Divestment

Summer Of Heat Is Using Disruption To End Fossil Fuel Financing

August 30, 2024 Alice Hu, Waging Nonviolence. Resist! Big Banks, climate crisis, Divestment, Fossil Fuel, Wall Street

With millions being displaced by wildfires and floods, famine spreading and entire countries getting submerged, the fossil fuel industry is driving us off the cliff and must be stopped. One strategy the climate movement can take to turn the tide is pressuring economic elites to remove their backing for Big Oil. This is the main focus of the Summer of Heat on Wall Street, a sustained campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience against financiers like Citigroup, which has poured more money into fossil fuel expansion than any other bank in the world since 2016. Since June 10, the campaign has organized multiple disruptive civil disobedience actions every single week.

The Quiet, Local Success Of The Israel Divestment Movement

August 18, 2024 Marianne Dhenin, Next City. Organize! BDS Movement, Divestment, Local Government, Palestine, Victory

The United States has historically provided hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid to Israel. The flow of taxpayer funds to Israel’s military has only increased since Israeli forces launched an attack on Gaza in October 2023, in which as many as 186,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to an estimate published in The Lancet in July 2024. Beyond the federal dollars funding the ongoing attack on Gaza, there are also investments made on the state and municipal levels to support Israel’s violence against Palestinians. “The ethnic cleansing and horrors that we’re witnessing being carried out by the Israeli government are deeply entangled in material support from the United States, and that happens on multiple levels,” says Jay Saper, an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) in New York City.

NYC Protesters Target AIG Over East African Crude Oil Pipeline

July 27, 2024 Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams. Resist! Africa, AIG, Divestment, New York City (NYC), Oil and Gas, Pipelines, Tanzania, Uganda

The "Summer of Heat" continues—both in terms of record-breaking temperatures driven by fossil fuels and a series of nonviolent direct actions targeting Wall Street for its contributions to the climate emergency. After protests last month calling out Citibank for "financing the arsonists," climate campaigners on Friday set their sights on finance and insurance giant AIG for "stubbornly" refusing to join over two dozen other insurers that won't cover the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). EACOP is set to run nearly 900 miles from Uganda's Lake Albert oilfields to the port of Tanga in Tanzania. Rights groups have sounded the alarm about how the project has devastated the lives and livelihoods of people in its path as well as violence endured by African activists, who have been "kidnapped, arbitrarily arrested, detained, or subjected to different forms of harassment."

Presbyterian Church (USA) Votes To Divest From Israel Bonds

July 3, 2024 Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service. Resist! Anti-Zionism, BDS, Divestment, Israel, Palestine, Presbyterian Church, Zionism

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted Monday (July 1) to divest from Israel bonds and begin the process of encouraging two companies it believes are contributing to human rights abuses against Palestinians in the occupied territories to quit their practices. Both votes were wrapped up in other legislation that passed unanimously as part of the biennial gathering of the denomination meeting online and in person in Salt Lake City, Utah (June 30 to July 4). The Presbyterian Church (USA), with about 8,800 churches and 1 million members, is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. It has been sharply critical of Israel and its policies over Palestinians for decades.

Climate Activists Blockade Citigroup’s Doors With Model Pipeline

June 23, 2024 Keerti Gopal, Scheer Post. Resist! Citigroup, climate crisis, Divestment, Fossil Fuels, Israel, Palestine, Summer of Dissent

New York—Tensions were high outside of Citigroup’s global headquarters on Friday morning as climate activists blockaded the doors for an hour and hundreds of employees waited in the plaza to get to work. The demonstration marked the end of the second week of the “Summer of Heat on Wall Street,” a sustained, direct-action campaign targeting financial institutions, with a particular emphasis on Citi for its robust financing of fossil fuel projects, despite stated commitments to a clean energy transition. According to the Banking on Climate Chaos report from the Rainforest Action Network, an advocacy group, Citigroup is the largest financier of companies that expanded fossil fuel projects last year.

National Trust Under Pressure To Drop Barclays Over Israel, Fossil Fuels

June 23, 2024 The Canary. Resist! Barclays, BDS, Divestment, Fossil Fuel, Israel, Palestine

Fossil Free London activists unfurled a large banner reading ‘National Trust: Protect Nature, Drop Barclays’ across a tower at the iconic Bodiam Castle, East Sussex, on Friday 21 June. the protest was over the organisation’s links to the fossil fuels and arms manufacturer-supporting bank. Bodiam Castle, which was built in 1385 and is famous for its beautiful, moated setting, is one of hundreds of sites owned by the National Trust; the guardian of nature reserves, national parks, coastline, historic buildings and estates across the country. Activists claimed the National Trust were ‘hypocrites’ for banking with Barclays, Europe’s worst funder of fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement, drawing attention to one of the trust’s core aims; to protect nature and climate.

Democratizing Universities Would Supercharge Pro-Palestine Divestment

June 12, 2024 Akin Olla, Waging Nonviolence. Strategize! Communities, Democracy, Divestment, Higher Education, Israel, Palestine, Universities

The pro-Palestinian divestment movement has erupted across the country, after over a decade of bubbling and stirring under the guidance of organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine. Students have built encampments, led walkouts and passed student government resolutions demanding that their universities cease investing their endowments in companies that uphold Israel’s genocidal apartheid system. Some student governments have even passed resolutions preventing their own budgets from being used to benefit Israel’s regime in any way. University of California Davis was the first to do so, blocking off its $20 million budget from genocide-supporting companies.

Is Your City Or State Investing In Israeli Bonds Or Fossil Fuels?

June 11, 2024 Oscar Perry Abello, Next City. Strategize! City Budgets, Divestment, Fossil Fuels, Investment, Israel, Palestine

Divestment doesn’t necessarily have a big, direct economic impact on the target of a divestment campaign, but history has shown divestment can be a powerful tool for galvanizing broader support around causes that might seem distant or foreign. Nobody likes to get caught with their hands in the cookie jar. But until someone digs into the numbers, all of our hands are in more cookie jars than we realize. In Palm Beach County, Florida, the local government outright told county residents about one of the jars they were reaching into together: government bonds issued by the state of Israel. Back in March, Palm Beach County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Joseph Abruzzo held a press conference announcing that the county government was the world’s largest investor in “Israel Bonds,” which made up $700 million of the Florida county’s $4.67 billion investment portfolio.

Climate Change Activists Gear Up For A Summer Of Dissent

June 10, 2024 Matthew Rozsa, Salon. Resist! Citibank, climate crisis, Direct Action, Divestment, Summer of Dissent

"We have a series of many events," said Pumarol. "We are planning direct actions throughout the summer." For three months starting on June 10th, they plan on shutting down the headquarter of Citibank, a financial institution that helps fund fossil fuel exploration. They also plan on staging a protest where humans dress as orcas, the iconic cetaceans that have been targeting yachts at least since November. "I think it's been a source of inspiration for many activists. We're also going to have a day where scientists are going to get arrested in front of city headquarters, and we're going to have a day where elders are going to bring their rocking chairs into city headquarters and also plan to get arrested.

Pro-Palestinian Protesters Block Chevron Headquarters During Meeting

May 30, 2024 Nollyanne Delacruz and Caelyn Pender, The Mercury News. Resist! BDS Movement, California, Chevron, Divestment, Israel, Palestine

Around 50 Bay Area protesters blocked the entrance to Chevron’s headquarters in San Ramon ahead of the company’s annual meeting Wednesday morning to draw attention to the company’s links to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. As shareholders and company officials gathered to discuss financial results for the oil and gas giant, chants from the crowd rang out: “Chevron, Chevron, you can’t hide! Blood for oil is a crime!” Wassim Haj, a member of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, said the aim of the protest was to “demand an end to Chevron’s complicity in the ongoing war in Gaza.” Haj said the protesters demanded that Chevron completely withdraw from their holdings in and around Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and encouraged consumers to boycott Chevron until a full divestment was reached.

US State, Local Governments Bankroll Israeli Genocide In Gaza

May 28, 2024 News Desk, The Cradle. Strategize! Divestment, Gaza, Genocide, Israel, Local Government, Palestine

State and local governments in the US are investing large amounts in Israel bonds, effectively helping to fund Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. The Financial Times (FT) reports that Israel Bonds, the official underwriter for the debt, has sold more than $3 billion of bonds since the war began on 7 October, three times the previous annual average. Local governments in the US, including Florida, Indiana, and Ohio, have been significant buyers. FT reports that Florida’s Palm Beach County holds $700 million of its $4.6 billion overall portfolio in Israel bonds. “I’m ecstatic that we have these bonds in our portfolio,” Joseph Abruzzo, the overseer of the county’s investments, told FT.

Palm Beach Residents Sue County Over Its Israel Investments

May 24, 2024 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. Resist! BDS Movement, Divestment, Florida, Israel, Legal System, Palestine, Zionism

In the first legal action of its kind, a group of Palm Beach residents are suing the Florida county over its massive investment in Israeli bonds. Palm Beach has invested $700 million in the bonds, 22 times more than any other county in the United States. On May 15, dozens of local organizers and human rights advocates gathered outside the county’s courthouse for a press conference announcing the move. David Piña, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, told the crowd that Comptroller and Clerk of the Circuit Court Joseph Abruzzo had put 15% of the county’s investments in Israeli bonds. “[Abruzzo] has has not only failed us morally, he’s also violated two state statutes in the process,” Piña explained.

The Student Movement That Forced Ireland’s Trinity College To Divest

May 18, 2024 Priyanka Borpujari, Waging Nonviolence. Strategize! Campus Movement, Divestment, Gaza, Genocide, Ireland, Student Activism

Right after Dublin native Ben turned 16, he spent his summer vacations working at event companies that organized concerts and comedy shows. Little did he know that three years later, that experience would help him organize — with nearly a hundred of his peers — a major protest of Trinity College Dublin’s ties with Israel. After five nights in tents on the grassy patch in front of the highly-visited Book of Kells Museum, Trinity acceded to the protesters’ demands and went down in history as one of the first universities to agree to divest from Israeli companies. “I always wanted to partake in effecting change, and this was an opportunity,” the philosophy and politics student said five days after the encampment ended.

Carrying On Kent State’s Legacy Of Antiwar Organizing

May 16, 2024 Camille Tinnin and Magdalen Weiss-Vopat, Waging Nonviolence. Strategize! Anti-War, Campus Movement, Divestment, Israel, Ohio, Palestine, Student Activism

If you grew up in Ohio, one of the first things that comes to mind when you hear “Kent State” is the saying “Kent Read, Kent Write, Kent State.” If you grew up outside of Ohio, the first thing you think of when hearing “Kent State” is the shootings on May 4, 1970. And if you were present for the protest on May 4, 2024, you heard, “Kent Read, Kent Write, Kent stop funding genocide.” As graduate students (one local, the other out of state), we grew up with different perceptions of Kent State. What united us is the decision to pursue our graduate studies at Kent State due to its long history of activism and the School of Peace and Conflict Studies — founded as a “living memorial” to the students who died on May 4, 1970.

Divest Now! A Revolutionary Demand

May 15, 2024 Sara Flounders, Workers' World. Resist! Campus Movement, Divestment, Israel, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Repression, Student Activism

Why have student encampments for Palestine ignited such an uproar of brutal repression, vicious police attacks, mass arrests, overwhelming condemnation in the corporate media and a new level of reactionary legislation in Congress? The demand to divest, raised at almost every encampment, exposes the insidious inroads of the military-industrial complex into the heart of almost all higher education institutions in the U.S. today. This demand to “divest” has revolutionary implications. Divestment is not just a threat to university boards, administrators and their alumni funders. It is a threat to the established capitalist order.

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