his party whip, visiting his surgery – all came to nothing. He just ignored us.

Letter Campaign

Finally we started a letter writing campaign. Croydon residents wrote over 1200 letters to their councillors in every ward in the borough, and specifically to the pension committee. These were also largely unanswered, ignored.

This lack of democratic accountability in Croydon council has been frustrating.

Full Council Meetings

It seems the only time we can secure a response from the pension committee is by asking a question in front of a full council meeting where they are obliged to answer, and even then there is no guarantee they will keep their word.

With only 4 full council meetings a year, this becomes a disheartening exercise, which is the point – to discourage local democracy.

So once again we asked the head of the pension committee in front of the full council to live up to his promise and finally set a date for the meeting.

This he did, but with a prerequisite that his officers provide him with some unspecified background advice which he had apparently asked for 3 months ago!

Council 16 July 2025 – Public Question Responses

Question 8.

At the Council Meeting on 16 April, the Chair of the Pensions Committee agreed to meet with members of Croydon Divest to discuss the council’s pension funds which are invested in companies complicit in war crimes and apartheid. Since then, the Chair has failed to respond to a number of requests to set a date for that meeting. We ask him to honour his commitment and provide Croydon Divest with a date for the meeting and for that meeting to take place before 30 July 2025.

Response
Thank you for your question. As you will know from answers to previous public questions on divestment, the Council is the administering authority of the London Borough of Croydon Local Government Pension Scheme. And the cross-party Pension Committee exercises that function under the Council’s Constitution and in accordance with legal responsibilities.

The Pension Committee last met on 10 June 2025 and discussed its responsibilities, supported by legal advice. Exclusionary policies for individual companies or sectors are not feasible without incurring significant costs and risking breach of our fiduciary duty.

My offer to you, Ita, was to meet so that I could hear first-hand some wider points you were making from the public gallery on 16 April. I am still very much interested and that offer remains. But it must await the background advice I subsequently asked for, from officers, which I am told is in hand.

May I propose, therefore, that we meet on the afternoon of the 24th of July? Officers will be in touch to make the arrangements.
Thank you.

Supplementary Question/Comment

I’d just like to say, it’s disappointing we had to chase you for so long to honor your commitment to meet with us.

But what’s even more disappointing is that only a handful of responses have been received from the councillors sitting here tonight to more than a thousand emails from constituents asking you for your views on divestment.

Why the silence?

While you have delayed responding, according to the United Nations, an average of 100 Palestinian children a day have been killed or injured by weapons made by companies Croydon invests in.

Shame on you! Have the courtesy to respond to the people who voted for you so we can decide whether you are worthy of our votes next year.

Delaying The Inevitable

It seems all this obfuscation is purposefully designed to delay the inevitable. There can be no justification for complicity in genocide. The people of Croydon are demanding divestment from genocide, the council must listen.

Complicity In Crimes Against Humanity

If the council thinks they can continue ignoring its residents wishes, they might want to consider the wider implications of their complicity in genocide.

In June 2024, the United Nations Human Rights Council’s warned financial institutions, including pension funds, that investment in companies providing Israel with weapons or military technology could lead to “repercussions for complicity in potential atrocity crimes”.

‘Atrocity crimes’ refer to the three legally defined international crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

This month a report published by the United Nations Human Rights Council specifically accuse’s pension fund managers as “enablers” of the genocide in Gaza.

Croydon council needs to understand this isn’t something they can sweep under the carpet hoping it will go away.

Croydon residents demand divestment from genocide now!

Media Coverage

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/campaigners-demand-croydon-council-divest-companies-complicit-gaza-genocide

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