Fidelity manages my 401k plan, and up until a few weeks ago I never thought much about it. Then I went to a save Darfur rally and candlelight vigil in Federal Plaza. There were many speakers, and one of the main topics was divestment from Sudan. One speech in particular caught my attention because they mentioned Fidelity as a major investor in foreign oil companies in Sudan. The revenue the Sudanese government is receiving from these companies has directly funded the genocide and continuing civil war there.
That got me thinking and I went to work to stir some of my co-workers up about how bad Fidelity was. Today we had a meeting with our plan representatives from Fidelity and expressed our disapproval. It was pretty satisfying even though it raised some questions about what we could really do about it. Would our entire company pull out of our relationship with Fidelity? Not likely, after all are there any of these big financial companies who are squeaky clean? Do we try and get more socially responsible funds in our plan? We also found out that Fidelity had recently sold 90% of their holdings. That took some of the wind from our sails, but we still spoke our minds, and I like to think that while we might not have directly drove a stake in the heart of this, we at least had something to do with helping divest billions of dollars from companies like PetroChina.
I'm still going to write a follow up letter to Fidelity, who claims that the sale of these stocks was just coincidental. Berkshire, you are next. Now if only I could afford even one share.
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