Apartheid-Free Community: Thetford Selectboard mulls purchasing policy and human rights

The above poster celebrates the Thetford Town meeting of March 1, 2025, when the voters in attendance approved the following pledge:

"WE AFFIRM our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all people;

WE OPPOSE all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression; and WE DECLARE ourselves an Apartheid-free community and to that end,

WE PLEDGE to join others in working to end support to Israel’s Apartheid system, settler colonialism, and military occupation, and

WE RECOMMEND that the selectboard send this message to the Vermont Legislature and the Governor."

Thus Thetford became the first town in Vermont to adopt the Apartheid-free Community Pledge. Other towns also adopted it at their town meetings — Brattleboro, Newfane, Plainfield and Winooski — all affirming opposition to the apartheid, settlement colonization, and occupation inflicted on Palestinians by Israel. Indeed, many, if not most, people in the US would like to see a credible cease-fire and a stop to the US weapons sales to Israel.

However, after Thetford's vote comes the real work, fulfilling the Pledge "to end support for Israel's Apartheid system."  What in reality can a small Vermont municipality accomplish?

We can draw from the lesson of history, when South Africa's oppressive system of apartheid and discrimination against their non-white population became the target of economic boycott. It began in Britain, which was South Africa's largest foreign investor and the biggest importer of that country’s products. A meeting of South African exiles and their supporters made this simple request to the British people: "We are just asking you to withdraw your support from apartheid by not buying South African goods."

Thetford can do the same by boycotting Israeli goods and, in a parallel tactic, by boycotting corporations that support what Israel is doing in Gaza in providing weapons and other war-related services to the Israeli government. It may seem like a David vs Goliath kind of match. Not all consumers are going to engage in sustained boycotts, so how would a small drop in revenue affect anything at all? 

In fact, boycotts can succeed because they damage corporate reputations and threaten the standing of the corporate brand by drawing publicity to bad practices. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research found that boycotts have little impact on actual sales revenue. What they do is generate negative media coverage, which is the #1 predictor of whether a boycott will be effective.

Thus a request was made to the Thetford Selectboard and Town Manager by a group of residents to desist from purchasing goods from companies that provide Israel with weapons, surveillance means, or other support for the apartheid against Palestinians. This will require changes to the Town's purchasing policy. The American Friends Service Committee, (AFSC) an organization founded by the Quakers who work for peace and social justice in the US and worldwide, has compiled a list of corporations that provide weaponry and other support to the Israeli war effort.

The list is long, but some names are worth mentioning since we encounter them in other contexts. They include Amazon, Boeing, Caterpillar, Colt, Ford, General Electric, General Motors, Google, Honeywell, Hyundai, Lockheed Martin, Mercedes Benz, Microsoft, Palantir, and Toyota. A full description of all 50 companies and what they provide may be found here.

Henry Nichols, one of the champions of the Pledge, was particularly focused on Caterpillar. He informed the Selectboard and Town Manager that in the months following the approval of the Pledge, life for the Palestinians has become intolerable. About 90% of the homes in Gaza have been demolished, and much of this was accomplished using D9 armored bulldozers manufactured by Caterpillar. He would like the Town to boycott Caterpillar by adding the following language to the Town Purchasing Policy:

"As a first step in fulfilling the Apartheid Free Communities pledge voted for at the Town Meeting of 2025, the Town of Thetford will take two measures.

1. The Town of Thetford will add as a factor in its bid process: ‘Does the company provide goods or services to the military of any country that is currently convicted of the crime of Apartheid by the International Court of Justice?’

2. The Town of Thetford will not purchase any equipment from Caterpillar unless Caterpillar stops providing D-9 bulldozers to the Israeli military to demolish Palestinian homes, stops operating in Israeli settlements in the West Bank that violate international law, and ends all contracts with the Israeli military. The other condition that would lift this ban is if the Israeli government ends its illegal military occupation of Palestinian territory, the International Court of Justice determines that Israel is no longer practicing Apartheid against the Palestinian people, and the illegal Israeli settlements on internationally recognized Palestinian territory end."

Town Manager Brian Story responded that his experience satisfying another purchasing policy based on community values — the Green Procurement Policy — has proved somewhat restrictive. He was not averse to an Apartheid-free addendum, but he would like to do it differently. Certainly the list from the AFSC could be used to set a standard for review.

He would like to set a threshold for a purchase amount at which the Pledge would come into effect and suggested $100,000. He also wondered to whom this would be reported and whether this could become a drag on the workflow at Town Hall. In the case of the Green Procurement Policy, a dedicated individual on the Energy Committee is in charge of the data on what constitutes a Green Purchase. 

 The question was raised by selectboard member Steve Tofel as to whether it made sense to boycott a company that the Town does not purchase from.

Resident Jean Gerber commented that boycotts do work, and that other towns around the US, like Iowa City and Somerville, MA, are boycotting companies that do business with Israel. Also St. Louis has banned investment in companies or countries involved in human rights abuses. Resident  Missy Krzal voiced her concern for potential loss of American jobs.

Resident Dakota Hanchett raised the complicating issue that many heavy equipment manufacturers, like John Deere, Doosan, Western Star, and International, buy parts from Caterpillar. The Town does purchase equipment from those companies. Would that constitute "doing business" with Caterpillar? Selectboard member David Goodrich also pointed out that Caterpillar has 13 subsidiaries and over 400 different product lines. It could be difficult to trace a product back to the parent company. He also noted that, in fact, it was the operator of the D9 bulldozer who was violating human rights, not the D9 itself.

Selectboard member Li Shen suggested that the Town could approach this on a broad scale rather than agonizing over whether the hydraulic lines in a John Deere are made by Caterpillar, since it is the act of boycott that counts. Chair Sharon Harkay approved of Brain Story's approach and suggested adding a human rights impact to the Purchasing Policy addendum and a spending threshold of $100,000-$200,000, which likely would include only large equipment like graders. Brian Story will look at past receipts for equipment before setting a threshold dollar amount. He will also have a better idea by the next meeting about how much work it will take to draft a suitable addendum to the Purchasing Policy. And while he’s at it he plans to revisit Green Procurement.