{"id":124699,"date":"2025-08-06T22:16:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T22:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/124699\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T22:16:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T22:16:15","slug":"medford-becomes-first-in-mass-to-divest-from-fossil-fuels-human-rights-violators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/124699\/","title":{"rendered":"Medford becomes first in Mass. to divest from fossil fuels, human rights violators"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLocal News\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“If we have these public funds, we are not going to invest them in this global effort that disregards and dehumanizes people in so many different ways,” Medford City Council President Isaac Bears said.<\/p>\n

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\n\tMedford City Hall. (Jonathan Wiggs\/Globe Staff)\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Annie Jonas<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAugust 6, 2025 | 4:28 PM\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

2 minutes to read<\/p>\n

In a three hour-long meeting<\/a> Tuesday evening, Medford City Council members voted to pass a first-in-the-state ordinance<\/a> that would divest city funds from companies that supply weapons, derive revenue from prisons or fossil fuels, or companies that \u201cdirectly, knowingly and over time\u201d contribute to human rights violations, including genocide.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have these public funds, we are not going to invest them in this global effort that disregards and dehumanizes people in so many different ways, whether that\u2019s for political gain or for private profit \u2013 or in many cases both \u2013 in a never- ending cycle of destruction and violence,\u201d Medford City Council President Isaac Bears said at the Tuesday meeting. Bears sponsored the ordinance.<\/p>\n

The \u201cValues-Aligned Local Investments Ordinance<\/a>\u201d was passed by the councilors with five in favor, one opposed, and one councilor absent. <\/p>\n

As a result, Medford became the third municipality in the country \u2013 after Dearborn<\/a>, Michigan and Portland<\/a>, Maine \u2013\u00a0and the first in Massachusetts to bar investing public funds in companies that contribute to or are complicit in \u201csevere violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur community requested this and it is really bold. It would be the first time that a city in Massachusetts did it,\u201d City Councilor Emily Lazzaro said at the meeting. \u201cIn this case, to ignore the requests of our community and our own morality, to me, it\u2019s not an acceptable path. I think this is a perfect moment for us to be bold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medford resident Claire Sheridan who attended Tuesday\u2019s meeting said she supports the ordinance and urged the council to \u201cstand up for humanity here and abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 83 years of age, I am sick and tired of my tax money going to these immoral companies and manufacturers who aid and abet not only the killing of innocent citizens in faraway lands, but who compromise the lives of the Medford citizens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Stein, another Medford resident in attendance, echoed Sheridan\u2019s sentiment, urging the city to invest its tax dollars sustainably.<\/p>\n