Photo from Earth Defense Coalition Facebook page.
On November 14, 2017, five water protectors took action in solidarity with front line Indigenous resistance efforts at Camp Makwa to stop the construction of the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline in Minnesota. The activists locked down to each other and used their bodies to disrupt business as usual at Wells Fargo, one of the major financial players behind this genocidal, extractive fossil fuel project.
Wells Fargo has 743 million invested into Enbridge who is responsible for Tar Sands and the Line 3 pipeline threatening and ravaging through Indigenous lands, water, wild rice, and sovereignty in Minnesota.
This action is one of hundreds taking place across the globe to call for divestment from financial institutions invested in the destructive fossil fuel industry.
“Wells Fargo is just another institution that continues to make blood money off of fossil fuels at a time when scientists are telling us that we must make a just transition to renewables,” said Alex Cohen of the Earth Defense Coalition.
The water protectors successfully disrupted morning employee traffic into Wells Fargo for 3 hours while engaging with hundreds of employees. We are proud to say that we have met all of our goals of standing in Solidarity with Makwa, bringing local attention to Line 3, and joining the global movement to pressure financial institutions to divest from fossil fuels. All five lockdowners were able to leave the lockdown site without arrest.