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John Rozendaal, an adjunct music teacher at Princeton college, and Alec Connon, director of the local weather nonprofit group Cease the Cash Pipeline, had been arrested for prison contempt within the public park on the world headquarters of Citibank in New York Metropolis on August 8, 2024, in line with a report by The Guardian.
Rozendaal’s crime? Taking part in the cello. Now you would possibly suppose enjoying a cello in a public park can be permitted in America, however you’ll be incorrect. You see, the explanation Rozendaal was enjoying his cello outdoors the headquarters of Citibank was to protest towards it being one of many largest institutional lenders to the fossil gas business because the Paris local weather accords had been signed in December of 2015, in accordance the newest Banking On Local weather Chaos report.
Since June 10, local weather activists have been peacefully protesting towards Citibank’s monetary help for brand new fossil gas initiatives as a part of the “Summer of Heat on Wall Street” marketing campaign. A minimum of 3,700 folks have participated within the nonviolent civil disobedience, repeatedly blockading the doorway to its world headquarters. Greater than 475 folks, together with religion leaders, scientists, and elders have been arrested whereas calling on Citibank to cease financing new coal, oil, and methane fuel initiatives.
Accusing Citibank Of Irresponsible Lending Practices
The local weather advocates accuse Citibank and the NYPD of coordinated and escalating efforts to suppress nonviolent protests in retaliation for drawing consideration to the banking large’s key function in funding fossil initiatives globally. Over the course of 5 days in July, 4 excessive profile “summer of heat” organizers and activists had been arrested on what they are saying are bogus prices focusing on marketing campaign leaders — an escalation condemned by a whole bunch of celebrities, scientists, lawmakers, college students, nonprofits, and local weather activists.
“The window to avert the worst impacts of climate change is rapidly closing … efforts by the fossil fuel industry and its allies to criminalize and suppress protests imperil democratic freedoms and obstruct meaningful climate action,” mentioned Kathy Mulvey from the Union of Involved Scientists.
In 2021, the Worldwide Vitality Company warned that the world should instantly halt funding in new upstream oil and fuel improvement, with the intention to have any hope of complying with the Paris local weather accords and curbing world heating to 1.5C (35F). Since then, Citibank has supplied $60 billion to corporations which are increasing oil, methane, and coal operations.
Rozendaal and Connon had been first arrested on July 18 and charged with assault — falsely they are saying — towards James Flynn, who’s working with Citibank’s personal safety crew. The Guardian says that Flynn seems to have beforehand labored as a NYPD detective, in line with publicly out there databases, data from his social media, and his personal feedback to protesters.
Flynn was granted momentary restraining orders, reviewed by The Guardian, towards Rozendaal and Connon which prohibit them from speaking with him or going close to his particular person, dwelling, enterprise, or office for six months. They declare the restraining orders are invalid on a number of grounds that any first 12 months regulation scholar would perceive, beginning with freedom of speech, freedom of meeting, and being so obscure as to disclaim them the power to grasp what conduct is perhaps considered as violating them.
Curiously, these restraining orders don’t specify the place any of those places is perhaps, so Flynn can present up anyplace he pleases and if these two miscreants are anyplace close by, they are often arrested and charged with violating a court docket order, which is exactly what occurred on this case. Since Flynn has restraining orders, and since Flynn nonetheless works for Citibank, Rozendaal and Cannon can not enter a public park close to Citibank with out placing the redoubtable Flynn in worry for his life and summoning his buddies within the NYPD to arrest them. That is what passes for justice in America right now.
Simply Punch Him In The F-king Head!
Citibank hardly holds the ethical excessive floor right here. On July 21, 2024, videographer and Summer season of Warmth organizer Teddy Ogborn was arrested and held in a cell for greater than eight hours, days after he filmed an alleged Citi worker apparently inciting violence towards local weather protesters blocking the doorway. “Just punch him in the f–king head! Punch him in the f–king head,” shouted the girl, recognized by protesters as the chief assistant to Citi’s co-head of International Monetary Technique. “Get a machine gun and f–king kill them all,” she screeched. “These comments are unacceptable,” a Citi spokesperson mentioned. “We are looking into the matter and it will be addressed appropriately.” She will in all probability anticipate a pleasant bonus from the financial institution.
At an earlier protest, Ogborn additionally captured Citi’s normal counsel apparently shoving a feminine protester who was amongst a gaggle blocking the doorway. A Citi spokesperson mentioned the protesters’ claims had been false and that an worker was initially hit by a barricade earlier than pushing it out of his manner. Ogborn was charged with obstruction of governmental administration, a misdemeanor, for allegedly having positioned a hand on a barricade that was being moved by activists every week earlier. The cost was dropped two weeks later. (Is {that a} crime any of you have got ever heard of? It’s a brand new one on us.)
“We have made the bank synonymous with environmental destruction, violence and fossil fuels, and I have been capturing moments that are damaging for Citi,” mentioned Ogborn, cofounder of Planet over Income. “The escalation against organizers is targeted, and attempts to use bogus charges to harass and intimidate protesters.”
Final 12 months, Citibank financed virtually twice as a lot fossil gas vitality as clear vitality and fewer than JPMorgan Chase and Financial institution of America. With a view to meet world local weather targets, banks should finance 4 instances as a lot clear vitality as fossil gas vitality, in line with analysis by BloombergNEF.
The methodology used to calculate fossil gas financing has been beforehand disputed by some banks. A spokesperson for Citi mentioned the financial institution is “transparent” about its “climate-related activities” and its method displays the necessity to transition and meet world vitality wants. “We are supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy through our net zero commitments and our $1 trillion sustainable finance goal.”
Citibank Attracts Rebuke From Councilman
“The Summer of Heat campaign has mobilized thousands of everyday people and brought financial executives face-to-face with the very communities they are harming through the billions they bankroll in fossil fuels,” mentioned New York Metropolis council member Alexa Avilés. “Rather than engage on the merits of their arguments and acknowledge the role they play, Citibank has chosen to unleash a brutal police crackdown on organizers. You cannot incarcerate your way to a livable planet.”
That’s so, however you’ll be able to definitely strive, and a few will excuse such belligerence as a result of, hey, it’s simply enterprise. Jim Angel, a finance professor at Georgetown College, wasn’t stunned to see banks had been prime buyers in fossil fuels. Banks put money into initiatives. That’s simply what they do, he informed Market. “My first reaction is water is wet. Our banks are big; they lend money to everybody. Our oil and gas companies are big, they need to borrow a lot of money. So it’s not surprising that our banks are lending a lot of money to the fossil fuel industry.”
As for American banks topping the listing, there are a pair causes for that, Market mentioned. Purpose one: “The banks that are based in the US are just the biggest banks in the world. I mean, that’s not just true of oil and gas; that’s true of all sorts of lines of business,” mentioned College of Pennsylvania finance professor Dan Garrett.
Purpose two: Banks are beneath stress to maintain funding the fossil gas business. “Texas banned banks from participating in their public finance market that is underwriting municipal bonds, or advising on state pension funds, that sort of thing. If they had, the word is ‘discriminated against’ oil and gas companies,” Garrett mentioned.
‘There is good news, however. Banks loaned less to fossil fuel projects than they did last year, and last year they loaned less than the year before. “So it starts to look like a trend, and I want to be hopeful about that,” said April Merleaux of Rainforest Action Network. The majority of the loans banks are giving to the oil and gas industry will get paid back before 2030, and that’s doubtless on goal, “Because the fossil fuel client business models just aren’t compatible with climate reality,” she mentioned. Nonetheless, there’s a protracted option to go to succeed in the phrase’s local weather targets. “Customers who aren’t happy about their bank investing in fossil fuels should tell them that or think about moving their money to another institution,” Merleaux added. That looks as if good recommendation.
The Takeaway
What we will we be taught from the struggles of John Rozendaal and Alex Connon? That the fossil gas business owns the world’s largest banks, the New York Police Division, the courts, the judges, many of the members of Congress, and the press. George Carlin tried to warn us, however we simply laughed and went about our enterprise. Maybe the most effective recommendation of all was given by Elie Wiesel, the person who spent his total grownup life monitoring down Nazis after the Holocaust. “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but we must never fail to protest.” Amen to that.
