Editorial

For many who are involved in campaigning against war profiteers, spring in the northern hemisphere means it's time for shareholders actions! This is when most major companies hold their Annual Shareholders Meeting. Companies are obliged to announce the date of their shareholders' meetings and you can usually find this on their website. Annual General Meetings (AGMs) are good opportunities to bring up campaign issues to the owners and smaller shareholders of the company. There are different approaches for these actions, for me the best is to have a combined effort of a presence in and outside the meeting.

One share is normally enough to get inside a meeting, but these meetings function differently in different countries. Often the most practical procedure is for a group to buy a bunch of shares and break this down into individual shares. Usually the main business of the meeting is the report presented by the board of the company - it varies quite a lot how many questions can be asked after that. In cases like at the AGM of BBVA in Bilbao, you have the right to give a short presentation, which the group Centre Delas from Barcelona has used for several years to denounce the involvement of this bank in the arms industry. The question time can be an opportunity to confront directly the wrong doings of the company and demand a response from the Board. Sometimes smaller shareholders are surprised to learn about the company's involvement in war. Sometimes shareholders might include corporate bodies, such as churches or trade union pension funds, who might become allies in expressing ethical concerns. Often the company set a strict limit on how much time is available for questions, which means that you can make more impact by combining any questions with a small demonstration inside the AGM - and getting kicked out for your pains. In discussing these issues with shareholders, it is vital to have researched the issue so that your information is accurate and up-to-date.

Actions outside AGMs can happen whether or not some of your group plan to enter the meeting - just take care that if some of you are going in, the action doesn't jeopardise their entry. Outside you can be as creative as possible to try to get the attention of the media, passers-by and, of course, shareholders themselves. The red paint representing the bloody business of BBVA has become a common feature at their AGM - as we report in this newsletter. The action outside should also be an opportunity to get as many people involved as possible.

Actions at AGM have a lot of potential - but only if they are part of a longer term campaign to pressure the company. In 2006 a group in Montreal called Alcan't (founded in 2003 and backed by research from the Polaris Institute) convinced more than a third of those voting at the Alcan AGM to call for an impact assessment on its bauxite mining project in Kashipur, Orissa. The next year, Alcan sold its 45 per cent share in that project. Such dramatic successes are rare, but with persistence, with strategic allies and with skilful campaigning, much can and has been achieved. More than 40 years of shareholders actions have not stopped the arms trade, but they have contributed to a change in awareness and the rise of concepts such as ethical investment. If in the next weeks or if you already have had your AGM action, we wish you thebest of luck and we expect to hear from you about how they went.

Javier Gárate

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