If you’re not pissed off at the assassination of The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, you should be.
As a permanent resident of the United States, Khashoggi should be protected by the U.S. Government, just like any United States citizen. But, instead of pouring pressure on Saudi Arabia to bring the perpetrators of Khashoggi’s slaughter to justice, there’s nothing but the flapping of gums over “rogue killers.” Money, as always, is being put ahead of the sanctity of human life and the rule of law. Khashoggi’s murder is also an attack on the freedom of the press. His brave, unwavering reports on corruption and human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia made him a target for the Saudi royal family and the nation’s intelligence apparatus. He was killed for telling the truth. We can’t force our governments to take action over Khashoggi’s murder. But we can make our outrage known to those responsible for doing business with Saudi Arabia.
The Future Investment Initiative (FII) is a conference being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 23rd. Rich people will talk about rich people things to make themselves even more rich. The event is the work of Public Investment fund–one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. The PIF is a mechanism by which our aforementioned invest in things that only rich people can afford to spend their money on in order to be even more rich. The FII’s October 23rd event is an orgy of money-grubbing elitists talking about how to secure further funding, build assets, and control even more of the world’s wealth than the ultra-rich already do. Since Khashoggi’s disappearance and the credible report of his death at the hands of Saudi government officials, a number of high profile individuals and organizations have announced that they want nothing to do with the FII event in Riyadh. It’s an important gesture. The more high profile individuals and companies that boycott the event, the worse it looks for the Saudi government. It translates into less business being done on Saudi soil, less investment in Saudi business. For a kingdom that rises and falls on the amount of gold in its coffers, this translates into being hit right where it hurts.
The Stop The Future Investment Initiative is a website that provides us with all of the tools needed to make the public lives of the individuals and companies still associated with the event in Riyadh as unpleasant as possible. The site provides the Twitter contacts for all of the FII’s speakers and those of any companies that will be in attendance. It also has a repository of graphics, in multiple languages, for social media-savvy droogs like you to voice your displeasure with one penny more of anyone’s cash going towards a kingdom that feels it can murder journalists with impunity.
Get on it. Get involved.
Image via StopFII.com