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Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa last week at the Democratic National Convention oversaw a vote to make two amendments to the DNC platform. As chair of the DNC, Villaraigosa called for votes to reinsert a reference to God in the party’s platform after it was removed and faced criticism from Republicans. More controversially however, the LA Mayor also called for a vote to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Calling a vote three times, he then pronounced that 2/3rds of the delegates present voted yes on both amendments, amid loud boos.

Meanwhile, activists in Los Angeles are calling on the city to end its contracts with Veolia Transportation which runs the DASH bus system throughout the city. Veolia Transportation, which is a subsidiary of French based Veolia Environment, has had a long history of discriminating against Palestinians living in the Occupied West Bank of Israel. Among a population of over 2 million, over 80 percent of the people living there are Palestinian Arabs. Israeli passengers in the West Bank are allowed to use Veolia buses, while millions of Palestinians are refused service. More shockingly, Veolia offers transit to Israeli settlers who then illegally occupy confiscated Palestinian land. The buses which are operated by Veolia run on a segregated system of roads and offer routes to Jewish only settlements in the occupied West Bank in a system reminiscent of apartheid South Africa. The L.A. City Charter forbids businesses from engaging in discriminatory behavior and activists are calling on the Los Angeles City Council to divest itself from the company. A vote to renew its contract with the transportation company will be held tomorrow.

GUEST: Garrick Ruiz, core member of the LA Dump Veolia Campaign

The LA City Council’s Transportation Committee will take a vote on whether to end two of Veolia’s contracts on September 12th in the afternoon, at City Hall, 200 N. Main Street, Room 1010.

Ahead of the vote, the LA Dump Veolia Campaign will gather in front of City Hall at 1 pm and hold a rally and press conference.

LA Dump Veolia is urging supporters of their campaign to contact the five members of the committee at the following numbers:

Tom La Bonge – 213-485-3337
Paul Koretz – 213-473-7005
Jose Huizar – 213-473-7014
Bernard Parks – 213-473-7008
Bill Rosendahl – 213-473-7011

Click here to visit the LA Dump Veolia Facebook page.