January, 09 2020, 11:00pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jamie Henn, jamie@350.org, 415-890-3350
Gabby Brown, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org, 914-261-4626
25 People Occupy Chase Bank Branch in D.C. as Climate Activists Launch a Major New Campaign Targeting the Financial Industry
he “Stop the Money Pipeline” Mobilization aims to end the financing of fossil fuels and deforestation.
WASHINGTON
Over twenty people occupied a Chase Bank branch in Washington, D.C. today to kick off Stop the Money Pipeline, a major new activist effort going after the financial industry's funding of climate destruction.
The action took place alongside today's Fire Drill Friday protest at the Capitol led by Jane Fonda and allies. Fonda, Susan Sarandon, Greenpeace U.S. Director Annie Leonard, and dozens more marched down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the Chase Bank branch to show solidarity with the protestors inside.
In the end, ten people were arrested for refusing to leave the bank when given a warning by the police. They included 350.org founder Bill McKibben, Friends of the Earth Vice President Liz Butler, Hip Hop Caucus Director Lennox Yearwood, and Divest-Invest Director Clara Vondrich.
Chase Bank is one of the three main targets for the Stop the Money Pipeline because of the bank's outsized role in financing fossil fuel development. Since the Paris Agreement, Chase has provided $196 billion in finance for fossil fuels, 10% of all fossil fuel finance from the 33 major global banks.
Over the coming months, Stop the Money Pipeline will also be targeting two other companies that represent key pillars of the financial sector: BlackRock, the largest single investor in fossil fuels, and Liberty Mutual, a top global insurer of coal, oil, and gas. Activists also continue to put pressure on endowments, pension funds, and other major investors who haven't yet divested from fossil fuels.
Organizations involved in the Stop the Money Pipeline mobilization include Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, Greenpeace USA, Sunrise Project, Future Coalition, Divest Ed, Divest-Invest, Native Movement, Giniw Collective, Transition US, 350.org, Oil Change International, 350 Seattle, Center for International Environmental Law, Union of Concerned Scientists, Majority Action, Earth Rights International, The YEARS Project, and more.
The Sierra Club is the most enduring and influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. We amplify the power of our 3.8 million members and supporters to defend everyone's right to a healthy world.
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While applauding the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan passage of a bill to ensure that "law enforcement and intelligence agencies can't do an end-run around the Constitution by buying information from data brokers" on Wednesday, privacy advocates highlighted that Congress is trying to extend and expand a long-abused government spying program.
The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.
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Wednesday's vote followed the House sending the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act to the Senate. H.R. 7888 would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for warrantless spying on noncitizens abroad but also sweeps up Americans' data.
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Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
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Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU, similarly said Wednesday that "the bipartisan passage of this bill is a flashing warning sign to the government that if it wants our data, it must get a warrant."
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As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw noted:
Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take up consideration of its membership application. According to the first State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.
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